Jamie Redknapp has praised Chris Wilder and his Sheffield United team.
The Blades picked up their fifth point in four Premier League games at the weekend. They came from 2-0 down at Stamford Bridge to draw 2-2 with Chelsea.
That comes after an opening day point at Bournemouth and beating Crystal Palace at home. The 2-1 defeat to Leicester City is the only real negative so far in 2019/20.
This has also come without Wilder having to compromise the innovative tactics that got the Blades promoted twice in three years. He may have slightly adapted his formation, but the principles remain.
The use of overlapping centre-backs may be Wilder’s most famous initiative, but we have seen so much more than that already this term. Players look comfortable in possession and swapping positions freely. The ball is still worked out wide and crosses into the box have lead to all five of their league goals.
Yet despite this, lazy pundits continue to believe the Blades still play like they are managed by Dave Bassett or Neil Warnock. Both are legendary managers at the club, but did utilise a more direct form of the game.
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Which is perhaps why Danny Mills dubbed United a long ball team on Sky Sports. Or why Garth Crooks described them as “basic” on Football Focus only this weekend.
What Jamie Redknapp thinks of Sheffield United
Meanwhile, Redknapp appears to have taken the time out to actually watch Wilder’s men. Rather than falling back on old cliches, the former midfielder has a more rounded view.
“Calling Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder an ‘old-school manager’ is wrong. I’ve heard him tarred with that brush a few times, and I find it disrespectful to him and his team,” Redknapp wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“The truth is Wilder is so far ahead with what he is doing, he is actually the most forward-thinking manager we have in the Premier League.
“He is doing something completely different, something we have not seen before.
“I prefer to judge a coach on his tactics. When it comes to that, Wilder is up there with the very best.”