Sheffield United caretaker boss, Paul Heckingbottom, was quick to praise Phil Jagielka today after a terrible week saw him play well at Chelsea today.
Jagielka tragically lost his brother in the week in what was another bit of terrible news in an all around terrible season in general for United.
But the experienced defender had said he wanted normality and trained as normal through the week, before being selected at Stamford Bridge today.
And speaking after the 2-0 loss at Chelsea today, United’s interim boss made sure to pay Jagielka a big compliment.
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“Everyone should be proud of him. Fans, his family, everyone at the club is“, Heckingbottom said.
“I’d like to speak about him and say how well he’s handled himself this week. To put in the performance that he did, I though he was immaculate from start to finish.”
Jagielka has once again proved to be a crucial player this season. The injury crisis has afforded him more opportunities than he’d have probably expected, with the likes of Egan, Basham, and O’Connell all out injured.
Jagielka deserves Heckingbottom praise, he was brilliant
Jags was probably happy to see Olivier Giroud starting for the Blues rather than the pacey Timo Werner or difficult Tammy Abraham.
But, regardless, Jagielka was excellent in the middle of that makeshift back three. In fairness as well, both Baldock and Stevens did ok in unusual positions for them.
Given the week he has had, all we can really do is commend Jagielka for the performance he put in. As they often say, ‘age is but a number’, and Jagielka certainly showed that today.
