Sheffield United were hammered 8-0 by Newcastle yesterday and former Mag Les Ferdinand felt the Blades didn’t even compete in the game.
United are well known for being tough to beat and making games hard for the opposition. Indeed, we have seen the Blades push both Man City and Tottenham to the wire this season.
However, against Newcastle, there was nothing of those previous efforts on display. And speaking to Sky after the game, Ferdinand admitted United looked like they’ve given up.
Les Ferdinand slams Sheffield United players for Newcastle effort
Speaking with Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp on the post-match show at Bramall Lane, Ferdinand believed United’s players didn’t even give it a go.
“It certainly does. Especially when you see the crowd leaving the stadium. That’s when boards react and do things,” Ferdinand said.
“As Jamie said, they’ve been competitive in every game they’ve played in. With what’s in football today in terms of sports science and what is given to the players, that’s the one area you can compete with people.
“A lack of quality might lose you a game, but you know you can compete. I’d have to say that for a lot of that game today they didn’t compete with the Newcastle players as they have done in previous games and that’s what caused them their problems.”
Paul Heckingbottom echoed those comments as well, admitting he didn’t like a lot of what he’d seen.
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The Blades will no doubt spend today dissecting the defeat and looking at tactics and mistakes made in the team. However, the lack of effort is something that needs addressing immediately.
This was almost back to the days of when Wilder left and the follow on season under Slavisa Jokanovic.
Heckingbottom will not have this at United and he needs to reinforce the ethos of the club back into the players who played yesterday.
A big week awaits the whole club now and next week’s fixture with West Ham now feels huge.