At halftime against Cardiff City, Paul Heckingbottom made a substitution which turned the tide in Sheffield United’s favour and helped them secure all 3pts.
George Baldock was the player who fired the Blades in front down in South Wales as he linked up with James McAtee down the right. Although McAtee’s backheel during the build-up wasn’t as accurate as he’d have liked, he still showed enough invention to help United carve out a chance.
This is James McAtee’s first senior season and even though he is rated highly by Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, it is only natural that the youngster has had to get used to the pace and physicality of the men’s game.
The Manchester City loanee has made five starts out of his fifteen appearances in the Championship this campaign, and he has a goal and an assist to his name. He had another positive contribution at the weekend where he registered two key passes as he boosted United’s attacking intent in the second half.
Paul Heckingbottom hailed McAtee as he spoke with the Yorkshire Post:
“We see glimpses all the time of what he can do. We are going to keep pushing him to improve in certain areas.
“We were getting to those top areas often enough, he definitely made the impact we wanted up top, I think he changed the game.”
My Take
There is no doubting the talent of McAtee, and we have already seen glimpses of his technical ability through various pieces of play: whether a cross, a dribble, or combination play.
I think this world cup break has come at the right time for Sheffield United (due to injuries), but also for McAtee individually.
Over the last month, he has improved in his performance and this break will allow him to get more gym work in and become stronger. He can spend time refining his off-the-ball work in terms of pressing from a defensive point of view, as well as his positioning and movement in an attacking sense.