Manager Chris Wilder and goalkeeper Jamal Blackman have both given additional thoughts ahead of Sheffield United’s clash with Leicester City later this evening and the basic message is stay in the game and see where it takes us.
Manager Chris Wilder has again been speaking to the Official Site and the wider media and he’s under no illusions as to how difficult the game will be and the kind of challenge we face at the King Power Stadium tonight, and in acknowledging the fact we are clearly the underdogs in the tie he knows our set up has to be right, we have to stay in the game and try and make them nervous, then take our opportunity of it comes along in the hope of causing an upset.
‘We have to be prepared not to have a lot of the ball, we’ll have to be nice and solid and we might have to change our approach slightly. I’m not going to be embarrassed about that because we’re facing a team that are playing at a completely different level to us.’
Wilder went on to say.
‘But at the same time, I want us to be positive and if we get the chance to attack and play we have to be confident enough to do so.’
Having faced them in the League Cup earlier in the season and lost four one, Wilder pointed to that tie and the fact that we were more than in it for an hour until their quality shone through, so he knows what we are up against.
‘In the Carabao Cup in August it was a tight game for 60 minutes, then their quality took over once they had caught us with a lightening quick counter from our corner. At the top level teams have the ability to hurt you by keeping possession or catching you on the break. We’ve got to stay in the game, it would be naïve to go there and go for the jugular straight away, but it wouldn’t be the biggest shock in FA Cup history if we managed to get a result there.’
As for Blackman, he was singing from the same hymnsheet but also added that United have nothing to lose in many ways, so if we play it sensibly the pressure is all on them and we could capitalise on that.
‘We take each game as it comes but doing so well in the Championship having come up from League One, people are seeing this is quite a big season for us. We can take the game in our stride and see how we go, there is always pressure, we want to win and obviously beating Leicester would a fantastic achievement.’
Our Chelsea loanee went on to add.
‘The FA Cup is one of those competitions what everyone watches, heroes can be made and shocks can be caused. Everyone loves to see the underdogs prevail and we are looking forward to going to Leicester and giving it a real go.’
