“Shooting Ourselves in the Foot” – Chris Wilder Breaks Down Latest Loss as Sheffield United Drop Out of Top 2 | OneFootball

Tuesday evening brought more disappointment for Sheffield United as they fell to back-to-back defeats, this time at the hands of Millwall, who kept their Championship play-off hopes alive with a spirited 1-0 win.

Millwall struck early in the 21st minute when Billy Mitchell sliced through the Blades’ defence with a precise low cross. Casper De Norre intelligently flicked the ball into the path of Josh Coburn, who rifled home his fifth league goal of the season to give the Lions a deserved lead.

Sheffield United, desperate for a quick reply, nearly found one through Ben Brereton Diaz, who connected with a pinpoint Gustavo Hamer set-piece, only to see his header saved by Lukas Jensen in the Millwall goal.

At the break, Blades boss Chris Wilder made an attacking change, introducing Jesurun Rak-Sakyi for Brereton Diaz. The Crystal Palace loanee almost made an instant impact, but spurned a golden opportunity from close range after latching onto a low cross from Harrison Burrows.

Millwall continued to pose a threat on the counter. Coburn, already on the scoresheet, teed up Mihailo Ivanovic who found himself clean through, only to fire straight at Michael Cooper in a missed chance to seal the game.

United’s final chance to salvage something fell again to Rak-Sakyi. A bouncing ball inside the box presented him with a late opportunity, but a heroic defensive block denied him what looked destined to be a dramatic equaliser.

Sheffield United Manager’s Reaction to Millwall Loss: “We’re Shooting Ourselves in the Foot”

Rhian Brewster watches his effort go agonisingly wide of the far post against Millwall. (Image Credit: Sheffield United Football Club).

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder didn’t hold back in his post-match assessment on SUTV and Sky Sports: “It’s been a tough couple of games for us. We didn’t do enough on Saturday and paid the price, and we’re just shooting ourselves in the foot really. First goal is massive in this division, the goal from our point of view there’s so many things we could’ve done better to prevent that.

“I thought the energy of the team was good; we’ve created enough opportunities, we’ve got the ball where we wanted to get it, we had 25 shots, but when you’re looking for that little bit of quality you need when you get in to those positions, we never really found it and fair play to Millwall. We looked frustrated at times, we looked anxious as the game went on, especially the younger boys, the first time they’ve played in this part of the season for such a big club and they looked anxious.”

With just five games remaining, Sheffield United’s play-off hopes are hanging by a thread. But Wilder remains defiant: “We have to deal with the negativity because we’ve brought it on ourselves, I’ve got no problem with that. The narrative will be, ‘we’re out of the race’. I don’t think that’s the case with five games to go. We’ve got to reset. I’ve got to pick the right team for Saturday [at Plymouth] because there’s no real margin for error now.”

Addressing his decision to stick with the same line-up from Saturday’s defeat to Oxford, Wilder exclaimed: “I’m going to get beat up whatever I do, that’s part and parcel of being a manager. If I’d have changed it why didn’t they go again? That was our best team and [Coventry] possibly our best performance of the season. I gave the players the opportunity to go again because, collectively, Saturday everyone was off of it so I gave those boys an opportunity and now I’ve got to pick a team for Saturday and get the team right and prepared.”

Millwall Boss: “We Didn’t Come to Make Up the Numbers”

LEEDS, ENGLAND – MARCH 12: Alex Neil, Head Coach of Millwall, gestures during the Sky Bet Championship match between Leeds United FC and Millwall FC at Elland Road on March 12, 2025 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Millwall manager Alex Neil was full of praise for his players and showed belief in their play-off ambitions, he told Sky Sports: “Sheffield United are a really good side and I think everybody will probably expect them to get promoted this season. But we’ve got our own agenda. We came here to win the game. We didn’t come here to make up the numbers.”

Looking ahead to Millwall’s next fixture: “We want to challenge and hopefully we go into the weekend to challenge, to see if we can beat Middlesbrough and see where that takes us.”

The Blades now find themselves two points outside of the top two after suffering two defeats in a row, and they will now turn their attention to their trip to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon, who are bottom of the Championship.