It's been a nightmare season for Sheffield United.
After three years in the Championship, the Blades earned their way back into the Premier League for the 2023-24 campaign, but their return to the top flight has been anything but a pleasant one.
Sitting dead last on the table after 27 matches, it's becoming increasingly likely that the club will drop back down to the second tier at the first hurdle. While yo-yoing between divisions isn't uncommon, the method in which the Blades have earned their place at the bottom of the standings is noteworthy — especially their recent form.
With Monday's result against Arsenal now in the books, the Blades have now lost three straight home matches by five goals or more. It's an astonishing stretch of ineptitude on home soil, and a longtime former Premier League player-turned-pundit didn't even wait for the end of Monday's match — which Arsenal ended up winning 6-0 — to voice his thoughts on what has led to Sheffield United's woeful output.
"Arguably the worst team to ever play in the 32 years of the Premier League," Stan Collymore wrote on X (formerly Twitter) with nearly a half-hour still left to play in the match. "No pleasure saying that, but if you can't do basics then this is the outcome."
Collymore criticised the Blades' decision to seemingly try to go toe-to-toe with more talented teams rather than to play within their means, leading to the recent spate of blowouts at Bramall Lane.
Instead, the three-time England international suggested that teams in Sheffield United's position find what works for them rather than trying to keep up with bigger-budgeted sides.
"If you have a modest budget, you draw out the qualities you can from players (workrate, organisation, character, etc etc) to mask the ones you don't ( technical ability)," he wrote.
"For as good as the teams are who have the personnel to 'play', the best league in the world should also have teams that find their own way to compete. It's possible. Wimbledon spring to mind (I hated playing them but it worked for them).
"Players and coaches have to take responsibility at United because a League 1 or 2 Cup side playing in Sheff United shirts tonight would at least discharge the very basics."
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