Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom has explained his side’s recent run of results ahead of a Championship trip to West Bromwich Albion this weekend.
The Blades have dropped from first to fifth in the table after failing to win any of their previous six Championship outings.
Their last victory came against Preston in September.
Heckingbottom’s men salvaged a point against Norwich on Saturday as second-half strikes from Ben Osborn and Oli McBurnie cancelled out an early brace from Teemu Pukki at Bramall Lane.
Despite United’s struggles of late, Heckingbottom believes his side’s underwhelming spell of form is not down to a drop in the quality of their displays.
Instead, the Barnsley-born manager thinks individual errors and lapses in concentration have seen United drop down the table after a promising start to the season for the promotion hopefuls.
Ahead of this weekend’s trip to the Hawthorns, Heckingbottom said: “We’re in that little roll when, where we’re making errors, we’re getting done. Honestly, it doesn’t worry me.”
Another lively encounter at the Lane. 👀
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Go Behind The Blades as United come from behind against Norwich. Watch now on YouTube & SUTV. 🎞
“There’s always something you can do on it, errors. You can work and push. We made more mistakes against Preston and Hull but we didn’t concede a goal.
“The one game that was different was Stoke, and I accept that because we were nowhere near the level we want to put in.”
United remain locked in an injury crisis, with all of Sander Berge, Max Lowe, Jayden Bogle, Rhys Norrington-Davies and Enda Stevens set to miss their upcoming game and Wes Foderingham suspended.
Reflecting on his ongoing personnel issues, Heckingbottom added: “When everyone is back, when we’re strong and we can start picking a team based on errors, great. Until then, we have to understand it.
“You go behind and it flattens the whole crowd down. The press is still the same, people are still making blocks and tackles. Other aspects of the performance compared to previous ones are still the same. But we are 2-0 down. It changes the entire mood of everyone.”
Heckingbottom will be keen on leading his men back to winning ways against West Brom, who are languishing in 23rd place in the Championship table and lost narrowly to Milwall last time out.
