Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder doesn’t believe his side have the edge in this Saturday’s Championship play-off final due to Sunderland’s ‘inexperience’.
The Blades are the slight favourites heading into the clash at Wembley having finished one place and 14 points better off than their opponents. The two sides are set to battle it out in what is widely known as football’s richest game, with a place in the Premier League at stake.
Wilder’s side progressed to this stage by comfortably dispatching Bristol City in the semi final, whilst Sunderland needed last-gasp header from Dan Ballard in extra time against Coventry City to secure their spot.
Inexperience Irrelevant, Says Wilder
It’s been a phenomenal achievement from both sides, especially considering the pair have two of the youngest squads in the division. United’s average age this season is 24.5, whilst Sunderland have the lowest in the division at 23.2.
Despite that, Wilder doesn’t believe that will prove an advantage, citing experienced heads such as Ballard, Chris Mepham and Luke O’Nien as examples that Regis Le Bris can call upon. Speaking to the media, the 57-year-old said:
“It works both ways, you don’t know, unless you’ve got a crystal ball. Who knows how it rocks up?
“It’s a new occasion for them, we have got a certain amount of experience we can fall back on. Some of our players have played in big games. Callum (O’Hare) has played in semi-finals of the FA Cup, Gus (Gustavo Hamer) has played in play-off games. They’ve all played in big games, even locally.
“That’s quite a big game for the young players, the likes of Sydie Peck, (Michael) Cooper and Harrison Burrows, who have not played in those types of games, they’ve all witnessed it and felt it.
“It’s about what happens on the day, who deals with everything that gets thrown into what is a huge football match.
“ They’ve got some talented players, they’ve got some young players – but they’ve got some experience as well. They’ve got Mepham, they’ve got Ballard, they’ve got some other guys. The captain (O’Nien) is an experienced player, the captain has been around the block, he’s a good player. Alan Browne is involved with them as well. It can work both ways.
“We’ve got a pretty young side as well with that sprinkling of experience so both teams are balanced.
“They are the youngest of the two teams and possibly the youngest in the Championship and they’ve done remarkably well to get themselves in the position. They can be proud of their efforts.”
Writer’s View
Wilder is right not to read too much into Sunderland’s young squad. He is in a similar boat and it’s worth noting that the average age at the Stadium Light is dragged down by the extremely talented duo of 19-year-old Jobe Bellingham and 17-year-old Chris Rigg. The Black Cats blew the form book out of the window to navigate a way past Coventry, and that is something that the Sheffield United boss will be wary of when he steps foot in the Wembley dugout on Saturday.
