Wilder must axe Sheffield United dud who's been worse than Cannon
da cassino： Sheffield United now know that they will face Bristol City across two legs in the semi-finals of the Championship play-offs after the results on the final day of the season.
da roleta： The Blades, who finished ten points adrift of the automatic promotion places, ended the regular season with a 1-1 draw against play-off chasing Blackburn Rovers.
As you can see in the highlights above, Tom Cannon missed a huge chance to win the game for the Blades late on when he fired well over the bar in a brilliant position.
Tom Cannon's performance against Blackburn
The Ireland international was brought in from Leicester City in a deal reportedly worth £10m in the January transfer window and has yet to hit his stride with the Blades.
Cannon ends the regular season with a return of one goal in 15 appearances in the Championship for Sheffield United, which came in the 2-1 defeat to Burnley on Easter Monday.
His performance against Blackburn on Saturday was a mixed bag. Whilst he did miss that big chance at the end, the Blades striker did complete two of his three attempted dribbles, managed one shot on target, and created two chances for his teammates, which shows that there were positives in his display.
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Cannon will be hoping to retain his place in the starting line-up for the first leg of the play-off semi-finals, but one player who should be taken out of the XI after their performance on Saturday is Sam McCallum.
Why Sam McCallum should be dropped
The former Norwich City full-back has started the last two matches of the Championship season ahead of Harrison Burrows, and Chris Wilder must, now, drop him from the team for the play-offs to strengthen his side’s chances of reaching the Premier League.
Burrows, who has scored five goals and created ten ‘big chances’ in the league this term, should come back into the side when they face Bristol City next time out to provide a creative spark down the left flank.
McCallum has only created one ‘big chance’ in 33 appearances in the Championship for the Blades, which shows that he does not offer the same level of creative quality that the former Peterborough star does.
Vs Blackburn
Sam McCallum
Minutes
85
Clearances
0
Interceptions
0
Tackles
1
Dribbled past
2x
Ground duels won
2/5
Key passes
1
Possession lost
12x
Big chances created
0
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, McCallum produced a wasteful display on the left flank against Blackburn, losing the ball 12 times without creating any ‘big chances’.
The English dud being dribbled past twice, without making more than one tackle or any interceptions, shows that it was a bit too easy for the opposition’s forwards to get the better of him in defensive situations as well.
These statistics also show that he was even worse than Cannon because, at least, the striker did create a couple of chances for his team and excelled in his attempted dribbles, whereas McCallum put in a disappointing showing all-round.
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Therefore, Wilder must ruthlessly axe McCallum, who struggled in and out of possession on Saturday, from the starting XI in order to bring Burrows, and the creative quality that he provides, back into the team against Bristol City for the first leg.