Chris Wilder hits out at VAR and says Premier League 'won't have to put up with' Sheffield United much longer
Sheffield United's 1-0 defeat to fellow bottom-three side Fulham on Saturday night leaves them 14 points adrift of safety; Blades denied a late penalty for challenge on Jayden Bogle; Chris Wilder: "They won't have to put up with us much longer"
Sunday 21 February 2021 08:36, UK
Chris Wilder has hit out at the decision not to hand Sheffield United a penalty in their defeat to Fulham on Saturday night, and says the Premier League "won't have to put up with us much longer".
The Blades' 1-0 loss to fellow bottom-three side Fulham leaves them bottom of the table on just 11 points, 14 behind 17th-placed Newcastle.
But Wilder believes they should have had the chance to earn a point from the penalty spot after a late clash between Fulham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola and United defender Jayden Bogle.
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Areola won the ball when diving at Bogle's feet but caught his opponent on the shin, leaving both players in pain. However, neither referee Martin Atkinson nor the VAR deemed it worthy of a penalty.
A furious Wilder said after the game: "Where are these decisions coming from? I'm just not getting it.
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"People talk about out of control and reckless - I'm not sure that goalkeeper was in control and knew everything about that challenge. Whether it's committed, whether it's desire, whether it's brave... it is reckless, no control.
"(I'm) delighted that my young right wing-back is back on the coach with us tonight and not somewhere else, because he could quite easily be.
"We've just got a long list of decisions that have gone against [us] but they won't have to put up with us much longer. There'll be another promoted team that comes into the division and will get the rubbish decisions that we are on the end of."
Has any team ever recovered from Sheff Utd's position?
Dating back to the creation of the Premier League in 1992, only four teams have had as few as Sheffield United's 11 points after 25 matches in a season.
Huddersfield were the most recent side to match the Blades' record, when they sat on 11 points after 25 games in 2018/19.
The only teams to have had a worse record than Wilder's were the Derby side of 2007/08 that had only nine after 25 games, and the 2005/06 Sunderland side that also had nine points at the same stage of the campaign.
Of those three sides, only Sunderland's margin of 16 points from the team in 17th was greater than the 14-point gap that United currently trail Newcastle by.
Huddersfield, Derby and Sunderland all finished bottom in their respective seasons, with Derby's 11-point tally in 2007/08 being the lowest in Premier League history.
