Paul Heckingbottom sends warning to his Sheffield United team after heavy defeat at Coventry City

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom criticised the way his side defended at Coventry City today, as he insisted they must see this as a ‘wake up call’.

#sufc PH: "It's got to be a wake up call. We've got to learn from it. I've not seen us defend like that in my time working with the players – this year or last."

— Andy Giddings (@SportGids1) March 12, 2022

The Blades made the trip to the Midlands in high spirits after a convincing 4-1 success over Middlesbrough in the week that saw them move into the play-off places.

And, it look as though they would build on that when they went ahead against the Sky Blues thanks to a Sander Berge header. But, the Yorkshire outfit fell apart after, with Coventry going on to score four times to seal an emphatic victory.

Unsurprisingly, Heckingbottom was not at all happy after the game, and he told reporter Andy Giddings that the team need to improve moving forward.

“It’s got to be a wake up call. We’ve got to learn from it. I’ve not seen us defend like that in my time working with the players – this year or last.”

Despite the defeat, Sheffield United remain fifth in the table, although they are just three points ahead of 11th place, highlighting how tight the league is right now.

The verdict

This was a very bad day at the office for Sheffield United and because they’ve been generally consistent over the past few months, you can let them have that without looking too deep into it.

Nevertheless, Heckingbottom is right to criticise the players for how they defended and they need to know this can’t be repeated.

Now, it’s all about bouncing back and the Blades will be glad they have a midweek trip to Blackpool as they look to get this defeat out of their system quickly, even if that