Wilder on Holgate, Brighton and momentum
- Published
Chris Wilder has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League match at home to Brighton.
Here are the key lines from the Sheffield United manager's news conference:
On trying to secure back-to-back Premier League wins: "It's difficult to get a point in the Premier League, difficult to get three points in the Premier League, difficult to beat a really talented side with an exceptional manager in the Premier League and we're going to have to do a lot of things right when it comes to getting what we want out of the game at the final whistle.
Wilder hopes to build some momentum after last week's win at Luton, stating: "We're after a win and if we get it that would be incredible and if we get a result then I'm sure we can use that again like we have done in the Luton game."
On facing Brighton: "The knowledge of the crowd is incredibly important on Sunday because I could set my team up just to go and get after Brighton. I could say we're going to go full press, man-for-man, stop them playing out from the back, we're going to get after them and stand on the halfway line - and I know what's going to happen. The way Brighton play, the way they move the ball, the way they want the game to be - they want that game. You have to make sure you get your plan right and you are patient. That doesn't mean you are passive."
Wilder says he wants his side to be "competitive and aggressive", with a dose of realism, adding: "Hopefully the supporters will see that and understand it. We all want to see what Jurgen Klopp calls 'heavy metal football'. We all aspire to that. I'd love my team to go out and play like that, but they've built that team over an enormous amount of years and have been super-successful under Jurgen and the players they bring in and how they develop it. But we have to be realistic. We're in the Premier League. It's not me being defeatist, it's not being negative. We understood what can happen when we lost our shape against Villa."
On injuries, Wilder said he was waiting for "another opinion" on Rhys Norrington-Davies but doesn't expect him to be back "for the next couple of weeks".
On Mason Holgate: "He's finding his feet. Vocally he was excellent. He has played in teams that have struggled in the past, a couple of times at Everton. He's a local boy who gets his hands dirty. He's fitted into the group really well."
