'A bit of adjustment in January will make us stronger'published at 18:14 30 December 2023
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder speaking to BBC Match of the Day about the daunting task of facing Man City: "It is when you walk out and they have five trophies staring at you! There is a reason they have those trophies. It's a really difficult one even for teams that are close to City. There's a big difference between the clubs in terms of what they put out and the quality they possess. I have full amount of respect for Pep [Guardiola] and the players and their attitude to the game. We tried to be pragmatic and stay in the game as the majority of teams do at the Etihad and we have to take those half chances in big moments and we didn't.
"I'm looking on reflection on six games and I've been delighted with the players' attitude and how they've worked with what we've had to do. Now we have an FA Cup game and a few days we can work on the training ground, I'm sure we can get better in the second part of the season.
"It was quite a long afternoon for everybody connected to Sheffield United. We have some young players that will learn from this experience. There's not a lot of Premier League experience in the group so we can take something from the game but I'm looking at the six games I've had in charge and we've had some incredible challenges. We're a bit disappointed that we've not taken more points, we've had a couple of missed opportunities.
"A bit of adjustment in January will make us stronger and better. They're strong together and that's easy to see, this is a group that have a great attitude and now we need to get better in our play in and out of possession.
"There's a fight in us, we have to be competitive and narrow the gap. There's a fight in us and I'm clearly seeing that and the supporters are too. We need to be better at the other parts of the game, away from the fight. We've conceded some poor goals but when the players walk off they have left everything out there."
On plans to do business in January: "Yes, we've had some meetings on recruitment. It's been very positive, hopefully in that players will move out and you don't want to carry anybody so there will be some going out and some coming in to make us better. It's the first time in the Premier League for a lot of these players and we'll take it game by game."