City claimed a hugely important home win over their Yorkshire rivals

Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent

12:00, 05 Oct 2025

Chris Wilder with Sergej Jakirovic after Hull City’s 1-0 win over Sheffield United(Image: Richard Lee/Shutterstock)

Chris Wilder was furious with his Sheffield United side after watching the hapless Blades lose for an eighth time in the opening nine games of the Championship season at resurgent Hull City, going down 1-0.

For the second time this year, Wilder watched on from the sidelines as his charges failed to break down a resolute Tigers side and fell to defeat.

Back in January, it was a 3-0 success for City at Bramall Lane under Ruben Selles, but on Saturday, David Akintola’s first Tigers goal on the half-hour was enough to seal a third home win for Sergej Jakirovic’s men in the early weeks of the season.

Harrison Burrows saw a late penalty saved by Tigers stopper Ivor Pandur, but in truth, United struggled to create against a resolute City outfit. Gus Hamer came closest with a driven effort off the post in the first half but the penalty side, the visitors from South Yorkshire were kept at arm’s length, just as Southampton were two weeks earlier.

The Blades’ first loss at the MKM Stadium in five visits leaves Wilder with three defeats in his first four games since replacing Selles last month, and he pulled no punches about the state of things afterwards with his side rooted to the foot of the Championship.

“I’m not here to talk about performance,” Wilder fumed in conversation with Sky Sports. “We’re here to win, (I’ve) won the majority of times in my professional career as a coach and a manager, so whatever you say about performance, of course, you want to play well, it gives you a good opportunity, a better opportunity, but I just said there to the players: that’s a typical Championship game.

“What are the things that we had to deal with before the game? We had to wrap Oli McBurnie up. Got a lot of respect for Oli. He didn’t really do a lot.

“Ryan Giles’ delivery off the left, apart from a slip first half, defend crosses which we have done so far, but we didn’t (defend) one ball they found, a great delivery, and (we’ve) filled the box. We’ve done that because that’s what we’ve done in terms of the preparation.

“And then the flip side of it, we’ve got into so many good positions, but if we can’t find that, final run pass, cross and finish, then games are going to be decided by the odd bit. They found a cross, great finish, and we’ve had x5 (of those chances).

“We want our team to play well, but we’ve got to get a result. No hard luck stories, yeah, we’ve hit a post and we should score first half and we missed a penalty, but we’re in this position because of our doing.

“The four games that we’ve had now (under Wilder), we should have picked up something from all four of them, and we haven’t, so we have to look hard and long at ourselves first and foremost.

“It has to come. There’s enough quality in there, there’s enough know-how, there’s enough experience. There’s enough quality in the coaching staff to put them in those positions, but unfortunately, I can’t go out and play in the positions.

“They have to find, we have to find those moments that basically decide games of football. There was no issue, first off, and from a tactical point of view.

“It’s a game that was lost in our changing room, really, not won in their changing room, and I’m not being disrespectful. They’ve had a decent start, but we get into so many of those positions. We have to find that moment of quality, and if we don’t find that, then we’re not gonna change the outcome of games.

“If we do get that first goal, then hopefully things seem a little bit freer, but I never saw an anxious team out there. I just saw that we got into some really good positions.

“It’s not that if another team says yes and we say yes, that another team blows us away. The game has been decided in terms of, not from a tactical point of view, just from a quality point of view, when we get into those positions to punish people and put teams to bed.

“Whether it’s a penalty, whether it’s a corner, whether it’s a final finish, whether it’s a pocket that we get into that we’re scruffy with, whether it’s general play, we get into those positions and we have to put teams to bed. Goals change the attitudes of games one hundred per cent, and we’re not finding that quality that we’ve got.

“We need patience, of course, we do. We need time to work, but players have got to give their heads a shake as well. I’m not going to rub their heads for the sake of rubbing it. They’re at a fabulous football club, playing for a great team, and we’re in a situation that we’re in.

“We’ll try and help them find the answers, but at times players have got to find the answers as well. Doing extra work on the training ground will help us in terms of where we want to get.

“It’s really frustrating because in a week where we started off really well with an away win at Oxford, we should have got something from the game on Tuesday night and definitely should have got something from the game here, and we haven’t, so incredibly frustrating for me and the supporters and as you imagine the players as well.”

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