Chris Wilder calls for calmness at Sheffield United despite winning run

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder said his side “shouldn’t get carried away” with themselves after their emphatic 4-0 victory over Stoke 4-0 at Bramall Lane.

First-half goals from Mark McGuinness, Femi Seriki and Patrick Bamford paired with a Sydie Peck penalty made it four wins from four Sky Bet Championship games for the Blades.

It was largely one-way traffic with Stoke offering little attacking threat.

Wilder said: “I think it was an outstanding performance today. We knew we had to be good today and we were; Stoke are where they are in the league for a reason.

“People will see our result today and think if we win our next couple we’ll be back to our best, but it doesn’t work like that, you have to be absolutely on it at all times.

“We are a team who should be in the top half of the division. We aren’t at the moment, but we’re climbing up the table and we’re trying to get there.

“Every game is a big opportunity for us. I just want to win and I want the players to crave that winning feeling. If it doesn’t come, accept it, deal with the disappointment and go again.

“This is a decent little period for us and we should enjoy it, but we can’t take our foot off the gas and we shouldn’t get carried away with ourselves. We’ve achieved nothing yet.

“You have to be bold in your approach to play for this football club; you are going to be tested. This league is ridiculously unpredictable, but I don’t want us to be.

“We have a tough game against Norwich on Tuesday where we’ll be looking to reproduce what we’ve done today.”

Stoke manager Mark Robins took responsibility for the hammering, which saw the Potters slip down to sixth in the table.

“Today’s performance was way below our expectations; we were physically and mentally second best all afternoon,” Robins said.

“We conceded from the corner and we were bullied from that point onwards which is really disappointing because I felt we looked a threat before that.

“We inexplicably lost our composure on the ball and we didn’t compete well enough. We weren’t good enough in and out of possession which is the first time I’ve said that in a long time.

“Sheffield United were always going to turn it around with Chris coming back in. They didn’t start the season so well, but this is a side that were in the play-offs last season.

“If we can’t compete against the likes of United we won’t be around the top end of the table come the end of the season. If we start taking things for granted in this league we will stop winning games of football.

“Don’t get me wrong, the lads have been brilliant all season. After this kind of performance people want you to hammer the players and sometimes managers pile in to protect themselves, but this is my team and I take responsibility.

“This one came out of the blue and it stings. We know this is a mental league where this can happen to anybody, but the good thing is we have another game coming up where we can show a reaction.”