Change of guard in Sheffield United sees a change in fortunes

Sheffield United were relegated from the Premier League last season. They are currently biding their time in the Championship. Sheffield surprised many people last night after sneaking in a 1-0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

2020-21 PL season and relegation

Sheffield made a comeback to the Premier League in the 2018-19 season. Chris Wilder guided the club to a miraculous ninth in their first season in top flight football. However, they failed to build on from that as they were relegated the following season.

Sheffield United under Slavisa Jokanovic

Slavisa Jokanovic arrived earlier this summer to take charge of the club in the Championship. Interestingly, he was the first foreign head coach in their history.

Sheffield raised a good amount of cash in the transfer market after the club were forced to sell goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to Arsenal and midfielder John Lundstram to Rangers. However, they failed to attract Premier League players due to the lower quality of football on offer in the Championship. Sheffield only managed to get Ben Davies on loan from Liverpool and Robin Olsen from AS Roma.

Following an opening day stalemate against Swansea, Sheffield suffered an ignominious 4-0 defeat at the hands of West Bromwich Albion. This forced the Serbian tactician to switch from a 4-3-3 formation to a more stable 3-5-2. Despite some positive results early on, which included a stomping 6-2 win over Peterborough at home, the club struggled thereafter.

A run of indifferent results prevented Sheffield from getting any kind of momentum needed to earn a play-off spot. Successive defeats to Middlesbrough and Bournemouth further raised concerns about Sheffield's ambitions.

The inevitable sack

Jokanovic's end came close, even after drawing away at Nottingham Forest. A 3-1 defeat to lowly Blackburn Rovers signaled his death-knell. Four defeats in eight games was too much for the Sheffield hierarchy to take.

A turnaround of fortunes

Sheffield tasked Paul Heckingbottom with the objective of bringing them back into play-offs contention. Heckingbottom was hired only last season after Chris Wilder's departure. However, he failed to save them from relegation.

Heckingbottom's appointment was subsequently welcomed with mixed emotions.

Nevertheless, Heckingbottom wasted little time this time around to make his impact.

The switch in formation to a back-five brought about remarkable dividends. The club is now on a four-match winning streak under the new tenure. This included Monday night's stunning victory over Fulham as well.

For a club stuttering 16th in the table last month, they are now up to 11th just three points off sixth-placed Stoke City.