From afar, the intense battle for automatic promotion in the Championship is an enthralling spectacle to watch.
But, for those locked deep in it, there is nothing more nerve-wracking, with one minor misfire squandering your chances of an instant path up to the Premier League.
Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United have found out the hard way how cruel the tense promotion fight can be, with the one-time leaders now out of the top two after two humbling losses on the spin.
Time is still on their side to atone for these missteps, but Wilder will need to be more cutthroat with his team selections and drop underperformers, with Ben Brereton Diaz’s first-team spot on shaky ground.
Why Brereton Diaz needs to be dropped
The Chilean attacker won’t be deemed as a blunder in the transfer market, however, with Brereton Diaz boasting a mildly impressive three goals and three assists from 14 encounters since joining on loan in January.
But, to the dismay of the Blades faithful watching on alongside his manager, the usually potent forward was largely anonymous in the last two defeats against Oxford United and Millwall.
Minutes played
59
45
Goals scored
0
0
Assists
0
0
Shots
0
2
Touches
20
21
Accurate passes
7/10 (70%)
9/14
Possession lost
7x
6x
Looking at the table above, it’s clear that Brereton Diaz has been massively underperforming to the detriment of his promotion-chasing side, with only two shots registered in total across a combined 104 minutes versus the U’s and Alex Neil’s visitors.
Moreover, his wastefulness on the ball as a right winger has killed many an attacking opportunity, with possession given up a high seven times at the Kassam Stadium, despite only mustering up a weak 20 touches of the ball.
Wilder substituting off the Southampton loanee at the half-time interval versus Millwall could mean he’s willing to drop the 25-year-old completely for his side’s mammoth trip to Plymouth Argyle later on, therefore, which might potentially gift this exciting winger the chance to nail down a starting spot on the right subsequently.
How Wilder can replace Brereton Diaz
After all, if the Blades do decide to go all gung-ho on their travels to Devon, they could gain a lot of joy from a leaky, relegation-doomed side in the Pilgrims, considering Plymouth have given up a high 81 goals in league action.
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Jesurun Rak-Sakyi could be licking his lips at the prospect of a start at Home Park, consequently, with the Crystal Palace loanee gifting his side a lot more on the right flank last time out than the out-of-sorts Brereton Diaz.
Across his bright 45-minute stint on the Bramall Lane turf, Rak-Sakyi managed to tally up three more shots than his poor counterpart, on top of also twisting and turn Millwall shirts for fun with three successful dribbles, as per Sofascore.
Winning 100% of his ground duels too, the 22-year-old attacker would have been kicking himself that he didn’t add to his growing goal and assist tally for the club in the unfortunate 1-0 defeat, having picked up six strikes and two assists away from this second successive loss.
Hailed as a “remarkable” player by former Eagles boss Roy Hodgson, Rak-Sakyi would love to close out his memorable stint in South Yorkshire with a promotion on his fledgling CV.
With double the amount of strikes compared next to Brereton Diaz’s league output – on top of his promising cameo against Millwall – the time could be right to hand the entertaining youngster a start, as Wilder attempts to roll the dice subtly to get his team’s stuttering promotion push back on course.
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