"Bored" Chris Wilder's verdict on Sheffield United's spirited defeat at Man Utd and Wes Foderingham display

Chris Wilder admitted he was “bored” with talking about plaudits rather than points after his Sheffield United side’s spirited performance in defeat at Manchester United tonight. The Blades twice led at Old Trafford before losing 4-2, with home skipper Bruno Fernandes on target twice and adding an assist.

It was a much-improved display from the weekend defeat to Burnley but Wilder was left with a “bittersweet” feeling as he left the stadium. Goalkeeper Wes Foderingham justified his recall with a superb display, despite conceding four goals, but Wilder was left disappointed with the nature of some of the goals conceded as United moved to 92 conceded for the season, breaking the unwanted record set by Derby’s infamous 2007/08 group for the most conceded in a 38-game Premier League season.

"I'm a bit bored about saying that,” he responded when asked about having pride but no points. "There's been times when we've been exposed so we have to accept it and take responsibility.

"It's bittersweet, coming here in front of 75,000. I don't go with the narrative Man Utd are poor, you've got world-class players all over the park. You look at one teamsheet and the other teamsheet - that's the best team we can put out - and you expect to be under pressure and your goalkeeper to make some saves, which he did. Which is great because he’s a good pro.

"We scored two away from home to take the game deep, they're positives. The negatives yet again is if we make better decisions from a defensive point of view we come away with more, like we should have done with so many more points than we've got in my time here.

"That's the disappointing thing, the ball goes in the back of our net far too easily. Just as they find the big moments, there's an art to defending as well. It's both penalty areas and we yet again have been not great in terms of the goals that have gone in.