Now, as the Blades seek a third successive win against Bristol City at Bramall Lane tomorrow, Blackwell admits his players had "started to believe in our own complacency."

With the problem apparently cured by a no-holds-barred team meeting in the wake of the 6-0 Carling Cup crash at Arsenal, Blackwell said: "We came back from the international break and just didn't make things happen on the pitch.

"For me, it was a month of complacency and we had a long chat after the Arsenal game.

"Things had gone so well since I came here last season. Maybe we thought we'd arrived and had started to believe in our own complacency.

"That is a recipe for poor results. Once we'd had that meeting, I knew we'd beat Watford last Saturday and that's what happened."

United have since scrapped out a 2-0 win at Doncaster, albeit without playing well, and can look ahead with confidence - as long as there's no complacency.

The Brian Howard transfer saga was still ongoing as the Telegraph went to press - four days after United apparently agreed terms with both Barnsley and the player.

Blackwell would only say: "The two clubs are working to find a solution."

Charlton have also made a bid for the Oakwell midfielder who, if he joins United, will sign on loan pending a £600,000 transfer in January. Howard is understood to favour joining the Blades .

Sun Jihai has completed his four-match ban, which is timely considering Greg Halford is ruled out tomorrow.

The Chinese defender has been given a lucky break with Blackwell insisting: "I want the players to know it could take a while to get back in if they lost the shirt."

David Cotterill, even as a £1 million buy, has discovered that to his cost but is now back in contention. Blackwell will decide today on whether to offer terms to former Manchester City player Kiki Musampa who has been on trial along with ex-Leeds' left back Ian Harte.



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