Sheffield United confident important decision can help them cope

With the schedule ensuring United will enjoy precious little preparation time for a series of games not only set to decide if they reach the Premier League next term but also June’s FA Cup final as well, Heckingbottom concedes undertaking complex tactical work could be an impossibility between now and May 8th’s visit to Birmingham City.

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But describing how building “an established way of playing” helped United negotiate safe passage through a selection crisis which saw nearly half their squad sidelined ahead of the World Cup break, Heckingbottom said: “For me, right now, that identity is going to be everything. We’ve always given the lads the same information and definitely, at times like this that’s going to be vital. I don’t think you can overestimate just how important.

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“There’s going to be people who have to step in at very short notice and, because of how we’ve done things, they already understand what a good performance looks like. There isn’t going to be a lot of time for big training sessions, when the staff and I look to recreate actual game situations. It’s going to be rest and recover, a work out or two and then straight back to it. So it’s good that people have all of the knowledge we’ve already collected to fall back on. They know what they have to do.”

United finished the latest round of fixtures second in the Championship table and six points above third after beating Norwich City last weekend. They return to action when Wigan Athletic visit South Yorkshire on Friday before travelling to runaway leaders Burnley on Easter Monday. After also meeting Cardiff City and Bristol City, United then face Manchester City in the semi-finals of the cup at Wembley before concluding their push for the top-flight against West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End, Huddersfield Town and then Birmingham.

“I look at earlier in the season, when we had so many out, and that identity helped us,” Heckingbottom said. “It can do again.”

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