Last season failed to upgrade at the last minute, and this season lost four consecutive times to the bottom of the Championship

The English Champions League upgraded to the semi-finals of the play-offs last season. Sheffield United defeated Bristol City with a total score of 6:0 in two rounds, easily entering the play-off finals, and only one step away from returning to the Premier League.

They have lost every game since then.

They were defeated by Sunderland in the last minute at Wembley Stadium and missed their chances of upgrading. After the start of the new season, they lost all four games and are currently ranked at the bottom of the Championship. They are also the only team in the English fourth-level professional league this season without points.

A crazy decision?

Although it ranked third in the Champions League stage with 90 points last season, after losing the upgraded playoff final, the club's US boss COH Sports made a decision to part ways with head coach Chris Wilder in less than three weeks, replaced by Espanyol Ruben Celes.

This is Wilder's second time playing for his hometown club. He led Sheffield United from the Premier League to the first time he coached, while Celes was fired by Hull City at the end of last season because they avoided relegation to the League One by only relying on their goal difference.

BBC Sheffield Radio Sports reporter Adam Oxley said: "The firing of Wilder, the most successful head coach in club history, is a huge gamble by the club owners, and to some extent, a surprising decision."

"New owners usually want to put their own people in charge, but Chris Wilder received a new long-term contract a month after COH Sports acquired Sheffield in December. Who would have thought that the two sides would part ways after less than five months.

"Decision to replace Wilder with Ruben Celes, the head coach who has not proved himself, seems to have exacerbated the risk of the board and exacerbated the division among the club's fans, some still supporting Wilder, and others questioned Wilder's approach last season. ”

" The change in the club's signing strategy seems to be the core reason why Wilder left, and he may leave even if the club won the final of the upgrade play-off in May. ”

The new season begins, Sheffield United lost 1:4 to Bristol City in the first round of the Championship, and they defeated their opponents by an overwhelming advantage less than three months ago. After the game, Celes' decision to keep players on the court was criticized by some people. In the League Cup, this team with a big change in line defeated Birmingham City 1:2 away, and then they lost 0:1 to Swansea, Millwall and Middlesbrough with the same score of 0:1, which made them ranked last in the Championship and did not score in more than five hours.

"Summer of Chaos" changed Too many?

Although the departure of some players after the defeat in the Premier League was expected, the departure of defenders Anel Ahmed Hodzic, midfielder Vini Sousa and forward Kiefer Moore hurt the team's core framework.

The signings are progressing slowly, with only two loan players Taylor Binden and Louis Barry joining the team in the season opening against Bristol City, and before a away challenge to Swansea a week later, Celes told the media that the club did not do well enough in the transfer market.

"With only 10 days left in the transfer window, Sheffield United adopted what the local 'AI' Method’, signed two unknown players from the Bulgarian League, and also loaned three young players from the Premier League and Portugal," Oxley added.

"Then, before and on the transfer deadline, nine more players signed, including experienced players, long-term contracts, eye-catching loan players, and paying huge transfer fees to win Jafit Tanganga, who is the target of Tangganga Wilder's signing.

"Is this the original plan? Or has the club's transfer strategy changed as the transfer window ended? We can only guess because COH Sports has not received any interviews since taking over Sheffield United."

After introducing experienced forward Danny Ins, Atlanta defender Ben Godfrey and Millwall defender Tanganga (permanent transfer), Sheffield United became one of the most active clubs on the transfer deadline.

defenders Ben Mi and Mark McGuinness, midfielder Alex Matos and forward Chio Oberni have all joined, while former captain Jack Robinson is allowed to travel to Birmingham.

"The summer has been a mess since the sack of Wilder," said former Reading and Watford midfielder Joby McCarnoff.

"From what I've seen, the way Ruben Celes formed the team didn't impress me - he hasn't gotten the team to the best yet."

"He may not have got the tools he needed to form a team that can achieve results, which gave him a little excuse, but he should do better with his current roster."

"But in terms of what he's achieved now, no excuse works." What does the statistics show?

In Sheffield United's history, only the 1995-96 season started worse than it is now.

They were in the Premier League that season, lost all of the first five games of the season, and ranked second to last on Christmas day. Things didn't start to get better until December after Howard Kendall replaced Dave Bassett and ranked 9th in the Premier League at the end of the season.

Their performance on the court has not been as bad as the results show, but it does not give people a big reason for optimism.

In terms of goal opportunities, Sheffield United has so far averaged 1.21 goals in four Championship games, ranking 15th out of 24 teams.

On the other hand, they averaged 1.38 goals conceded and are currently ranked 14th in the league.

Their average possession rate is 58.1%, ranking fifth in the Champions League, nearly 7% higher than last season's average possession rate.

However, last season their average expected goals were 1.37 and expected conceded only 1.01. They can reach the last minute of the upgrade game, relying on solid defense.

Under Wilder's leadership, the team only conceded 7 goals until the 14th round of last season. This season they only used four games to reach this goal conceded.

Celles is already under pressure?

Celles is under pressure from fans? No doubt, yes.

After the first game's crushing defeat, an angry fan called Sheffield Radio's iconic football call "praise or complain" and said the Spaniard should leave.

Although the fan was a bit overly aggressive, after losing to Middlesbrough at the end of the month, some Sheffield United fans shouted to fire Celes on the spot. When Celes came to greet the fans after the game, they were responded in an angry manner.

Oxley said: "So many deals have been completed later in the summer transfer window, and it seems fair to give Ruben Celes some time to adapt to the new roster because he has not been given new players for a long time, and he publicly hopes to get more than five new players."

"But we all know that football sometimes has no fairness, and results are the criterion for measuring coaches. Commentators, media and fans are all unhappy with the team's performance so far."

If people start to see signs of the intense, exciting, offensive style that the team promised in the summer, he may get some wiggle room even if the game is not satisfactory, and the next away game against Ipswich is crucial. "

" If the game does not show hope, the Spaniard may not be able to survive this autumn. ”

In any case, the former Reading coach knew that it was necessary to improve his performance and be quick.

In an interview this week, he said: "You know what it means to play for Sheffield United, especially in the Championship, and our requirement is to play at the best level and strive to win every game. ”

"Our lineup was adjusted very late and it changed a lot. We don’t have time to make excuses, we have to go all out and strive to win the next game. ”

What will be next?

Today, Sheffield United will challenge Ipswich, who has also not won away, and this game looks very difficult. If the fifth consecutive loss is coming, then Celes will be in a difficult situation next Saturday's home match against newly promoted Charlton.

They will then visit Oxford to face Oxford United. Before the next international match day, Celes will challenge two former clubs - Southampton at home and Hull City away.

In the history of the English Championship, 200 Sunderland in the 5-06 season and Nottingham Forest in the 2021-22 season both recovered from a four-game losing streak in the first half of the season to complete the upgrade. After all, the league still has 42 rounds to play.

Having said that, no team has been able to rebound strongly after losing streak on the fifth straight season to finally upgrade, and considering that the game Sheffield United lost to Sunderland in May meant that they had missed their ten upgrades in the playoffs, fans may hope that they all can get the top two to upgrade directly.

Now it seems that these dreams are still far away.