Sheffield United boss Slavisa Jokanovic took to Twitter yesterday to communicate directly with Blades fans, reassuring fans his side will be hard at work in training during the international break in a bid to overturn their fortunes.

The South Yorkshire outfit have struggled to thrive and establish themselves as promotion competitors in the Championship this term despite retaining the core of their squad from their time in the Premier League and recruiting a promotion-winning manager to permanently succeed Chris Wilder at the end of May.

A torrid start to the 2021/22 campaign hasn't helped their cause, winning just two points from a possible 15 in their opening five league games and scoring just once in over 450 minutes of second-tier football.

 

 

But their recent consistencies have also contributed to the failure to stop their decline, going winless in their last three games and looking as though their automatic promotions chances are non-existent already, sitting 19 points behind second-placed Fulham with just 17 games gone.

Even a top-six is getting further and further away, as they currently sit in 18th position and seven points adrift of the play-off zone during this international break.

This is a major shock to many people associated with United, not least manager Jokanovic who has won promotion from the Championship with Watford and Fulham in the past and wouldn't have expected such a slow start after labelling his Blades team the best squad he has inherited in England.

Taking to Twitter to provide a short message to the second-tier side's fans yesterday as they endure another international, he said: "A couple of weeks of hard work at the training ground and we go again."

With his side performing well under expectations, it would be understandable if there was fan scepticism over his tactics and approach, given the quality of players at his disposal.

But how did they react to this message from the Serbian? Wanting to get behind the message? Using this as a chance to fire their fury at the 53-year-old?

We take a look at a selection of responses.