Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has said there was “no hiding place” for him and his players after they suffered their 15th Premier League defeat of the season at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Jeffrey Schlupp and Eberechi Eze scored a goal apiece as Palace heaped more misery on United with a 2-0 victory, leaving the Blades bottom of the table with two points, 11 adrift of the safety zone.

Wilder’s side have not won in 17 league games this season — the longest winless run from the start for an English top-flight side.

“We don’t look like an established club,” Wilder said.

“We are obviously not and we are fighting to gain that and it’s going to be an incredible struggle to do that from the position we are in.

“We’re obviously disappointed with the stats we’re being reminded of. It’s a harsh league when you’re off the pace as we have been for a long time, so it’s tough. There’s no hiding place for me and the players.”

The Blades were last season’s surprise package, when the promoted side finished ninth, but they have struggled with injuries in their fight for top-flight survival this season.

“I keep saying (that) people will always compare us to last year… Last year is last year and we can’t do anything about that,” Wilder said.

“That was us at our best… (with) no major injuries and players playing to the best of their abilities.

“(Today) we had nine missing players which would have hurt us even in League One, where we were four-and-a-half years ago.

“Both penalty boxes have decided the game and we weren’t good enough in either.”

Sheffield faces Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup third round on Jan. 9, before hosting Newcastle United in the league three days later.

Pope Francis has hailed fellow Argentine Diego Maradona as a “poet” on the pitch, but also acknowledged his frailty away from the sport.

In a wide-ranging interview with Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport published on Saturday, Francis recalled his own days playing soccer as a child with a ball made of rags and laid bare his scorn for doping cheats.

Francis is a big soccer fan and met Maradona, who died in November, several times after becoming pope in 2013.

“On the field he was a poet, a great champion who gave joy to millions of people, in Argentina as in Naples. He was also a very fragile man,” Francis said.

Maradona played for Napoli from 1984 to 1991 winning two Serie A titles and the UEFA Cup.

In 1986, he captained the Argentine team to victory in the World Cup.

Despite his love for the game, Francis said he was living in Germany at the time and was not able to see the final played in Mexico against West Germany.

He only discovered the result the next day when a student wrote “Viva Argentina” on the blackboard during a language class.

“I personally remember it as a victory of loneliness because I had no one to share the joy of that sporting victory with,” he said.

Francis said he himself had no talent for the sport and was forced by his companions to play in goal.

“But being a goalkeeper was a great school of life for me. The goalkeeper must be ready to respond to dangers that can come from all sides,” he said.

Being poor, he recalled how he and his friends could not afford a proper ball, so had to improvise: “All we needed was a ball made of rags to have fun and perform.”

While extolling the virtues of sports, Francis took aim at athletes who took performance enhancing drugs.

“Doping in sport is not only cheating, it is a shortcut that destroys dignity,” he said.

“Better a clean defeat than a dirty victory. I wish this for the whole world, not just the world of sport.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo was left frustrated after his side let slip a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday and said his players paid the price for lack of game management.

Aaron Connolly gave Brighton an early lead but Romain Saiss levelled with a header before Dan Burn scored an own goal and Ruben Neves converted a penalty to put Wolves in command by halftime.

But Neal Maupay’s penalty straight after the interval gave Brighton hope and captain Lewis Dunk headed in a Leandro Trossard cross in the 70th minute to help Graham Potter’s side snatch a point.

“The first half, every time we attacked, we were dangerous. I felt the game was in our control. It’s just a question of sticking together and I think the team has the ability to do much better.

“We have to be more responsible. There’s no excuse. As a team, we should have performed better. We give credit to Brighton but I felt it was more about us than our opponent.”

“We have to rebalance our squad in terms of positions we’re missing,” he said. “But we trust the young boys, we try to support them. This is the way we work. We don’t have to panic.”

The result left Wolves in 13th place on 22 points from 17 games. They face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on Friday.

By Moses Omorogieva

President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Ibrahim Gusau says the federation plans to focus on improving the lot of its athletes in 2021.

Gusau made the promise in a statement signed by AFN Director General, Pepple Young in Lagos on Friday.

Gusau said that the board will also work towards making the federation one of the strongest in the country in 2021.

“On our part, we have put a lot of programmes in place for 2021 and beyond to ensure that we make our federation one of the strongest, most focused and articulate.

“We are determined to improve the lots of our athletes, develop the sport and take our place in the scheme of world athletics.

“This year, we shall not only focus on the athletes as it relates to competitions. We shall expand our activities to include: athletes’ education, enlightenment and upgrading of coaches technicalities.

“Training/improvement of the skills of officiating officials, training of administrative officials, establishment and launching of an interactive data-driven website and encouragement and support of meet organisers,” he said.

The federation president said that AFN will organise seminars and workshops as well as sponsor relevant professionals on courses to acquisition of the much required knowledge, skills and exposure towards achieving its aim. (NAN)