Chris Wilder trying to work out how to cut out the clusters when Sheffield United bomb

Brighton and Hove Albion scored their goals in two chunks during Sunday's 5-0 win with their first two and last three coming inside 10-minute blocks. They also came in two chunks at home to Aston Villa.

Defeats to Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal (twice in the same game), Chelsea, Luton Town and Brighton in the FA Cup featured spells of two goals in 10 minutes or fewer, Burnley scored three in seven at Turf Moor and the Blades shipped four in 18 in the 8-0 loss at home to Newcastle United.

"A trend and a trait which is not great and just takes the game away is the concession of quick-fire goals which has happened too many times," said Wilder.

"It’s something that we have to do so much better, and where does that come from? Does it come from experience, does it come from leadership? We’re trying to work it out but certainly, from an attitude point of view, this is really hurting us.

"It’s an attitude, basically at times, just keep the ball out of the back of their net."

Sometimes it means battening down the hatches, as the Blades did at 2-0 and a man down for over 50 minutes against Brighton, only to re-open the door.

"People I should imagine might look at it as a defeatist attitude," he said of Sunday’s approach. "It’s a realistic attitude.

"I went to watch Leicester last year against Man City. They went negative for 75 minutes, Jamie Vardy was on the edge of his box and the gulf between Leicester City and Man City at the time was not a big one. You have to be pragmatic as well as optimistic."