Chris Wilder says Phil Parkinson has assembled a “really good team” as his Sheffield United side prepare to face Wrexham this weekend.
The Blades currently sit 15th in the Championship, 10 points adrift of the seventh-placed Red Dragons who are only out of the play-off places on goal difference.
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Before the meeting of the sides at Bramall Lane on Saturday (15:00 GMT), Wilder was keen to praise his former Southampton academy team-mate Parkinson for the job he has done since taking charge of Wrexham in 2021.
“No matter what goes on at Wrexham, and there’s a lot of noise in terms of the progression of the football club and the story that goes behind everything, but they’ve still got to win games of football,” Wilder said in a press conference.
“Phil, from his point of view, he’s assembled a really good team. To win consistently is all credit to him and [assistant coach] Steve Parkin and the coaching staff in getting it right off the pitch as well.
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“If we don’t meet the fight head on and we don’t compete physically, then this becomes a really difficult game. We understand the challenges ahead of us, we understand their record and the players they’ve got.”
Only Millwall and Norwich City have amassed more than Wrexham’s total of 32 points since Parkinson’s team came from 3-1 down to beat the Blades 5-3 in north Wales on 26 December.
And Wilder says his side must be significantly better than they were at Stok Cae Ras if they are to secure a positive result this time around.
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“It was a really disappointing afternoon for us on Boxing Day,” added Wilder.
“I don’t think we did ourselves any favours with the goals we conceded. We got outfought and outrun which, for me, wasn’t acceptable on the afternoon, and I made my feelings clear to the players.
“They (Wrexham) deserve their position in the division through what they’ve done, especially the run they’ve been on since they played us. They’re a formidable opponent that we’ve got to try and overcome.”
