Sheffield United boss, Chris Wilder, has hit out because Mikel Arteta used the drinks break to deliver instructions to his side, going against a directive.

Playing the small club v big club card, Wilder has accused the ‘big’ sides of looking after themselves.

Woe is him, eh?

“We were told before the game against Arsenal we weren’t allowed to give team talks, and then I saw Mikel start delivering one,” Wilder told the press.

“I thought, ‘That rule, that directive, we got from the Premier League, has gone straight out the window’,”.

“It’s obvious what’s going off. If you look, there aren’t many people having a drink. The game’s changed now. It’s not two halves, it’s four quarters with a time-out in between.”

The quote was also reported elsewhere as, “We were told against Arsenal we weren’t allowed to give team talks and then I saw Arteta gather his troops and start delivering a team talk and I thought that rule has gone straight out the window.

“It’s obvious to everybody what’s going on. If you look, there aren’t many people having a drink, they’re having a little sip and there’s quite a lot of huddling going on and managers and coaches getting into the players.”

Wilder was against the change to allow teams a drinks break in each half along with five substitutes before football returned.

He also had nothing to say about Jose Mourinho doing it in a more recent match. Funnily enough, Sheffield United didn’t lose that match.

I’ll admit, I’ve been a bit distracted with some personal stuff since the restart so haven’t been paying as much attention to every game as I normally would, but I’m fairly sure I’ve seen just about every break used to deliver instructions to players.

Personally, I think he’s just sore at losing to Arsenal, which is fair enough given the state of us before that game.