BAFFLED Chris Wilder said he was going to hold a "big review" with his Sheffield United players ahead of the crucial game against his former side Middlesbrough, on the back of an underwhelming Blades display at the weekend.

United beat Portsmouth 2-1 at Bramall Lane on Saturday but Wilder admitted his side "didn't deserve anything from the game".

After cancelling out Sheffield United's opener, Portsmouth missed two open goals, hit the bar and had a goal ruled out for offside - only for substitute Jesuran Rak-Sakyi to grab the winner for Wilder's side.

With Sunderland slipping up at home to Watford and Burnley not playing in the league, second placed United opened up a three-point gap on the Clarets and five on the Black Cats.

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But Wilder says his players can't continue to perform as they did at the weekend and has demanded improvement, starting against Boro on Wednesday night.

“I don’t think we deserved anything from the game," he told the Sheffield Star.

"We were second best all over the park but it’s a cut-throat industry that we’re in. We’ll have a big review of the game, reflect and quickly get over it. I’m taking it back a little bit, and half the people who read your stuff won’t know about it, but Sir Alex Ferguson when they (Aberdeen) won a cup final against Rangers and had a right pop at his players. I’m not quite to that extent and we haven’t won a cup but we need to be better.

“We should have been two or three down first half; we defended really poorly, individually and as a unit. If they were more clinical they’d have put us to bed. The second half was a bit better, we had the luxury to change it around which we haven’t before.

"As I’ve said before, in a season there are 10 or 15 games you play really well. Some more when you play okay to well, and there are a handful where you think: ‘How have we got something from that game?’

“And I think that’s today. In the second half the amount of free-kicks we gave away was absolutely frightening. it was unrecognisable. "Some of the decisions we made were baffling. I’ve been brought up to be honest and tell the truth, there have been spin managers all over the place, that look and see a completely different game.

"But the supporters wouldn’t enjoy me trying to spin that, so I won’t. We were second best, didn’t deserve anything from the game. "And we have to be so much better going down the stretch if we want to achieve what we want to.”

Boro also need to improve after a run of four defeats in five games in all competitions.

That sequence has seen Michael Carrick's side fall out of the top six, though the teams directly behind in Norwich, Bristol City, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday all failed to win at the weekend.