Sheffield United lauded for signing 'brilliant' leader - Chris Wilder likes him | OneFootball

Ben Mee won Man of the Match on his full Sheffield United debut, and FLW's Blades fan pundit believes his leadership is just what his team needed.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Sheffield United finally registered their first points of the season at Oxford on Saturday, and the performance of Ben Mee on his full Blades debut was their most striking of all.

It took them seven games to get there, but Sheffield United finally kick-started their 2025-26 season with a 1-0 win at Oxford United on Saturday.

Following seven straight defeats in the League, the sacking of Ruben Selles, and the return of Chris Wilder for a third stint at Bramall Lane, the Blades ground out a narrow win at The Kassam Stadium to finally get some points on the board.

And of all the players' performances, that of Ben Mee was the most striking of all.

The former Burnley and Brentford defender put in a robust performance at the heart of the Blades' defence on his first starting appearance for them, as they achieved their first clean sheet of the season.

"A brilliant signing for Sheffield United" - Ben Mee hailed over his full Blades debut

With all of that in mind, Football League World have spoken to our resident Sheffield United fan pundit Jimmy about Mee's solid showing for the Blades, and he was very enthusiastic about the defender's full debut for his club: "Ben Mee has been a brilliant signing for Sheffield United, a really astute, clever signing. We've lacked leaders in our side for some time. We've a very young team and I think that the addition of Ben Mee - and Danny Ings, as well - brings a lot of experience to the changing room, which we've lacked."

Jimmy feels that Mee showed incredible leadership skills for the Blades on the pitch on Saturday, which his team had been missing for some time: "Ben Mee's a leader both on the pitch and off, so it's great to have him in and amongst it, but when he came into the side against Oxford, he demonstrated why he was a leader. He led by example, as well as being that leader off the pitch. "

And Jimmy is optimistic that Mee can now offer that stability to his team on a more regular basis, and that this can seriously help his team after a dire start to a season which began with high expectations: "So he's absolutely someone that we needed. I think it's one of those intangibles that's really difficult to measure in terms of the impact he can have, but he played well on the field as well, he won Man of the Match, so I'm hoping that he's going to be a regular in the Sheffield United side this season because I do think it will help push us up the table."

"Leadership" is a difficult skill-set that's difficult to quantify, but Ben Mee's Oxford showing demonstrated it

Ben Mee signed for Sheffield United on a one-year deal with an option to extend at the very end of the summer transfer window, after having been released by Brentford at the end of the 2024-25 season. His first appearance for the club was delayed by the international break, although he was also an unused substitute for their 5-0 defeat at Ipswich Town and their 1-0 home defeat against Charlton Athletic.

Mee arrived at Bramall Lane with over 400 appearances under his belt for his two previous clubs, Brentford and Burnley, and he put this experience to good use with a commanding display at the Kassam Stadium against Oxford United, he started in the left-sided centre-back position, though his heat map for the season so far shows how he's able to support the left-hand side of their midfield as well as occasionally being able to get into attacking positions.

But the matter of "leadership" is more difficult to assess on the basis of statistics or heat maps. What can be said for certain is that experience counts for a lot, when it comes to having this sort of influence in the dressing room. Younger squads of players might easily start to feel overwhelmed when things aren't going their way on the pitch, and the influence of someone who's been there before - and four of Mee's eleven seasons at Turf Moor were spent in the Championship - could well help to calm the nerves of younger players who might not have been in the sort of position in which Sheffield United have found themselves before.

Mee couldn't follow that up with another match-winning performance against Southampton the following Tuesday, but the early signs are that he could be an extremely valuable signing for the Blades. While the outcome of the Saints match was another letdown for supporters who hoped that their team had turned a significant corner with their first league win of the season, it's clear that Sheffield United have improved with the return of Chris Wilder, and that Mee could play a key role in getting his new club away from the Championship relegation places and pushing towards sunnier climes.