Sheffield United positive made clear as "terrible situation with Hamer" revealed | OneFootball

The Blades are to be without last season's Player of the Year as Gustavo Hamer recovers from a knee injury

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...

Despite picking up their second win of the season against Watford, more bad news was bestowed upon Sheffield United fans, as star man Gustavo Hamer was spotted in a knee brace at the match.

The Dutchman, who won last season's Player of the Season in the Championship, missed the 1-0 win against the Hornets, and Chris Wilder disclosed the knee injury to be a "short to medium term" one.

Luckily enough, Hamer won't be enduring a year-long recovery period like teammate Ollie Arblaster has had to undergo, but any time that his creative genius is unavailable puts Sheffield United in a difficult position.

Jimmy, the host of the Blades Ramble and FLW's Sheffield United fan pundit, knows how much of a blow this is, but also feels that it gives an opportunity for others to step up and fill his shoes while he recovers.

As is the case when any side loses its star player, Hamer being unavailable for the Blades is a big issue, and one which has to be addressed quickly.

"Losing Gus Hamer is a huge blow for Sheffield United," Jimmy said. "There's no way of dressing it up that when the guy who was voted Player of the Year last season is ruled out, you're going to be at a disadvantage.

"He's a fantastic player, and you can look at his form early this season and throughout some spells in his career here; he may have been inconsistent, but ultimately he can turn up on any given day and be the best player on the field."

Hamer's quality has rarely been on show so far this season, but neither have a lot of the players at Bramall Lane. His half-way line goal in the EFL Cup against Birmingham City, however, showed that he still has that game-changing attribute in his locker.

Losing him is a blow, but Jimmy chooses to see the "silver linings" in the news. Now, it's up to others to drag Sheffield United out of the bottom three and up the table, and in Hamer's absence, different players will be allowed to come to the forefront.

"You can't argue that we're better without him, but what this does do is give others opportunities to step up, which we saw Callum O'Hare do against Watford in the number 10 role," Jimmy continued.

"We've seen other players step up and, instead of looking for Hamer to get us out of trouble, it's up to them to pull them out of the situation we are in.

"So that could be a silver lining to what is a terrible situation with Hamer being out."

Players need to step up immediately for Sheffield United

Putting it plainly, Sheffield United can't afford to hide in the wake of the injury news to Hamer, as the Blades need to rack up the points needed to get them out of this current early-season relegation scrap and back up the table.

The likes of Callum O'Hare and Tyrese Campbell will be heavily relied on now to fill the gap left by the Dutchman's injury, and so far they've done a sufficient job. The four league goals that the Blades have scored have been split evenly between the two, but others now need to stand and be counted.

The win against Watford finally took Chris Wilder's side off the foot of the Championship table, and now they have to adopt the only-way-is-up mindset.

Having Hamer fit and firing would be a good way to implement that, but now it's up to the supporting acts around him to step up and become the main characters of the Blades' season.