Sheffield United: '˜It's not about individuals, it's all about the group' says Chris Basham ahead of today's Yorkshire derby with Hull City

Chris Basham is ready for today's Yorkshire derby against Hull City: Simon Bellis/SportimageChris Basham is ready for today's Yorkshire derby against Hull City: Simon Bellis/Sportimage
Chris Basham is ready for today's Yorkshire derby against Hull City: Simon Bellis/Sportimage
Sheffield United centre-half Chris Basham is ready to answer his manager's SOS call by playing wing-back during today's meeting with Hull City, after insisting: '˜It's not about individuals here, it's all about the group.'

Doubts about the availability of George Baldock have overshadowed United’s preparations for this afternoon’s game against Leonid Slutsky’s side, with Chris Wilder acknowledging Basham is in pole position to deputise for the 24-year-old if he fails to recover from a hamstring complaint.

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Although Wilder recently admitted that being handed a fixed position in the starting eleven has improved Basham’s game, the player himself said: “I’ll always be 100 per cent for this team, no matter where I am on the pitch. If he (Wilder) wants me to stay at centre-half, I’ll do it. If he wants me to go into midfield to shake things up a little bit, I’ll do it. Here’s it’s not about individuals or egos. It’s all about the group.”

United will enter the Yorkshire derby third in the Championship table, despite being beaten by Queens Park Rangers in midweek. City, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, are 18th after suffering defeats to Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough.

“They’re an ex-Premier League side,” Basham said. “They’ve had ups and downs but they’ll be wanting three points against us at Bramall Lane. So we’ll have to get out there and do things right. The next game is always the most important one. This is the game we are concentrating on.”

“Obviously the gaffer came out and wasn’t happy about what happened (at QPR),” Basham added. “He was right. We let ourselves down a bit.”