Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuettl has backed his struggling Sheffield United counterpart Chris Wilder to turn the Premier League club's fortunes around but hopes it is after Sunday's meeting between the teams.
Sheffield United finished ninth on their return to the top flight last season but have struggled in the current campaign and sit bottom of the table with a solitary point from 11 games.
The Blades have lost their last six matches heading into the clash at St Mary's and former RB Leipzig boss Hasenhuettl said he knows from experience that the second year following a promotion is always difficult.
"The first year you have a lot of emotions and only have the positive experience of the championship," Hasenhuettl told a news conference on Friday.
"I had the same experience at Leipzig so it's not a surprise that they have a bad start, but they are still a good side and we have to be very careful.
"He (Wilder) has done a fantastic job at this club and will also get the time to turn things around and he'll do everything to find the right answers, hopefully he'll do it after Sunday."
Wilder said his team must remain upbeat despite their poor form this season.
"It is not a good run but there have been cases where teams have been on losing runs and still achieved what they've wanted to," Wilder told reporters.
"We're part of that, we have to accept we haven't been good enough. People can talk about statistics all day long and playing well in the majority of games, but I'm honest in my assessment and we haven't done enough."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
