I think that is partly down to Sheff Utd's gameplan, they deserve credit for constantly closing us down and forcing us to recycle/look backwards to keep possession, which made us look a little slower and more laboured in the build up, to your point. They didn't give us any time on the ball in midfield and snapped into their tackles all day - yes some of those tackles may have been a bit overzealous, but their gameplan was effective in stopping us being as fluent as we have been previously.
I also thought MAF was total garbage when he came on, offered nothing wide right. Should have been up top as part of a 2 with Armstrong, holding up the ball.