My brief thoughts on Carlos Carvalhal

As we sit on the eve of Christmas Sheffield Wednesday are contemplating a new era after today parting ways with Carlos Carvalhal. I wasn't going to write this but having thought about it for the last hour or so I feel I should. I think it's right I put to words my thoughts on his departure.

 

A lot has been said and written about Carlos and firstly I want to say he has handled himself with tremendous class and dignity since he walked through the door at S6. He took to Sheffield quickly and became very much one of us. He quickly gaged what the fan base was about and realised the potential of out club. That first season was fabulous, there were so many highs, the obvious 3-0 win over Arsenal, the play off semi finals against Brighton, beating Cardiff in the penultimate game of the season to seal 6th spot. I could go on, last season despite some moans and groans, we got better, we won more games and finished higher and truly believed back in the summer we could kick on. Why didn't we? There are many reasons and at 9PM on Christmas eve I can't say I can be bothered to go into them. It's for another day. Overall Carlos' time has come to an end, the atmosphere at the end of yesterday's clash with Middlesbrough was pretty bleak. The boos and calls for Carlos to go was tough to hear to be honest. I personally said he should have gone after Norwich, not that I think changing the manager would have made a major difference to the season but just to try and change something and lift some of the apathy that is around the club at the moment. You could argue he could have gone before that and yeah maybe but for me it was after that game down at Carrow Road. Quite a few have said he should have gone in May after the play offs and I can see the arguments for that however I'm pleased we at least gave Carlos a chance, I'm pleased we rewarded relative success from his first two seasons.

 

As for who takes over that's for Mr Chansiri and others to handle, there are a few names floating about. Some interesting some definite ones to stay away from. All I'll say is I hope whoever it is get's the 100% backing from our fans, we can't afford to become a club that goes through managers season after season. I'd prefer it to be done relatively quickly but If we must wait for the right man then so be it.

 

Finally I'd just like to once again thank Carlos for his hard work, dedication and the footballing memories he brought. I'll miss him, I hope in time he'll be remembered as fondly as he should. The only negative is it didn't quite end the way we all wanted it to.

 

Thanks Carlos, all the best.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Tom

Sheffield Wednesday 2017/18: The Story So Far

So after 16 games of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship Season I'd like to give my take on the current state of affairs at Sheffield Wednesday. I want to keep it strictly to on the pitch matters, we could be here all day if I went into the off the field matters, we all have an opinion on it and that can be saved for another blog in the near future.

 

Position

I'll begin with the most important statistic, the current league position. After 16 games we sit in 11th position with 23 points. Now while none of us would have taken that at the start of August it is important I think to remember we are only three points off the top 6. Is it inconceivable to think we will be in there in the next few weeks? I don't think so. If you look at the season so far there are several areas that people have picked up on. In my personal opinion the defensive issues we've had this season have been the biggest problem for us. Over the last three seasons we've accumulated 17, 17 and 16 clean sheets. That's a fairly decent record and to only have 2 at the moment is a bit of a worry. It's slightly ironic that after a wonderful performance at the weekend (a 2-1 away win at Aston Villa) I'm writing about the defensive solidity. If you look at some of the goals we've conceded this season they are preventable and hopefully the return of Glenn Loovens, a player I've been a massive fan of ever since he walked through the door, will add that calmness and leadership that seems to suit the players around him. Tom Lees for example looks half the player when Glenn Loovens isn't next to him. None of this is a slight on Joost Van Aken who in my opinion has done fairly well while here. It didn't take the fans long to take to him, singing his name after 25 minutes against Nottingham Forest. He's still learning the English game which is very different to the Dutch Eredivisie. Consistency in selection will be important from now on in. I'm not against the idea of picking a team to win specific games on a game by game basis but we have some of the best players in this division and they need to on the pitch for us more often than not.

 

Should we be higher up in the league? I'd argue yes we should, I said at the start of September after the first international break that we needed to take at least 12 points from the next 18 available (taking us to the next break). We took 10 which despite being disappointing you could still look at it and say we should have beat Cardiff and should have had at least a point at Birmingham. So it wasn't a disaster. As for the next set of games we couldn't have started it much worse with defeats to Bolton and Derby. Now I'll touch more on those two games in a moment but I will say that 7 points from the last 9 were very pleasing. There was a lot of criticism after the Barnsley game regarding the performance and while it wasn't great it was still enough for me to win that game and had it not been for a fantastic goal from Harvey Barnes we would have won it. Millwall was a tough battle against a team who to be fair were a lot better than I gave them credit for at the start of the season and made it difficult but we ground out a much needed win. You could feel the nerves around Hillsborough as the game drew to a close desperately clinging on to a vital three points. It did feel like a big weight had been slightly lifted. The Villa game on Saturday was fantastic, an amazing start with Adam Reach scoring his third goal in as many games and let's be honest it was the best of the three by a country mile followed by a very convincing display and that proves what this group of players are capable of. Of course the other man who scored in both of the last two games is the club's record signing, Jordan Rhodes. Now if there has been anyone who has been in Jordan Rhodes' corner over the last 11 months it's me. Let's look at the facts, he's got a proven record at this level of scoring goals consistently. The stat that was going around before the Millwall game was that he hadn't scored in 24 league games (including play offs) which was a slightly unfair stat given quite a few of those games he only played 5-10 minutes off the bench. He isn't the kind of striker that you can chuck on as a late sub to try and nick a goal in my opinion. The last two games have shown you needed start him, let him grow into the game and provide him with service and he will score. Has he always had that kind of service when he's been on the pitch? Well that can be argued either way for me, I'd say he did last season but not so much this and that partly comes down to what I've just said. Game time. If he plays more he'll score us goals I have doubt about that at all.

Two in the last two for Jordan Rhodes

 

Carlos: In or Out?

Now we come to the big question, Carlos Carvalhal. Should he still be the head coach of Sheffield Wednesday? For me I'm not one to call for a manager's head. I don't think it's particularly fair and I don't think after the job he has done it was unfair to say he'd earned another go at it. Let's just quickly rewind the clock in his first season he over achieved. We took teams by surprise and very nearly did it. Last season we at times shot ourselves in the foot. I think we beat ourselves a lot last season and if you look at the stats the one thing we didn't do was put the ball in the back of the net often enough. The amount of games we had where we dominated for 25-30 minutes and didn't score only to let a daft goal in the other end and heads drop happened to often. I know a lot was made of the 'change in style' but personally I don't think a lot changed in terms of the way we played we were just a hell of a lot more clinical in 2015/16 and while being harder to break down in 2016/17 we took away our potency which is why the signings of Jordan Rhodes and Sam Winnall in January made sense. Back to Carlos, I'm still behind him. I didn't have a lot of questions over him after the Bolton game because I felt everything that went wrong at Bolton (refereeing decisions aside) was preventable. I remember saying to my dad after the game he needs to change it for Derby to convince me he was still the right man and to be fair to Carlos he did. The team he selected at Pride Park was the correct team, he'd finally decided to stop persisting playing Adam Reach at left back and Glenn Loovens was back at the heart of the defence with the captains armband around his arm. Brilliant. Within 4 minutes Glenn had been sent off for a bit of a daft challenge on Matěj Vydra and we were 1-0 down from the resulting penalty. We lost 2-0 and to be fair played ever so well. After the red card I thought we'd get absolutely battered so to actually come away a bit disappointed to not get a point wasn't too bad. You couldn't judge Carlos after that game because any tactical plan was gone after 4 minutes. Since then we've taken 7 points from 9 and when you look at that it's been a decent response. Carlos showed on Saturday that once again he can mix it with the best in this division in terms of team selection and tactics. I'm still firmly in the Carlos camp and I won't shy away from saying it. I do think the most important thing to consider about the Carlos debate is that the chairman is still behind him. All you can ask for from a chairman/owner is clarity on situations and he's been 100% clear on Carlos. He's here to stay now whether you choose to believe him or not is entirely up to you but I've always been someone who without personally knowing someone will take them on their word. This is no different. I know one or two people reference the events of September/October 2006 when Paul Sturrock signed a new three year contract only to be sacked three weeks later but these are very different times. I also quickly want to address this idea that because Sheffield United are doing well following their promotion back to this level after 6 years that that has put more pressure on Carlos and the players from the fans, well maybe it looks and feels that way at the moment but come May Carlos and his players will be judged against the positions of the last two seasons. That's where the expectation comes from back to back play off campaigns. Not Sheffield United. The one area which hasn't been talked about as much as I think it should is if you look back to when Carlos Carvalhal arrived we've got a remarkable record where in the League we've only lost three games where we've scored the first goal (Ipswich August 2015, Birmingham September 2016 and Fulham May 2017). Now this says a couple of different things to me, it says that when we have a lead we tend to grow in confidence and it says starting games on the front foot is the best way to play. Of course it's easy to sit here and say that and I'm sure the team always goes onto the pitch wanting to start well but sometimes we don't help ourselves. Of course there is a counter point to this, what happens when we fall behind and it's sadly not as good a stat. In the same period of time we have only come back to win after conceding the fist goal 9 times in 108 games under Calos which I think is something to be addressed. To add a little more to it 8 of those games were at home and only one was away. Put it simply, if we concede first away from home we don't tend to win. Something I'm sure the management team at Hillsborough will be well aware of. It's something that I do think will need to be addressed in order to achieve what we all want which is promotion.

 

So What now?

So after the final international break of 2017 is over, Wednesday have a big run of games ahead. Starting with a Saturday 3 O'clock kick off at Hillsborough (yes I know they'll never will catch on) against Bristol City. If it's anything like the last meeting at Hillsborough between the two then it will be a good game. In fact if it's anything like the last few meetings with them there will be goals. After that trips to Ipswich and Reading followed by a home game with Hull and a trip back to east Anglia to take on Norwich. After that two home games on the bounce against Wolves and Middlesbrough. That takes us into Christmas and if we can be pulling crackers and watching crap TV after taking 15 points from those then I think most sensible people would be fairly happy with that. Overall it's a tough run of games and with a hell of a long way to go yet we can only do one thing which is get behind the team and support them.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Tom

 

Steel City Derby: A preview

So here we are, five and a half years since the last one Sheffield Wednesday's next opponent is our city rivals Sheffield United. A lot has changed in that time since Chris O'Grady's 73'd minute winner back in 2012. Wednesday have been promoted, had a takeover, big investment and a couple of cracks at the Play Offs. United have endured another 5 seasons in League One after missing out in 2012, an FA Cup Semi Final in 2014 and a League cup Semi Final in 2015 before sealing promotion in 2017. This is a derby that has been eagerly anticipated since Danny Ward saved Fernando Forestieri's penalty back in May.

 

Chris O'Grady sealing a win in the last Steel City Derby

 

What does this game mean?

I doubt anyone that is going to read this will need any introduction to what this game means to the two sets of fans. I wouldn't dare be arrogant enough to try and speak for all of them. What I will do is tell you what it means to me. Back in 2012 after Sheffield United's play off final defeat to Huddersfield I was asked by a friend was I disappointed they'd not come up with us. My response was something like this,

"Are you f*cking joking? I've not stopped laughing at them. I hope we never play them again." I stand by these comments from my 16 year old self. I'm not one of these fans that looks forward to the derby, there's so much pressure on them. True they are the best games to win but they are also the worst to lose. I don't believe any fan that say's they aren't nervous before one. Now that the game is here the familiar feeling of nerves that only this fixture can bring. For me the only kind of scenario that compares however odd this may sound is something like the Crystal Palace game in 2010(we needed to win to stay up for those who may have wiped this from memory) where losing just isn't an option. Now take the fact it's Sheffield United away and it just becomes another early season league game. Nothing will be decided on Sunday that much is obvious but I'm sure proper football fans will understand what I mean.

The game itself

 



Billy Sharp: Will he feature on Sunday?



So how do I see this particular game going and where will it be won or lost. I won't claim to be an expert on Sheffield United but I have seen a bit of them. They have had a very good start which didn't surprise me. A lot of teams that come up with the kind of momentum tend to start well. Do I feel they are in a false position? Maybe just a little. It was interesting on Saturday that the one big question over them that I had was without Billy Sharp and new signing Clayton Donaldson where would the goal come from and it didn't come. Important to bare in mind it's one game and I personally think Sharp, Donaldson and Leon Clarke will all be fit but it's worth pointing out. From our point of view it's a case of just doing what we know we can do. I might be called biased for saying this but I'm struggling to see a better squad than ours. We know that if we perform to the levels we know we are capable of then we should beat anyone in this league. If we start like we did against Nottingham Forest then I'd be fairly confidant of a victory. Wednesday have found teams that sit back and but 10 men behind the ball and hope to nick it on the counter tricky to break down over the last 2 seasons but United are unlikely to do that meaning an open game could well be on the cards and that suits Wednesday.

 

The Key Men

 

So in a game of this size and importance who do I think will be the key in making sure it's a Wednesday win? Firstly will start of with the man in form at the moment Gary Hooper. Hooper's importance to Wednesday became apparent last season when he wasn't in the side. We missed his link up play, his ability to slot into space that not many others do and of course he scores goals and having scored 4 in the last 4 he'll be itching to make that 5 in 5 and as any Celtic fan will tell you he knows a thing or two about scoring in a derby. As does his current partner in crime up front Steven Fletcher, now anyone that knows me knows I've been Fletcher's biggest critic but since April he's been one of our best players. He's brought the form from the end of last season into this and he's been very good. He's played in big derby games before, he knows what they're all about. He supports Hooper well and as a duo the stats are there to prove it they get the best out of each other and the team benefits massively. Kieran Lee's return to the side has been a major shot in the arm, we missed him so much in August. I can't tell you the amount of times during August I said "when Lee's back you'll see how much of a difference he makes" and it's proved to be the case. His ability to get about the pitch as he does will be important on Sunday, it's a cliché but you need legs in a game like this and Lee provides them. Another thing you often need in a game like this is guile and Ross Wallace has that in abundance. He's been a massive part of what Carlos has done here since they both arrived. He can create goals from nothing weather that be for himself or for others, when we get accused of a 'lack of passion' the first player I'd pick out to counter act that rather stupid comment is Ross Wallace. Look at him when he scores, he's another one that has played in big derbies before. He'll be key if selected. The final player I'd pick out from our squad is a player who I don't think get's anywhere near enough credit especially recently after an excellent start to the season and that's David Jones. Cool, calm, collected Jones has been key in the upturn in results. He's often overlooked when the likes of Lee, Bannan and Wallace play well but often they play well because Jones allows them to. His ability to put his foot on the ball and provide a solid base to allow those players to do what they do so well is key. He'll be key on Sunday for me, another one who's played in big games before. A lot of people have mentioned over the last few days about the midfield battle being the key to the outcome of this game and I'd probably agree with that and Jones' role could be the most important of the lot. Oh and he's another one who can provide the odd screamer as we saw against Sunderland.

 

 

David Jones celebrating his superb strike against Sunderland.

 

Summary

 

So to sum up then, how do It see it going? In truth I don't care too much if it's a good game or not I just want to win. It's got all the ingredients to be the best Sheffield Derby for many a year but that's not really what anyone who'll be there at Hillsborough on Sunday cares about. Blue and white or red and white the only thing that matters is three points. Wednesday have held the bragging rights for an awful long time. United will be fired up for it and I have no doubt we will match that. There has been a lot of talk about the fact that United have a fully British squad and there manager and captain are blades so that means they'll be more passionate about it. Nonsense. Just to clear up the myth of the 30 men in Wednesday's first team squad 9 of them are non British/Irish. Only 1(Joost Van Aken) is pretty much guaranteed to start this game if were honest. Quite a few are injured meaning it's likely to have a fairly British feel to it. Another poor journalistic approach I've seen chucked about is this nonsense about Carlos maybe not understanding the derby. I have three counter points to this. 1) Carlos has been very aware of all the other derby games we have played under him, Leeds, Rotherham, Barnsley etc. Why is this one any different? 2) He's managed the likes of Sporting Lisbon and Besiktas they both have fierce and rather intense derby games themselves. 3) He lives in the city, he probably has to interact with blades fans when he's out and about. Carlos is a cleaver man, he knows all about what this game means and he'll have his players up for it. All in all I predict it to be a tight game, if both teams do try to attack then I think it could be a very entertaining game however given the nature of how these games tend to go I think a narrow Wednesday win is the mostly likely outcome. As I said before I'd take that every day of the week. We are capable of smashing them without a doubt but I don't care if it's the worst performance of the season as long as we win. Let's really get behind them on Sunday and hopefully play a part in another derby win for the Owls.

 

Oh and just a quick one for these people that support other clubs that have been having a go at both Wednesday and United fans for hyping the game up. It's the first one for five and a half years. We're allowed to be a little bit excited for it. It's funny how a lot of these people support clubs with no real rival.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Tom

 

Why I don't rate Wayne Rooney.

Rooney a Legend? Not for me

Following the news that England's all time leading goal scorer is hanging up his International boots I'd like to put into words why I don't consider the Everton striker to be an England Legend. This is mostly about his England career not his club one.

 

I accept that it's an odd thing to not think the countries top goal scorer isn't a legend for his country but it's deeper than that. I think we get lost in this idea that numbers are the be all and end all and to an extent they are but it only takes a few minutes to look into those numbers and form an opinion on them. Let's got back a few years before we do that though.

 

Rooney up to and including Euro 2004

When Wayne Rooney broke onto the scene at Everton I don't deny he was a very exciting prospect, he was a rough striker that had no respect for anyone he came up against and that's a good thing. He was powerful and had the technique to score goals, the famous one against Arsenal is a great strike no denying that. England fans were well within their rights to be excited about this young lad. He broke into the England set up under Sven-Göran Eriksson and became a mainstay. He lit Euro 2004 up and arguably was England's best player at that tournament. If he'd not got injured who knows what might have happened. We could have gone on to win it had we not lost infamously on penalties to Portugal. After that summer's exploits Rooney got his move to Manchester United which was fairly deserved in my opinion. Big club who at the time were rebuilding after losing the title to Arsenal's invincibles.

 

 

The next 2 years and World Cup 2006

 

After his move to Manchester United Rooney was arguably the first name on an England team sheet and to be fair that was probably justifiable. He was the form striker heading into the World Cup in Germany and although he went into it injured there were a lot of hopes pinned on him. We all hoped he could produce the kind of explosive displays he put in in Portugal 2 years before. He didn't. His biggest impact was getting sent of stupidly against Portugal in the quarter final. Yeah you can blame Ronaldo all you want but Rooney was daft and paid the price. He had no positive impact on that campaign and that was for me a key turning point in Rooney's international career.

 

The next 4 years

 

Now to be fair to Rooney it's not his fault the FA decided to replace Sven-Göran Eriksson with Steve McClaren, a man handed the best group of England players since 1990 and failed to qualify for Euro 2008 in Austria/Switzerland. I believe under a decent managed England would have gone close in that tournament. Rooney arguably was in his best shape and just a year or so out from his peak. We'll never know what he could have done at Euro 2008 so it's unfair to judge him too much in this period.

 

The prime year and South Africa

 

The 2009/10 season was for me Wayne Rooney's best. He did score one more goal 2 seasons later in 2011/12 but in 2010 I'd say Rooney was England's best striker by a distance. There was no reason at all for him to not go out to South Africa and perform. Of course it isn't all down to him but he was one of the senior players, he was at his peak and he was in red hot form. He was dreadful, again not alone in this at all but this was another tournament he hadn't performed in and it was a major disappointment. For me I remember after England's humiliating 4-1 defeat to Germany thinking that if players like Rooney couldn't perform in a tournament like that after the season he'd had when would he?

 

A stupid red card and Euro 2012

The 7th of October 2011 for me summed Wayne Rooney's England career up. A daft red card against Montenegro in the last qualifier before the tournament meant he'd initially miss all three group games of the competition. Deserved in my opinion, a needless act of idiocy just like the stamp in 2006. He hadn't leant 5&1/2 years on. It was reduced on a appeal to two which for me was very lucky and this meant that now manager Roy Hodgson could justify taking him to Poland/Ukraine. England did ok without him, a very creditable draw with a good French team and a belting game against Sweden where England came out 3-2 winners in what I still think is the best England game in terms of excitement for years. Rooney returned for the last group game against Ukraine and to his credit scored a good header. Finally a tournament goal for Wayne Rooney again. Could this be the Launchpad for him to go on and justify the belief that some still had in him in an England shirt? The answers no, England were toothless as a side against Italy and were beaten again on Penalties.

 

World Cup 2014 and Euro 2016

I'm sure anyone reading this will agree neither of these tournaments were England's finest hours, I'm not going to blame Wayne Rooney for either campaign. The only thing I will say against him for them is that I don't really know why he was there in France in 2016. We weren't playing him as a striker and we had better midfield options, he was poor across all the games and despite a penalty against Iceland didn't do anything of any real merit. The world cup two years earlier was similar, his goal against Uruguay was a decent finish from memory but again in a defeat. The fact he was given the captaincy after that world cup was strange, it was time then for him to move on in my opinion. Let the younger talent come through. Instead we had to sleepwalk through another very poor campaign where Rooney's presence in my opinion was a hindrance to those players not a help.

 

The Numbers

So let's actually look at the goals of our record holder, where and who have they come from. Firstly there are 7 from international tournaments. 2 against Switzerland and 2 against Croatia at Euro 2004. His best tally at a single tournament, 1 against Ukraine at Euro 2012, 1 against Uruguay at the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil and 1 against Iceland at Euro 2016. Now with all due respect to all those sides I would hardly call it worth of legend status which is what this blog is about. So 7 of his 53 goals have come in tournament football which in my opinion isn't good enough. That leaves 44 goals in Qualifiers which often England are expected to win comfortably and Friendlies which England seem to take very seriously while the Germanys, Frances, Brazils and the like treat as well friendlies. Don't get me wrong he's scored against France and Brazil in his time and some other decent sides like Denmark and Croatia but is this really what we've come to call a legend? A legend should be something that is almost unattainable. The team of 1966 are legends, there are a few from prior to that and past it of course there are but Wayne Rooney's name for me isn't among them. He did a decent job for England I won't deny him that and for a lot of people my age he is probably the most consistent face we've seen for England but is that enough to make him a legend? I don't think so. I hope I've at the very least been able to offer a different view point to the Gary Lineker lead love in that is doing the rounds at the moment.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Tom

Season 2017/18: A Sheffield Wednesday Preview

As the football season is literally hours away (Sunderland play Derby tonight and Nottingham Forest host Millwall if you didn't know) I'd like to offer my thoughts ahead of the 2017/18 season and offer an opinion of one of the positive members of the Sheffield Wednesday fan base.

 

 

 

This years aims and objectives

The obvious objective this season is promotion to the Premier League, that has been underlined by those at the top and at the beginning of Dejphon Chansiri's third full season as owner of the football club I think it's a fair assessment that if we don't go up questions will be asked. Weather it be automatic or via the play offs, promotion has to be the aim. In my opinion (and I accept I find myself in the minority) the style of play wasn't the problem last year. In a lot of games we beat ourselves, missing chances that we would have buried the previous season, poor decision making in some games. This year if we start the way we finished last season ignoring the play offs and the Fulham game which was a training session then we'll be right up there. We all know we lack a centre back or possibly two. I have every confidence that this will be sorted. We didn't need to add a lot from last year, I think a lot of the moaning that has happened over the last three months mostly comes down to the fact a lot of fans still aren't used to the idea that we're actually a good side and that we don't need to rip everything up and start again like we did so many times in the past. We've built a good team, lead by a good manager.

 

 

The Key Men

 

If you look at the squad we currently have and compare it to past squads there for me is one big difference, there isn't one or two names that you pick out and say, "It's all on him" or "Well if he doesn't perform we're in for it". There is quality all around the pitch. Keiren Westwood is the best goalkeeper in the Championship, that's worth 7/8 points a season which could be huge in a race for the top two. Tom Lees and Glenn Loovens at the back are one of the best partnerships in the division. The likes of Hutchinson, Bannan, Lee, Jones and our new addition George Boyd are among the best in the division with plenty of Championship experience. Almen Abdi if we get him fit can dictate games, he was the key man in a Watford team that won promotion in 2015. Then we come to the strikers, the striker force at Hillsborough is the best in the league. Forget Middlesbrough, forget Aston Villa, forget Fulham. Sheffield Wednesday have a group of strikers that at this level should be the envy of all. Jordan Rhodes, Gary Hooper, Sam Winnall, Steven Fletcher, Atdhe Nuhiu, Lucas Joao and if you count him as a striker Fernando Foresrieri all do different things. Some are more prolific than others and some will have to work hard to earn their place but in terms of options we've got them. The final key man himself is the manager, Carlos Carvalhal. How people can't be behind a manager that has guided us to our two best league finishes since relegation from the Premiership is beyond me. He's shown he's got the ability to get a team challenging and with another year of Championship football under his belt he should have everything he needs to finish the job. Listening to the press conference yesterday I got the feeling that he believes this team will take that next step. George Boyd as well a man who has promotions on his CV as well as match winning ability was extremely positive facing the media. You get the sense they want it as much as the fans do.

Rhodes has a proven track record in this division.

 

My Own Personal Prediction

Personally if you offered me a Play Off Final place now I'd take it, I think most of us would. However I feel the top two is more than realistic, yes Villa have spent money and signed some good players, yes Middlesbrough look strong and have also signed some good players. If you had to push me for 3 to be in the Premier League this time next year they would be it. Wednesday, Villa and Boro.  I think Norwich will be strong, Derby and Leeds both have made shrewd signings and will be in the Play Off picture. The likes of Reading and Fulham who went close last year will be in the battle for the top 6 as well. As much as it is a tough division there isn't the sense of inevitability there was last year that Newcastle would ultimately have to much for the rest of the league and Brighton were just so consistent. There isn't that this year, it's more even. The only Brighton -esque team I see in the league this year is ourselves. If you look at what they had in 2016/17 compared to 2015/16 was another option to Tomer Hemed up front. They identified that and got Glenn Murray. Everything else was pretty much the same. We've done a similar thing, continuity can be key especially in a division like the Championship where if you're not up for learning and adapting you'll be found out. The likes of Wolves who've made massive changes might struggle even though everyone seems to be tipping them for success. Ultimately weather we are successful or not will come down to consistency, we lacked it for a long period of last season for various reasons but if we get off to a good start tomorrow at Deepdale then we have every chance. The one thing I'd say to any supporter unsure about Carlos or the players is let's see where we are in a few weeks time. Even if we aren't 'playing well' but winning stick with it, this team has shown in the past that positive results bring positive performances. We'll need to dig in and scrap at times, I don't imagine Saturday being anything other than a battle. It always is at Preston. Let's get behind them, last season I don't think enough of the fans got behind the players when they really needed it and it possibly cost us more than people realise. Let's go back to what we're best at, getting behind the team and pulling them through. We all want the same thing at the end of the day.

 

Thanks for Reading

 

Tom 

FIFA or PES? Answering the age old question (Sort of)

Anybody who has any interest in Football games will no doubt know of the age old debate about which game is better. EA Sports' FIFA or Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer. As a genuine player of both games I wanted to put my thoughts about both into words and give my opinion on which of the two impress in which specific area and what both can do to improve in the coming years. If you're here for a definitive answer on which is better you're probably going to be disappointed.

 

 

FIFA & PES: A (Friendly) RIVALRY

 

It's over 12 years since I first bought and played a Pro Evolution Soccer game, It was PES4. It was great, it was on the PC and it was an eye opener that there was another game to rival FIFA which I was already a huge player of again on PC. This was early 2005 and most of my free time was spent playing PC games, both FIFA and PES featured prominently in this exciting new world of make believe. I wasn't really aware of the rivalry between the players of FIFA and PES, to me they were both great, both had things wrong with them but as a 9 year old you don't really have that analytical eye to make those kind of judgement calls. Now however is a slightly different situation, the games have changed massively, the gaming world in general is light years away from where it was. What hasn't changed is the fact that every year I end up playing a lot of both FIFA and PES, I enjoy both, both have things about them that I like, both have things within them that make me want to give up and never play them again. There have been times where one has edged the other only for the other two do something which swings it back.

 

 

The Pros and Cons of FIFA:

Over recent years EA Sports' FIFA has been the flagship football game across all platforms, I don't think anybody would argue differently, the sales figures, the reviews, the fact people make a fair bit of cash from making YouTube videos about it. Most football fans who are also gamers get the new version every year without fail. I'm one of them, is it always worth the price? I'd argue it is. As a visual presentation it's fantastic, you have to give credit to the developers, they've come a long way since the days of players looking like they'd just stepped out of a plastics factory after an explosion. The most obvious advantage FIFA has over any other football game not just PES is that they have the exclusive Premier League licences as well as other leagues and clubs. It does feel as though you are watching a genuine Premier League game with the build up and visuals that come with it. Add to this all the stadiums that are in the game it's certainly adds to an impressive presentation. Another major advantage from a personal point of view is that career mode which is the mode I play the most on FIFA is at least fairly realistic. In comparison with PES' Master League it at least feels more true to life, for example the FA Cup for Premier League and Championship teams actually starting when it should and not in October as PES' does. Overall the feel of FIFA does in my opinion show that the people developing it do understand the sport despite some of the obvious issues which will be covered.

 

The first of those being the unrealistic situations they like to drop into a career mode, for example a player playing every week and one of the key parts of the team suddenly deciding he's deeply unhappy and must leave immediately or a foreign player who's spent most of his adult life in England all of a sudden having a problem with the language and again must leave only to end up at another club in the same country. I'm not saying these situations don't happen in real life but at such a high rate? I'm not so sure, it's obvious scripting which makes the game less fun and realistic. Another issue within career mode is the AI transfers and intelligence, for example why would Manchester City sign 7/8 central midfield players all of which would easily start for most Premier League teams and not have one left back at the club? or why would Chelsea have a 70 rated striker playing up front for most of the season who hasn't scored all season when they have 4 higher rated players in the reserves. Another very odd thing is if you're winning a game by the odd goal and the other side decided to chuck a defensive midfielder on and put him up front and a target man on the wing? You end up thinking to yourself "Is Roy Hodgson in charge of the opposition". Last criticism for now is that the flagship feature of this year's game The Journey, following the career of Alex Hunter was underwhelming, I could go into why I find the storyline fairly unrealistic and the fact that whatever happens in the game the same things happen but I'll save that for a future blog.

 



 

What needs to change?

All in all FIFA is a good game and has made a lot of improvements over the last few years. In terms of what they can do to make the game better in the coming editions is to simply cut the nonsense that was mentioned before, make the transfers and in game decisions better, programme the referees to actually referee properly rather than the pathetic attempt that has been in the last few versions.

The Pros and Cons of PES

After a few years without any major improvement, the last few versions of Pro Evolution Soccer have been very pleasing, as a football game it feels genuine, when you press pass the fella passes the ball, when you press shoot they shoot. Sounds simple but believe me it hasn't always been the case in either FIFA or PES. The in game options in terms of passing, shooting and crossing are much superior to those of FIFA, the early cross in particular has been something I have utilised and enjoyed. I imagine the main reason behind FIFA's decision to change the crossing in their own game is down to the major strides taken by Konami. Another major Pro of PES is the officially licensed UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, just as FIFA does with their Premier League and Bundesliga realism PES makes you feel as though you are tuning in on a Tuesday/Wednesday evening to watch Europe's biggest club competition. As well as these licences the individual deals with the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund make playing with those teams and at their grounds very realistic. Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion in particular looks beautiful within the PES graphics.

 

As for the cons the obvious licence issue will always be something PES will have to contend with, although it's not hard to find option files to edit the game and there are some excellent ones out there as well as some classic teams from years gone by. It can still be a time consuming thing to make the game just that bit more realistic. Another issue is the commentary, now this is nothing agains Peter Drury and Jim Beglin, they aren't the issue it's the way they have been programmed in so they sound so out of touch with the game. For example often there is a delay between a goal going in and Peter Drury acknowledging anything has happened. The other major issue I have is there is considerably less teams in PES than FIFA, it's only recently that they introduced the Sky Bet Championship into the game but it would be nice to have League's 1 and 2 in there as well. As well as a proper FA Cup scheduling in Master League and not the rather odd format there is already.

 

 

 

What needs to change?

The obvious thing we can all point to and say about PES is that without the licenses of the Premier League and various big clubs throughout Europe (Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus) it will be difficult for them to overthrow FIFA as the more popular game however what I'd say is simply keep on advancing the gameplay, keep striving to make the game the best football simulation out there. It's already a cleaner more fluid game than FIFA in my opinion and if they can keep improving in that regard maybe a few more will be tempted to overlook the fact Manchester City are Man Blue and Liverpool are Merseyside Red.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 

Tom.

Sheffield Wednesday 2016/17: A Review

 

Following Wednesday night's painful penalty shootout exit in the Championship Play Off semi final, I thought I'd put my thoughts into words. It won't be a masterpiece, merely the ramblings of a disappointed but still largely optimistic Wednesday fan.

 

I don't want to dwell too much on Wednesday night, I'm sure all reading this will have watched the game or at least seen the highlights. We can all formulate an opinion on it, mine is that we gave it a damn good go, deserved to take the lead and an innocuous mistake cost us massively. Penalties are a lottery, I don't blame Sam Hutchinson or Fernando Forestieri at all, the best players to have ever played this game have missed penalties. It happens. It's a cruel way for the season to end and I'll be honest it felt a lot worse than last year's Wembley defeat to Hull. This in my opinion is mainly due to the fact we had the expectation to win these Play Offs and I still maintain we're the best side in there.

 

Have we underachieved?

At the start of the season I think a lot of us said we should bee looking at challenging for the top 2. I was one of those people, I didn't however say that finishing in the Play Offs for a 2nd season in a row was failure or even underachievement. The fact we have finished higher in the table on more points cannot in my opinion be viewed as a failure.

 

The thing that has been thrown around a lot at Wednesday from both our own supporters and those looking on in from outside is that we've spent a lot of money and yes we have but that doesn't entitle you to win matches. Most clubs in this division have spent money, some more so than Wednesday by some distance and they've finished miles adrift of the Play Offs. Even the likes of Leeds who everyone seems to think have had some sort of miracle season have been well financed. For me 90% of the business done by Wednesday since the start of the summer of 2015 has been very good. The recruitment this year has been criticised heavily, for me it's been good. The likes of Abdi, Reach, Jones and Rhodes were players that we all agreed were what we needed. Personally I think David Jones has been fantastic this season, he isn't a flashy player but he's a solid option. Adam Reach has done well when played in his best position on the left wing. He's still developing and we'll see the best of him next season I'm sure. Abdi's been unlucky with injury as have a few players and will be an asset next season if he is here, he's a quality player that needs to be fitted into a system. To answer the heading's question, No I don't think we have, we may not have necessarily achieved what we set out to in August but we gave it a damn good go.

Jordan Rhodes

When Jordan Rhodes signed for Sheffield Wednesday the reaction of the fans was in the main extremely positive. Hardly surprising given his excellent goals record over the last 5 seasons. I was one of those desperate for us to go and get him and was delighted when the club did. I still am delighted he's here. He's been good for us, his all round game is brilliant, if you deny that then you're not watching football in the way it's supposed to be watched. The fact he hasn't scored as many goals as we'd have liked is a frustration but nothing that concerns me. He'll do well for this club no doubt, anyone saying they don't want him here next season is a fool. Will a full pre season help him? Undoubtedly, will more emphasis on him being the poacher type striker next season help him? Of course. Will that happen? I'd be stunned if it didn't.

 

The Manager 

I'll come straight out with this one, I want Carlos Carvalhal to be here for a long long time. I don't see how changing the manager is the right thing to do. He's done an amazing job for the last 2 seasons. Some of the criticism he has received this season is downright nonsense. The style of play has been questioned a lot this season and I can understand why to an extent. However when you go from being a mid table side that nobody expects anything from to a play off chasing team teams will set up differently to counteract you. That's football. We have struggled to beat teams that sit back this season, the likes of Brentford, Ipswich, Burton have all come to Hillsborough and stuck 10 men behind the ball and shown little to no ambition to go forward. I'm not criticising them for that, we've been in that position ourselves, you do what you need to do to win or draw.

 

I genuinely believe that 75% of the games we didn't win this season we should have, Leeds at home is a good example of this. We had 3 glorious chances and didn't take any of them. Brentford away was very similar, Reading at home the same. Finishing is a major issue for us. The likes of Fletcher haven't scored enough goals this season when you look at the chances they have had. It's difficult to blame the manager for that when everything he has told them to do has happened and then the chance hasn't been taken. It's also not his fault he's lost players at crucial times, Kieran Lee with his hip injury and Gary Hooper with his hamstring both we huge blows and in my opinion cost us any chance of automatic. Tom Lees' injury in February was frustrating as well along with Fernando Forestieri's which if were honest he hasn't fully recovered from.

 

If he does go then a decision on who replaces him needs to be made quickly but wisely. The Alan Pardew rumour isn't something I think is either true or something that should be pursued. If Carlos chooses to leave or is offered a post elsewhere that he wants to pursue then that is another matter but only he can answer that question.

Alan Pardew? No thanks.

The fans

I saw a tweet on Wednesday night that said it had been a disjointed season and I thought that was a very good word to describe it but maybe not quite in the way they meant. I feel off the pitch there has been a divide in the fans since August for a few different reason. Fernando's 'refusal' to play down at Norwich, the style of play, the recruitment and the manager have all contributed to this feeling that not everyone was pulling in the same direction as everyone else. Maybe it's just me but there are in my opinion some fans that seem determined to put a negative spin on everything, an example of this being at beating Birmingham 3-0 at home the first thing I heard someone say on Penistone Road after the game was "We got lucky there, they hit the bar 4 times" talk about glass half empty. The same soft of feeling tends to crop up when listening to BBC Radio Sheffield's football heaven. You only hear some callers after a defeat, I don't get it. Again while I understand the arguments people make about the style or tactics sometimes particularly in this division you have to dig in and you have to do what is required. You can't have your Norwich and Newcastle games without your Wigan and Blackburns. Hopefully a summer break will lift us all and we'll be as positive as we were at Wembley last year.

Summary



In summary it's been a good season, it's been a season of progress which sadly it didn't end in promotion, there is a lot to be positive about for next season. Even the pre season will be very interesting with the 150th anniversary friendly on the horizon. I'm fairly sure Mr Chansiri will give this another go, like I said previously I hope he sticks by his manager. Football has shown over the years that sustainability is often the best way to go. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Like I also said I hope that come August WAWAW is actually true rather than something we just say. I'm 100% sure it will be. Roll on next season, roll on games against Leeds, Barnsley, Sunderland, Forest, Aston Villa and of course them from Sheffield 2. Players will leave and new ones will come in, now isn't really the time to go through who they should or shouldn't be. We'll all have our opinions and I'm sure some will end up pleased and some slightly disappointed, that's football.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

 

Tom