Matches
Norwich City
We started the month with a visit from the form side in the Championship, Norwich. The Canaries had not won at Hillsborough since 2001 and hadn't won an away league game in November for 10 years. Both those records were rectified from their point of view by the end of the game. I will say that Norwich were excellent in the 2nd half, all four goals were scored in the 2nd 45 minutes and they took us apart with ease. It could have been six very easily. It was difficult to find anything positive heading into the derby at Bramall Lane. We looked so easy to beat, it looked like some of the players had given up. There were a lot of chants during the game for the likes of Keiren Westwood and Sam Hutchinson, they don't help. It's not even like either were on the bench.
Sheffield United
There has already been quite a bit of analysis and opinion on the derby clash at Bramall Lane. My take on it was firmly that having lost four on the spin and having been as poor as we were against Norwich going to Bramall Lane, playing the way we did and getting a point was a good result. There has been this thing going about of "this is how you play a derby game" and some have gone as far to say that they would rather have lost 3-0 having a go than doing what we did and getting a 0-0. I'm sorry but I don't believe that, would you really want to thrashed by our biggest rivals all for the sake of a 'better' performance? I doubt it. While I thoroughly accept its a sad example of how far we have fallen it was still the right thing to do and it was a great point for us. A first clean sheet of the season in the league and another penalty save for Cameron Dawson who I felt really shut a few people up after that. Ultimately we got a point very few thought we would and that's a positive. The biggest irony of all of it is I actually feel had we controlled the ball a bit better in the middle, we could have won it.
Derby County
After the international break we hosted Frank Lampard's Derby. It was another game where the pre match feeling was one of how many Derby would get. We started really well, created a couple of good chances and took the lead through Adam Reach. However we allowed Derby, who lets be honest are a good side with lots of talented individuals in their squad back into the game with a poor piece of defending where 4/5 players all made mistakes. The 2nd goal wasn't much better, initially Wednesday were attacking a corner and an uncharacteristic mistake from Michael Hector lead to Jack Marriott doubling the lead for the Rams. After that while it was hardly vintage Wednesday it was a decent enough performance and had we have had a fully match fit Fernando Forestieri we probably would have equalised. You only need to take a look at the picture of Scott Carson's face after it goes wide. That tells you everything you need to know. While we didn't win I felt there were a lot of positives from the performance. Some decent link up play between Forestieri, Joao and Matias. The one big negative of the day was the sarcastic cheers when Morgan Fox was substituted. Now I think 90% of people reading this will probably accept that Morgan Fox hasn't put in the level of performance over his time here expected of a Championship full back and I'd agree with that but he is a player who puts 100% in. He actually did ok against Derby. He didn't deserve those sarcastic cheers, no player who puts his all in deserves that. I felt sorry for him. I dread to think what that feeling must be like. I get that some people might say it's a wider point like the previous chants for Westwood and Hutchinson but I completely disagree and think it was an embarrassing thing for people to do. It lacked class and it was so far from what I think support is. I very much hope it was a one off.
Bolton Wanderers
Onto the last game of the month and a visit from Bolton Wanderers. Bolton were ahead of the game on the longest run of anyone without a win in the division which made it a real opportunity for Wednesday to get a much needed victory of their own. There has been an awful lot of negativity from both sets of fans following the game and in fairness I can understand a lot of it. The first half was among the worst I've seen. Both sides struggling to put a pass together let alone a coherent move. It was a frustrating 45 minutes. After the break however I think we actually played fairly well. By no means was it vintage but it wasn't bad. Forestieri again providing the spark after being brought on at half time. I thought Thorniley was outstanding, for me he must stay in the side. Him, Hector and Lees all seem to play well together whether it's a three or a four at the back. Marco Matias again put a good shift in, worked hard and put in an excellent recovery tackle. While it can be said Bolton were poor you can only beat what is in front of you. Wednesday got the job done, hopefully it can be the win we need to kickstart a decent run in a very busy festive period.
Jos avoiding the loss prevents a new boss?
OK it's a slightly stolen title but it does fit in nicely. Did the win over Bolton keep Jos Luhukay in his job? I genuinely don't know, I think there's a good chance it might have done but I can't say for sure. The one thing I keep coming back to in the Jos In/Out debate is that I don't see a quick fix. People talk about Steve Bruce or Slaviša Jokanović but neither would be able to come in and immediately turn things around. Neither would have the huge budgets they did in previous jobs. In the case of Jokanović at Fulham he didn't have instant success there, it took a while to get the slick football and wins that got them promoted last season. For me if we did make a change someone like a Paul Heckingbottom would fit the bill better. Done well on a shoestring budget at Barnsley as well as losing his best players and assistant manager, as well as a CEO departing. This isn't me saying we should sack Jos more an observation if we did. Whoever the manager is going forward it's going to be a struggle. FFP/P&S restrictions, likely player sales, a young crop of players coming through who need guidance and a fanbase that lets be honest is disillusioned with the club. On Tuesday night the atmosphere at Hillsborough was non-existent. The prices clearly make it an easy decision for some to stay away and it's really hurting the atmosphere which in turn in my opinion does affect performance. It's a difficult place to play when things aren't going well, you can feel the frustration around the ground.
A busy month to come, six games over the festive period in December before the New Year. Hopefully Santa can bring Wednesdayites some much needed cheer.
Thanks for reading
Tom
WAWAW
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