Sheffield Wednesday 2019/20: October Review

Well, the clocks have gone back, the winter balls are ready and the weather has taken a turn. Another month has passed and with it another five games. It's been an interesting month with several talking points from all the games.

The Matches

Hull City

We began the month with a trip to face Hull City at the KCOM, Hull are a bit of an odd side. They have some decent players but I don't think many are tipping them to do much this season. Overall it was a frustrating game, we created enough chances to win it and while we didn't play as well as previous games we more than deserved a point in my opinion. Hull did take their big chance and Tom Eaves who was brought on in the 2^nd half headed home. A big striker given a decent cross to head in, simple really. We probably should have defended it better but it wouldn't have been much of an issue if we'd have taken any of our chances. An irritating result but that can happen.

Wigan Athletic

After the Hull game we were back at home to face Paul Cook's Wigan Athletic at Hillsborough. I like Paul Cook and he was someone I wouldn't have minded us looking at in the summer after him from the North East went back up there. I think 99% of Wednesday fans who know anything about the Championship knew what was coming with this one. Wigan don't win many away and I think would have taken a point. They started well in fairness and should have taken the lead on 15 minutes through Gavin Massey after a great run from Josh Windass. Wednesday could have scored through Barry Bannan and Steven Fletcher but it wasn't exactly what you'd call an entertaining 45 minutes but after the break Wednesday took the lead through Massimo Luongo after Julian Borner's run from the back. It was a functional win, a win where you won't remember it come May but IF we are to achieve anything it's the kind of result we need to be picking up. I saw a few people online after the game saying things like “A good team would have scored 3 or 4” and “We have to be beating these by more to go up”, A few things on this, firstly you don't get more points for winning by more so that doesn't make sense (Yes I know goal difference is a thing but that doesn't look too shabby to be fair). Also let's not forget Bannan had two good shots that on another day would have gone in and Fletcher had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside. Sometimes things go against you in that regard.

Cardiff City

After the international break Wednesday were back in action down in South Wales. It was also the 2^nd international break in a row where Wednesday were back on Sky. Obviously Cardiff are managed by our old friend Mr Neil Warnock. We knew he'd love to beat Wednesday and we know we certainly like to get one over on him. Obviously a lot has been said and written already about this game. Wednesday were in my opinion excellent. The first half Cardiff didn't lay a glove on us and deservedly took the lead through Julian Borner after deflecting Kadeem Harris' ball into the net. I've heard a few people suggesting he didn't mean to do it, he 100% did. In Germany Borner has a decent goal return for a defender and that finish was deliberate. Already a firm fans favourite that will have done nothing but add to that affection. Alongside Dominic Iorfa he was outstanding down in South Wales. Now we'll come onto the 2^nd half, I've seen a lot of people saying we sat off Cardiff. I'm not sure we did, I think we were playing well enough and creating enough to finish the game off but referee Keith Stroud who was in charge decided to fall for every trick in the book. Fouls that weren't fouls, booking Wednesday player's for nothing, blatant cheating. The obvious incident that lead to Cardiff's equaliser is a disgrace. I actually have more of an issue for the non foul given rather than Aden Flint and his star jumps. As much as that is irritating if it had been one of our players doing it we'd have been all over it. Doesn't excuse it but for me the foul given was the worst thing. Add to that the fact Lee Tomlin, who's dive conned the referee, should have been sent off for a blatant strike out at Borner earlier in the game. Very frustrating result, echoed of Norwich away at the end of last season. Also I saw a lot of people slating Dawson for his positioning for the free kick. Obviously Flint being stood where he was makes it impossible for Dawson to stand where he wants to. Overall Dawson was brilliant, made a crucial save to stop Cardiff doing a real smash and grab. All that after coming in at the last minute to replace Keiren Westwood.

Stoke City

Following on from the Cardiff game, we were back at home to face Stoke City. Stoke have had a tough start to the season and had won just two games, they happened to have been the two prior to this one. I must admit this game worried me more than the Cardiff or Leeds one in this three game week. A couple of reasons for this, firstly the squad they have is more than capable. They have recruited players who should be right at the top of this division. Also as mentioned before the recent form of beating then top of the league Swansea and pre season favourites Fulham in the last two. It was another tight game where quality wasn't as on show as maybe we'd like. I thought Stoke passed it around nicely but lacked a cutting edge. We did what we had too and once again Massimo Luongo broke the deadlock after pouncing on an error by Liam Lindsay and slotting the ball past Adam Federici in the Stoke goal. It was a functional win and one we deserved. Stoke could maybe say they were unlucky at having to use two subs in the first half for injury but hey after the last two seasons I don't think many teams can have as many injury gripes as we've had to put up with. Another good performance for Dawson who retained his place in the side and made a good 2^nd half save from Lee Gregory It was good to see praise after the game for Morgan Fox who had yet another good game. I can't actually think of a bad game he's had for a long time. Fox didn't deserve the stick he got at points last season and he'd done excellently to not allow the boo boys to get to him. Also I have seen and heard a few people (mainly blades fans to be fair) talking about the chants towards Mark Duffy. Now take it from me who was at the match. If anything Mark Duffy enjoyed it, he had a big beaming smile on his face as that particular song was sung at him. He loved it. Take it as a compliment, some ex blades don't get that. Scott Hogan was on the same pitch, nothing. Cameron Carter Vickers (who played in THAT game) nothing. Lee Gregory,hasn't played for them but we know he's a known blade, nothing. Stop being offended by nothing.

Leeds United

So we come to the final game of the month, the big one. Leeds United. Going into the game it was 2^nd V 3^rd and a chance for the winner to go top. I have to say it was probably the wettest day in a long long time. Constant rain coming down, it wasn't great. The conditions definitely played a part in the game, you could see players attempt passes that would easily have come off on a dry pitch but this was anything but dry. 5 years ago it wouldn't have survived and would have been postponed or abandoned. That investment in the pitch is one thing we can certainly thank Mr Chansiri for. Once again we had to cope with a drop out in the warm up, Julian Borner this time with an ankle injury meaning Sam Hutchinson moved back into the back four alongside Iorfa with Joey Pelupessy coming in. I thought we coped well, while I've been critical of Hutchinson a lot this season he was brilliant against Leeds. Alongside Iorfa who was my MOTM he made sure he didn't miss Borner as much as we thought we would. Pelupessy took quite a bit of stick during the game and while I don't think he had a great game I think you have to bear in mind coming in at the last minute isn't easy both physically and mentally. Think about it, he's probably known for a few days he isn't playing and then to be told with 20 mins or so to go that he is playing is a bit of an odd situation. It's not like Dawson where ultimately the game doesn't change too much, in midfield you're in the cut and thrust of everything. I like Joey and against Wigan he was superb and I have a feeling if we'd have won against Leeds nobody would have criticised him too much. We did miss Luongo who wasn't involved due to an injury picked up in the Stoke win. Overall it was a good game, some people don't buy into this idea you can have a good 0-0, you can and we did. Both sides had chances to win it. Leeds through Bamford, Phillips and Alioski. Wednesday through Fletcher, Nuihu and Palmer. Kiko Casilla and the returning Keiren Westwood both had claims to be Man of the Match. For me I'd have given it Iorfa, however Sky in their wisdom decided to give it to Brighton loanee Ben White, someone will have to explain that one to me. The third best centre half on the pitch gets Man of the Match, strange.

Verdict

So, 8 points from 15, not bad. I'd argue we should have got at least 1 at Hull and another 2 down at Cardiff. We could if we'd have taken our chances in both games be top of this division. Which feels odd to say, I think the general feeling around the fan base at the moment is that we're a bit surprised to be up there as we still have another gear or two to go and I think that's fair. I think it's a big testament to Garry Monk that 9 games into his reign Leeds United under Bielsa are bringing on another centre half to take a point. That's a good sign, while Monk wasn't my personal choice he's showing all the signs of someone we need. Someone who can get us organised and keep us like that. Someone who understands the division and knows the strengths and weaknesses of the other teams. This time last year we were watching the beginning of the end of Jos Luhukay's time at the club. We were watching a team that didn't have any idea what it was doing, a team that clearly did no work on the opposition. A team that you didn't know what the plan was. For me If I know what the plan is even if I don't agree it's right, is better than no plan at all. Monk has impressed me, he speaks well, he conducts himself well and he's getting it right more often than not tactically. Yes it's only nine games (and one of them was a free hit against Everton) but the basis is there. In a wide open Championship lets hope we can sustain the pace.

November will be interesting. Trips to Blackburn, West Brom and Charlton and home games with Swansea and Birmingham, two special ones for Monk no doubt. Like any set of fixtures there are many different tests in there. Surprise teams, skilful teams, powerful teams. The Championship, brilliantly unpredictable and entertaining but a massive stress on the nerves.

Thanks for reading

Tom

WAWAW

Sheffield Wednesday 2019/2020: September Review

Well, we're nearing the end of September and we're well into the swing of the 19/20 season. It's been an interesting month for Wednesday after the arrival of Garry Monk and some big games. Lets take a look back at the game and some other bits and bobs as well.

The Matches

Huddersfield

We started the months with a trip to face Yorkshire Rivals Huddersfield Town, now from a personal point of view I'd been looking forward to facing Huddersfield ever since the Play Offs in 2017. The revenge factor I suppose you could call it, that may sound a bit daft but that's what football is like. Both sides were under new managers, ourselves with Garry Monk and the Terriers employing the Cowley brothers from Lincoln. Now I won't hide the fact they were my personal choice for ourselves but like I said in my last blog, we all have to get behind Monk and the team. What we saw was fairly impressive. While it's fair to say Huddersfield haven't had the best start to the season I was still impressed with what we did. The defensive shape was fairly strong and despite plenty of pre match negativity on social media certain players stepped up. An early goal from Steven Fletcher helped to ease the nerves and from there on in Wednesday controlled the game. While Huddersfield had a few moments including a solo run from Terence Kongolo it always felt like it'd need something special for them to equalise. We doubled our lead in the 2^nd half after a lovely ball into the box from Barry Bannan found the almost forgotten man Sam Winnall to nod it in. It's been a long road back for Winnall after suffering that injury while at Derby on loan and to be fair to him he's earned his shot at it. That kind of goal was one he used to score regularly for Barnsley prior to coming here and you could see the delight on his face. A solid 2-0 away win in Monk's opening game. Not a bad Sunday afternoon.

Fulham

Monk's first home game in charge was against one of the pre season favourites for promotion, Fulham. Now while Fulham have a squad more than capable of finishing in the top two they haven't had the best start and came into the game below Wednesday in the table. It was a frustrating game really, not helped by the fact Geoff Eltringham decided to fall for every trick in the book that Fulham had, feigning injury, time wasting, niggly fouls. I'm sure we've all seen the decision to book Sam Hutchinson for being fouled by Harry Arter. Now don't get me wrong, Hutchinson has a reputation which doesn't help him but come on, that might be one of the worst decisions to have ever happened in professional football. Fulham took the lead against the run of play just before half time and after that in fairness controlled it from there. We didn't press them enough in the midfield. We seemed to lack a spark for much of the game. Despite some good play in the first half and creating decent opportunities we probably didn't deserved to get anything from the game. However Atdhe Nuhiu did what Atdhe Nuhiu does, came on, had a big impact and got us a point. Kadeem Harris made a good run which he has been doing all season and put a good ball in which deflected off a Fulham defender and Atdhe reacted quickest to nod home. Now over the last 4/5 seasons we've had some big goals scored at Hillsborough but I have to say that I haven't heard Hillsborough like that for a while. Even though a lot of fans had left the ground by then the eruption when it went in was wonderful. I personally don't think I've celebrated a goal quite like that since those days of the play offs (Lucas Joao's goal against Sheffield United aside but that memory is tarnished for very obvious reasons). That's why we go to football, for moments like that. Overall four points from two games was a good return for Garry Monk.

Everton

Next up was a home tie in the third round of the League Cup, now a lot of people have spoken about the team we played and the theory we (and many other Championship teams) didn't take it seriously. While I can understand that, it's a squad game. How many other opportunities will Monk have to assess some of those players in match situations? Not many. They needed minutes and in fairness we actually did OK. We started the game well and should have scored through Sam Winnall. Unfortunately and I made this point a number of times at the game, Everton played a very strong side. Someone said it was the reserves. Well eight of those who played against us played against Sheffield United in the league. Of those who came in to the side one is a World Cup winner, another is a regular for England's U21's and the other scored against Man City at the weekend as well as scoring the two that won this game. Despite the naive defending for the two goals we actually did alright. We showed some good energy in the midfield with Massimo Luongo and Joey Pelupessy. Atdhe Nuhiu and Sam Winnall worked hard up front. It could have been a different game if we'd taken our chances and that is the key point, the major difference between where we are and the level above is finishing. We need 5/6 chances to score 1, they took their two early ones and I can only think of two more they had throughout the game. Disappointing to be out of the cup, ah well there's always next year eh.

Middlesbrough

So the final game of the month saw us take a trip to the Riverside Stadium to take on Middlesbrough, now from the outside looking in it appears to be a bit of a transitional year for Middlesbrough. Gone is the pragmatic Tony Pulis and in is the local lad Jonnathan Woodgate. Of course the manager who inhabited the home dressing room at the Riverside before Pulis was our own Garry Monk who hadn't beaten Boro in three attempts since leaving. Well that was all put to bed after 34 minutes. Wednesday were 4-1 at half time through an Adam Clayton own goal, Dominic Iorfa, Adam Reach and Steven Fletcher. It's not very often you get a half of football like that and it was very pleasing. We exploited Boro's lack of ability in the air and deserved what we got. It's the first time since Bournemouth away in 2014 we've scored 4 in one half away from home. The last time we did it at all was Preston at home under Jos. While Monk was measured in his post match interview I'm sure inside he was delighted with what he'd seen and beating a club that lets be honest treated him badly. It was also very funny to hear the Wednesday fans singing at the Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson after the recent off field ongoings. Maybe instead of looking for other clubs to blame he should maybe focus on arresting the slide his club seems to have been on since relegation. But enough of them, it was our day and a great way to cap off a good month for Wednesday.

Looking ahead

It's been a good start for Garry Monk, while there were questions over his appointment we've taken 7 points from 9 and with there not being any outstanding teams in the league this year we currently sit 7^th, 1 point outside the Play Offs, 3 points off top. Now while early it's fair to say that a good couple of results in the next few and we could be right up there. I don't want to get too carried away as it's early days and we were actually in a similar position this time last year. The next two will take us into the 2^nd international break of the season.

Hull away kicks off October while Wigan at home provides the last home game for a few weeks. After that a trip to Cardiff which is always tough before games on the TV against Stoke and Leeds. Both very interesting for different reasons. It'll be interesting to see where we are come the end of October, if we have maintained this kind of form then in my opinion we'll have a decent shot of those Play Offs personally.

While there's not too much expectation from us at this stage I think we all recognise we have a decent squad of players and if the perform to the levels more often than not we'll have a chance. To get out of this division you need a plan, players that buy into that plan and a manager who can make big decisions and get the best out of his squad. Early signs are promising. Like I said, October is a big months and offers some really interesting games against different sets of teams.

So there we have it, another month played. The table is taking shape and the nights are drawing in. Yep the football well and truly is back.

Thanks for reading

Tom

WAWAW