Sheffield Wednesday 2019/20: December Review

The last kick of a football for 2019 has been kicked and thus rounds up the year. It's been eventful to say the least and December has come with it's own mix of stories and drama.

The Matches

Brentford

We started December with a visit from Brentford, it was a decent test of where Wednesday were after the win over Charlton. The first half wasn't great, we didn't get anywhere near up to the standard required and Brentford played well, created a bit through some good moves but it was a set piece that gave them the lead. In the 2^nd half however Wednesday were much better, Jordan Rhodes came on at half time and that changed the game, his running and movement gave Brentford something to think about and Steven Fletcher scored twice to give Wednesday a 2-1 win. It was the first time Wednesday had come from behind to win a game since September 2017 (against Brentford funnily enough) and also the first time this season we had beaten a side that sat above us in the table. A pleasing afternoon and a very important result for Wednesday.

Derby

After Brentford it was a midweek trip to Derby County, Wednesday's record at Derby is dreadful. 2006 was the last time the Owls came away with all three points from there. Being honest I can't think off too many occasions where we have deserved a win there but this time we 100% did. While Derby were awful we were outstanding in the first half and once again Steven Fletcher gave us the lead after Barry Bannan capitalised on an awful pass across the goal from Derby's defence. In the 2^nd half Derby improved slightly and Wednesday couldn't quite find that 2^nd goal they deserved. A penalty which in my opinion was never a penalty was given late on and Derby equalised. A frustrating result after a good performance. After the game there were several complains over the subs in particular taking off Fletcher, given his injury record and his importance to the team and that fact he'd already had treatment during the game I think it was logical to take him off. While the performance deserved more however a point away is still no bad thing.

Nottingham Forest

A 2^nd trip to the East Midlands to round off the week, Wednesday's recent record against Forest is impressive, just one defeat in the last ten meeting between the two. Forest are having a decent season and had threats of their own but in similar fashion to Middlesbrough earlier in the campaign we didn't give them much of a chance of showing that. 4-0 up at half time, wonderful. Jordan Rhodes with a hat trick and Steven Fletcher rounding off a brilliant first half for Wednesday. I was so pleased for Rhodes, he deserved a day like that. A lot of people have had their opinion on him, I think a lot of the criticism is unfair, I've always felt that while ever he was here we should persist with him as he had a record that few can match. He showed that at Forest, getting into good positions and taking his chances, that's what he does. Colin Murray summed it up perfectly on Quest TV's highlights show, “Rhodes is only as good as the service you give him”, we haven't done that enough during his time with us. He and Steven Fletcher up front as a two was looking good in pre season and we went away from it but I feel it has legs, both seem to benefit from playing in a two. Back to the team, it was a terrific result which maybe took the division by a bit of a surprise but that's the Championship.

Bristol City

After the high of the Forest game came the last game before Christmas and a home game live on SKY against Bristol City. While it wasn't the most entertaining of games it was enjoyable as a contest. Wednesday could have fallen behind early on after Bristol City carved open a chance on 15 seconds but after that we controlled it. We had enough chances to be in front at half time. Second half I think Bristol City were more than happy with a point and we struggled to break them down but a daft foul by Tommy Rowe on Atdhe Nuhiu lead to a penalty. Now while I agree it was soft it was still a daft thing for him to do and Barry Bannan slotted home to lift Wednesday up to third. It was a deserved three points for me and while it was only half way through, it was nice to be third.

Stoke City

Boxing saw Wednesday back on the road and off to Stoke, the record on boxing day was very impressive. Won the last five, unbeaten in seven. Stoke came into the game in the bottom three, now while they have had a dreadful season and are in the drop zone I still don't think they'll be relegated. They have so much quality in that side. Having said that Wednesday were well below the level required. They fell behind early on after not dealing with Stoke's quality. While they did get back into the game in the 2^nd half and took the lead after goals from Morgan Fox and Tom Lees we chucked it away late on again. Poor defending lead to Stoke winning it with virtually the last kick of the game. A gutting way to lose and while I don't think we can have too many complaints if you have eyes on promotion you can't keep chucking games away like we have done.

Cardiff City

The last game of 2019 and the decade was at Hillsborough against Cardiff, another side we had a decent record against going into the game. Sadly the poor performance we saw at Stoke was repeated against Cardiff. 2-0 down within the first ten minutes made it a touch watch. While the performance did pick up and we got a goal back through Tom Lees we didn't do enough to get anything from the game, while I don't question the effort or commitment of our players we do lack ideas. We still haven't addressed the issue of taking responsibility. Without Steven Fletcher for the last few games we struggle. Atdhe did his best when he came on as did Sam Winnall and Jordan Rhodes but they all offer slightly different things. Rhodes as we said before is only as good as the service you give him and we didn't seem to create enough to give anyone a decent chance. You can't give teams two goal starts in this league. It's too good a standard to expect to do that and get away with it. One other thing to note from the game was the shocking decision to not send Junior Hoilett off for his tackle on Liam Palmer, I say tackle, assault would have been a better term. It was a shocking two footed lunge that on any other day would have seen red, Tim Robinson once again showing another glorious reason why he should not officiate games of football, horrific tackle that could have been much more serious. I hope Liam is OK.

25 Games in: Where do I see us?

If we look at the league in it's simplicity and ignore other things going on off the field if you'd have offered me 6^th after 25 games I'd have taken it. I think most sensible Wednesday fans would have taken it. I've seen a lot of criticism of Monk after the Cardiff game, really? He's had no pre season, he's not had a transfer window, he's working with a squad that does need refreshing and yet he's getting a tune out of it more often that not and has us in a decent position. Crazy really. I didn't expect a top six challenge, I think this was always going to be a year of rebuilding and hopefully progression after the last two seasons. If we can do anything in January to add to the squad then maybe we'll finish in there but if we don't it's not time to panic.

In terms of the off the field things, nobody really knows what will happen with the EFL and the Independent panel's decision regarding Wednesday's sale of Hillsborough. That is casting a cloud over the season, I've heard more than one person say they're losing interest due to it and to be honest it's hard to argue with it at times. There could realistically be a situation where we go from a top six challenger to a relegation fighter and while I'm sure the fans would still try and get behind the team for whatever was needed the psychological blow of losing those points could have a huge impact. From a personal point of view until we know what is happening you just have to get behind the team, a decision might not come before the end of the campaign meaning promotion could still realistically be on.

The 2010's

As it's the end of the decade I thought I'd quickly look back at some of the highs and lows of the 2010's. It started badly with relegation in 2010 and 2011 wasn't much better either with a 15^th placed finish in League One. Milan Mandaric saving the club was the standout moment of that season for me. 2012 brought the sweetest of promotions from the third tier at the expense of Sheffield United. 2013 and 14 were both years of struggling to adapt to life in the Championship after promotion, some decent players and moments in that period as well before a year of consolidation in 2015. Going close in both 2016 and 2017 brings some wonderful memories, that 15/16 season was fantastic and although it didn't have the ending we all wanted I'll still look back on it with fond memories. 2018 and 2019 have been full of incident and a number of different stories. While there have been some positives there have also been some negatives, ultimately it's been a roller-coaster of a decade.

Along with this there have been discussions about team of the decade. For me it was a fairly simple selection of players based on what went on and when. Here is the team.

Effectively it's the Wembley team that started the Play Off Final but with Antonio coming in and Bannan moving into the middle. I really can't justify putting anyone else in, that is in my opinion the best selection of players we've had in that time based on form, consistency, impact and level. All these players baring Antonio have done well with Wednesday at the top end of the division. Antonio's 9 goals in 2012/13 kept us up. Without him we'd have been relegated.

So there we have it, January approaches. We'll have to see where we are and what we might have done come the end of the month.

Here's to a better 2020.

Thanks for reading

Tom

WAWAW

Sheffield Wednesday 2019/20: November Review

Well the Christmas decorations are starting to go up, the days and nights are getting colder. It must be December. Another month has gone by and it's been one filled with talking points both on and off the pitch. I'll touch upon the off the field matters towards the end. For now I'll focus on the off the field matters regarding Sheffield Wednesday.

The Matches

Blackburn Rovers

We started the month with a trip over the Pennines to face Blackburn, last season Blackburn away was the real low point for me. No direction, no leadership, got beaten convincingly. This time it was less bad but still not great. We fell well below the standard we'd seen against the likes of Leeds in the previous game. That isn't to say there weren't positives there were. We didn't play well but found ourselves with 7 minutes to go leading 1-0 and heading towards three points. Sadly we didn't hang on, 2 late Blackburn goals both fairly preventable saw Blackburn run out 2-1 winners. The first one is poor defending and Westwood came off his line which he didn't need to do. Concerning to say the least. The 2^nd one again isn't great defending, Julian Borner could have dealt with it better however I do have slight sympathy with him given that it does take a deflection and beats Westwood. Overall a disappointing start to November.

Swansea

Swansea were next on the agenda, after the Blackburn result it was fair to say a win was needed to boost the mood. Overall it was actually a decent performance, we were the better side despite falling 1-0 behind to an Andre Ayew goal that should never have come about after a mix up between Morgan Fox and Keiren Westwood. Wednesday responded late into the game after Fernando Forestieiri finished off a good move started by Adam Reach, both had come off the bench before Morgan Fox scored to make it 2-1 not long after. I have to say the celebrations for that goal were up there with some of the best of the last few years. Sadly a sting in the tail was to come as Swansea equalised late on to make it 2-2. Another late goal conceded, it was becoming an issue.

West Brom

After Swansea and an international break Wednesday travelled to face top of the league West Brom, I think for me West Brom look as good a side as the league has to offer. Again we went to one of the top sides and actually did ok. I'd have taken a point before the game and to be fair we probably did enough to earn one. They took the lead through Hal Robson-Kanu before Wednesday equalised through a penalty after a foul on Kieran Lee. Fletcher converting to end a goal drought for the Scotsman. Again however another late moment of madness cost us. Liam Palmer and Dominic Irofa didn't react quick enough to a ball over the top and Keiren Westwood rushing off his line collided with West Brom's Grady Diangana to give away a penalty. Charlie Austin stepped up and converted to give the Baggies the points. A frustrating day and result that raised a lot of questions around the goalkeeping situation.

Birmingham City

After the disappointing result at the Hawthorns we were back at Hillsborough for Birmingham City. The game was given added spice after Garry Monk's comments about former assistant Pep Clotet. Now this has raised a lot of discussion, some think Monk was unprofessional, something it was nothing more than stating his side of the story. I personally fall on the 2^nd side of those. At the end of the day, we don't know what went on. The only people who do are Monk and Clotet. It's one of those where both could feel they are correct. Clearly Monk wasn't treated with the 'class' that Birmingham claimed he lacked after sacking him over text which in my opinion is a disgraceful way to deal with that situation. A text? Come on, we aren't 15 year olds in the school yard are we? As for the game, it lacked a bit in quality. Wednesday were fairly dominant but the old habit of missing chances and not having enough up front was evident again. Birmingham took the lead early in the 2^nd half. After that Wednesday had a number of chances, Fernando Forestieiri making a difference as a 2^nd half sub. It was Kadeem Harris who in the end broke the Blues defence with a goal not long after an effort that I can only describe as 'Jermanine Johnson-esque'. What I will say though is to miss one like that and then have the character to try again moments later says a lot about Kadeem who had taken a bit of stick for not having much end product. He's been a great signing and I was pleased for him to get the goal. As for the team, the last 10 miniutes proved we can put the ball in the box with quality, we need to do that on a more consistent basis.

Charlton Athletic

A trip down to London to face recently takenover Charlton. The addicks had a number of injuries to content with ahead of the game. Who do they think they are, 17/18 Wednesday? In all seriousness it was a game we had to be looking at winning and win we did with goals from Fletcher and Nuhiu. Both started and I think both firmly justified it, one thing that has been proven over the years is Nuhiu can get open up space for others and we saw in the first half with Forestieri alongside them that playing two up front causes problems. It allowed the likes of Harris and Bannan to cause problems both out wide and in the middle. Fox got forward well and his role in the first goal hasn't been shouted about enough for me. Bannan another quality ball in for Fletcher to nod home. The 2^nd goal came from the penalty spot after Jacob Murphy, another who's taken stick from the fans did well to win it. Good work from Adam Reach to find Nuhiu late on to wrap it up. As for their goal, as frustrating as it was, their left back who had a brilliant first half did well and it did take a deflection. Could we do better? Yes, did it cost us? No. Overall a very pleasing early afternoon for Wednesday

Going forward

So where do we go from here? Well a busy December period gives us six games. Brentford at home followed by trips to Derby and Nottingham Forest before Bristol City at home, boxing day away at Stoke before Cardiff on the 29^th. Busy to say the least. We all know that on our day we can give anyone a game. It can't go unnoticed however that our eight wins have come against the sides that occupy the bottom eight positions in the Championship. An anomaly to an extent but it does kind of show where we are. I have no doubt we will pick up points against the better side, he could have got a point at West Brom, we should have beaten Swansea, we should have beaten Leeds. We all know we need to be more ruthless, taking our chances seems to be an issue we haven't been able to address. One way to change that might be to play two up front more often. Adthe Nuhiu and Steven Fletcher prior to this season hadn't spent much time on the pitch together. Often one would replace the other. But they've shown this season that they can link up well. I'd argue they deserve a run at it together if you aren't going to use the likes of Sam Winnall and Jordan Rhodes.

In terms of the defence I'm fairly content with that. I do think Tom Lees has made a difference being back in the side. I'm not saying Borner and Iorfa haven't done well because they clearly have but Lees has a number of games at this level. Borner is clearly a talented defender but he's played 16 games in the Championship, Iorfa will have only played so many as a centre back. Lees' experience as well as quality will be needed. Goalkeeping has been a debate for a while. For me it's Dawson's shirt to loose, he's had the better start to the season and I feel had he have made the errors Westwood has this season he'd be getting loads of stick. Monk stated he'd play players based on form, on that basis I see no reason to drop Dawson when Westwood is fit again.

Off the pitch

This could be a long segment really. To be honest as someone who likes to take in as much media about Wednesday as possible the last few weeks have been filled with negative stories along with the usual rumours that they create. The club had obviously been charged with in relation to selling the ground to another company that is also owned by Chansiri. The club have at the time of writing responded with a claim that the charge was unjust and that the EFL have acted unlawfully.

My personal take on this has kind of altered as the days have gone on really, I don't think anyone was too surprised this charge came, whatever you think of the EFL or the club there has clearly been something brewing. However Wednesday have every right to defend themselves and if they feel they have a strong enough case for their defence should have every right to fight the charge. Chansiri has also been charged and according to the Telegraph newspaper could face a “Ban from football” whatever that means along with John Redgate and Katrien Meire. Again no knowledge either way if they are worthy charges or not. We as fans can only see what happens, we don't have any influence over it either way.

Whatever you think of Chansiri he has put his money in, he has tried to do his best. He's made mistakes and I think we're mostly paying now for the lack of a back up plan in 2017 after losing in the Play Offs to Huddersfield. The idea that always seems to rear it's head whenever anything negative is put out in the media is that he should 'go'. Well OK but who comes in and for what price? It's not as simple as a manager or player leaving. This is the owner of the football club, he's the one paying the bills, he's the one who's putting the money up. It's worrying how quick some fans want to chuck themselves at someone else. Red Bull has been mentioned, that sends a shiver down my spine personally. People were outraged (correctly) when Chansiri removed the stripes for two seasons, imagine playing in a completely different colour and effectively being a feeder club for others. No thanks.

The last point I want to make is as much as it might be a risk to take on the EFL, I do feel a little bit like they've had it coming. They aren't fit for purpose. We lost a wonderful historic club in Bury, we nearly lost another In Bolton. Macclesfield are in trouble, Coventry are playing their home games 22 miles away in Birmingham. We've had less than desirable people in charge of clubs before. All this under the EFL's stewardship. I'm not saying they have to be 100% perfect but they don't seem to have a grasp of the proper issues within their own competitions and are more bothered about punishing a club that while admittedly reliant on a single individual is at least paying the bills. Not at deaths door, the EFL need to take a look at themselves and their own rules. Clubs like Derby, Wednesday and others aren't the problem.

This is before we get into parachute payments which we could do a whole blog about, maybe I will soon.

Thanks for reading

Tom

WAWAW