Well, here we are. Another season is upon us and one in which The Owls return to the Championship. So much for a quiet summer after the fun and games of the Play Offs. A new manager, press conferences and statements, prices debates, rumours of protests. It’s never dull, is it?
This is my first blog in a year. You might ask why I didn’t do one after last season’s preview? Or why I didn’t do one after the Play Off miracle or why not one after Wembley? Well, to tell you the truth, I enjoyed last season probably more than any other season and a lot of what I’d want to say and document had already been said and documented.
I wanted to write one after Peterborough but even now I still can’t quite comprehend what happened that night. I still find myself thinking “did that actually happen?” It was the most surreal night I’ve ever had following this club, for so many reasons.
Wembley is easier. Again, another amazing moment with Windass’ 120+3 winner. But it was Play Off Final. You know the stakes, the significance. It was an amazing day and I loved it and whenever I turned my attention to the idea of doing a blog, I’d just see something that summed it up better. Be it in articles or on social media.
But now to this season. Darren Moore has gone, Xisco Muñoz has arrived. We’ll get to that later. It’s yet another new era at Hillsborough. Let’s take a closer look.
How are we looking?
While a new manager has arrived, the majority of the players are still the same. The same team that achieved 96 points, that won a record amount of away games, that went on the longest unbeaten run in the club’s history and that smashed the clean sheet record. All that can’t be forgotten. Personally I’d say a lot of this squad have something to prove at this level. There are plenty like Josh Windass and Will Vaulks who will feel that they were maybe playing below a more natural standard to get Wednesday promoted. Others maybe have that tag of “Great for League One, not good enough for the Championship”. I think ultimately time will tell on that one.
Pre season has brought about it’s usual mix of inconsistent starting elevens, games against local sides where intensity is lacking, trips abroad where it’s too hot and social media overreacting to anything and everything. I take everything with a pinch of salt personally. You can only ever tell so much from a friendly, good or bad. What I have found interesting is the use of a back four instead of the back three we’ve been used to over the last eighteen months. We’ve played it out more from the back and it’s been clear that it’s something the younger lads seem slightly more comfortable with than the older lads. But again, it’s pre season.
Have we overplayed too much at times? I don’t think so personally. I thought against Luton last weekend we played well. Certainly in the first half an hour. Again, any momentum in the game was stopped by the nature of pre season, the changes that were made gradually. You can see something is coming together. It’s going to take time.
Transfers
After a slow start to the summer in terms of signings, things have heated up since then. Personally I think even if we hadn’t have had the managerial change, we’d have still be one of the clubs doing business in the middle and towards the end of the window. Adding that change in clearly had a big impact and one set of targets changed to another. I don’t want to go into the whole list debate in this blog because I think it’s part of a wider conversation about the owner.
As things stand, Reece James, Juan Delgado, Ashley Fletcher, Pol Valentin, Di’Shon Bernard, Bambo Diaby and Anthony Musaba have all checked in through the door.
James, we all know. I think it was a good deal to get done. He’s useful and can play in a number of different positions. When you look his career he’s one of those who has struggled to hold down a regular place in Championship sides. At Wednesday though he’s certainly found a fanbase that has taken to him and he to them and the club. I have no worries there.
Delgado looked good in his first home 45 minutes against Luton. He looks the type of player who can excite and drive us forward up the pitch which we need if we are going to be playing the way it seems we are.
Ashley Fletcher is an interesting one. Highly talented as a youngster, he excelled in a loan spell at Barnsley that earned him a move to West Ham. A year later he went up to Middlesbrough and had a mixed spell in terms of goalscoring. While his record isn’t amazing overall, that doesn’t take into account the fact that he’s probably not played in the right team or under the right managers to get the best out of him. Xisco signed him at Watford when a lot looked at that move and thought it was an odd one. Clearly Xisco feels he can get something out of him. If he can repeat for us in this loan spell what he did for Middlesbrough in 19/20 (11 in 40) then he’ll have done alright. Sometimes it’s the right club, the right time and the right manager. Take another former Manchester United youngster and ex Owl, Will Keane. Keane didn’t hit double figures for goals until he was 27 (same age as Fletcher is now), season after that he scores 26 in a title winning Wigan team and 12 last season in the Championship. My point here is that late developers still happen in football. I still think Fletcher can be one of them.
Valentin and Musaba, I don’t know much about and won’t pretend to either. Both look interesting signings though and both at good ages as well. We certainly need to sign more players of that profile, early to mid 20’s with the room to develop.
Di’Shon Bernard and Bambo Diaby will add some much needed depth at the back. I think both look to be again, that good profile of age and development. Diaby is no stranger to South Yorkshire having played for Barnsley. Bernard has played at the level before with Hull. I wouldn’t expect either to come in immediately but you never know.
Who Still Needs To Come In?
You could argue we still need a striker and it’s one I’d probably agree with. I think if you’re fully honest about the situation none of Smith, Paterson, Gregory, Windass and Fletcher are likely to be a 20 goal striker for us this season. Not that that is a requirement, if they can all chip in and we can get a good output from the rest of the team then it starts to look a lot more positive. My worry is if we are going with one up front, how many chances will we create and while last season we were excellent and very clinical at times. There were games where we were profligate. You can’t really afford that at the level above.
Another winger would add some much needed depth. We don’t know exactly where Delgado and Valentin will play long term. They could be answers to that particular question.
Another central midfielder would be another sensible addition. Injuries have been an issue in the past in that area of the pitch. Can we rely on Byers over a 46 game season? I’d like to think so but the reality is we do need to add some depth. Liam Palmer’s switch in position in the 2nd leg of the Play Offs and the final do offer a possible solution here but long term I don’t know if Palmer will play there under Xisco.
The New Manager
After several names did the rounds, Xisco Muñoz, was the man that took the reigns from Darren Moore. A recent promotion winning manager from this division. Not many expected one of those to be heading through the door. Now, don’t get me wrong, that certainly shouldn’t be what he’s judged on here. There are a few things I think you have to acknowledge about Xisco. First of all, like Moore, he’s a young manager. He’s not going to get it all right. He’ll make mistakes, like we all do. Every interview he has done he has been positive and clearly wants to look forward rather than in the past. The fact he knows the division and has had some success in it is key for me.
Some Watford fans have said he’s more of a “vibes” manager than a tactician. I don’t think you can win as many games as he did with them without being alright in the tactics department. Yes I’m aware of the squad they had that season and I know we’re not at that level. But actually being able to motivate players and get the best out of them is something we’ve lacked at this level for a while now. You also have to remember that he’s still a young manager and he was only in his first full year when he took the job at Watford. Everyone is better for three years more experience, aren’t they?
It’s clear he wants his players to have more than one string to their bow. I like that, it’s become a bit of a theme at Wednesday in recent years that players will play out of their natural positions. Famewo at left back on Saturday being the perfect example of this. If you can solve problems on the pitch with the players that are already on there then that suggests a good level of tactical knowledge and coaching ability.
We need stability. Like any manager, I hope Xisco is here a long time. Because it means he’s done a good job. He seems to be a very likeable bloke and I hope the fans take to him. Results, of course, will dictate that in the main.
Expectations
I’ve learned over the years that regardless of what has gone on at Sheffield Wednesday over the summer, some peoples expectations never changed. They’re either eternally optimistic, think we’ll do really well and should be up there or down in the dumps, won’t get out the bottom three all season and will struggle to win many games. You get those who, regardless of who the manager is and what players we have, think we should be right at the top of this league.
I don’t think you can look at this season and not think that survival should be the main aim. It’s a strong Championship on paper. We’ve had a summer of upheaval and there is a general mood around the fan base that suggests it’s had enough for some of the off the field nonsense clouding the club. I’ll probably do another blog about that because I do think the two things are separate. On the pitch I’m more positive but we saw in 20/21 that chaos off the pitch can have a massive effect.
My Prediction
It think it’s fair to say that Sheffield Wednesday are one of the favourites for relegation. I can’t argue against that point. We came up through the Play Offs, we’ve changed manager, we’re gambling on a lot of the signings and there is the previously mention off the field woes.
However, this is still mostly a group of players that achieved 96 points last season. Turned round a 4-0 defect to get to Wembley. Won at Wembley with a last minute winner. Only lost twice at home in all competitions last season. I wouldn’t back against a team that had done all that to go and achieve what needs to be achieved.
It’ll be tough, we will have some tough Saturday afternoons and midweek evenings. It might go all the way to that final day up at Sunderland. But if it does and we come out of it 21st or above. I’ll be delighted and the aim for the season will have been achieved. I’m sure we’d all love for it to be a much smoother ride than that. I can see it being similar to the last time we came up in 2012/13 where we had a pretty poor first half of the season and a much stronger second half of the season when the team was more settled.
I’ll put a position out there. If we do have a decent start and can maybe avoid too long a settling in process then I think we’ll be fine. I’ll say 20th. I think we’ll do it. Like I say, I think it’ll be tough. But we didn’t do everything we did in that miracle back in May to chuck it away at the first attempt.
End of the day, nobody really knows. We just have to get behind the lads. They’ll need us this season, of that I have no doubt.
Thanks for reading,
Tom
WAWAW
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