Sheffield Wednesday: Under-fire Carvalhal vows to win over fans again

Under-fire head coach Carlos Carvalhal remains confident he can get Wednesday's fans back on side this season.
Owls head coach Carlos Carvalhal.....Pic Steve EllisOwls head coach Carlos Carvalhal.....Pic Steve Ellis
Owls head coach Carlos Carvalhal.....Pic Steve Ellis

Some of Wednesday’s 4,700 plus travelling fans were heard chanting ‘We Want Carlos Out’ in the dying embers of Saturday’s 2-1 loss at bottom-of-the-table Bolton Wanderers.

The pressure is mounting on Carvalhal following three defeats in their last four outings. The result leaves them 12th in the Championship standings, a whopping eight points adrift of the second automatic promotion berth after 12 matches.

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But the Portuguese head coach, who has led the Owls to back-to-back play-off finishes, is sure he can turn things around.

He said: “If we can win some games in a row and come back with good performances, I’m absolutely sure the fans will follow us.

“But we must do our work. We can’t lose games and expect the fans to be happy.

“The fans are unhappy and they have reasons to be unhappy. I agree with them because I am unhappy.

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“But we are not far from the first positions. It is a very hard competition and all teams are losing points. We still believe we can achieve promotion this season.”

Carvalhal insists he does not fear the sack and has vowed to address their patchy form.

“I must do my work,” he said. “I do the best that I can.

“We didn’t play a good game against Bolton but a few weeks ago we put in one of our best performances since I arrived at Sheffield Wednesday.

“My staff and I work hard. After Leeds almost everything was perfect and good. When we lose one game, everything is wrong.

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“I believe there is a middle between the things. We were not so fantastic against Leeds but we were not garbage against Bolton.

“We have to win points in a hard competition. I will prepare the team for Derby to try to win the game next week.

“We put in a good performance against Leeds and scored three goals which made us believe we could do that more often.

“But I agree with the critics who say we must be more consistent. We can’t play like we did against Leeds one week and then not play at the same level the next week. We must correct things and do better. We are missing some consistency.”

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Michael Gray, the ex-Owls defender turned media pundit, hopes Carvalhal is given more time to rectify their results.

“I still think you’ve got to be patient with him,” said Gray on Football on 5.

“A couple more wins gets them back up to where they should be and if they can get back into the play-offs, who knows? They’ve got every chance.”