Sheffield Wednesday: Why Owls boss Carlos is unconcerned by dip in form

For the colourful Portuguese head coach, there is no reason to panic despite a five-match winless streak.

Thanks to Bolton’s last-gasp equaliser at home to Ipswich Town in midweek, the Owls continue to occupy the final Championship play-off place. A top-six finish remains well within their grasp.

This sticky patch is not unfamiliar territory for Carvalhal and his players, either, for Wednesday were languishing in 18th position after winning just one of their opening seven league fixtures. It took time for Carvalhal’s squad to gel together and adapt to his methods.

However, the team recovered from a slow start to mount a serious promotion push and Carvalhal told The Star: “All the teams in the competition have good and bad periods.

“Our not so good period was in the first seven games and we know why. In that period, we didn’t have the full team. We had a new coach, a new process and we lost a lot of points as we were not so strong at that moment.

“Aside from the odd accident, we did really well in the period before our last five games. We were probably one of the most consistent teams in the competition.

“We have not won the points that we wished from the last five matches but we know why. It is why our team is still strong in the mind and continue to fight. We have lost some points but we know why we lose points in the competition.”

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Wednesday go to mid-table Nottingham Forest on Saturday and Carvalhal is backing his players to arrest their poor run of results.

“We are in a good position at this moment,” he said. “We are in a good way.

“If we carry on playing like a team and with the quality on the pitch that we showed at Brighton, we can do well.

“We are fighting for three points in all games; there is no panic or nerves, we still believe what we are doing is correct.”

Carvalhal freshened up his side in the goalless draw at Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday. For the second consecutive match on the road, he switched three of his back four, bringing in Liam Palmer, Glenn Loovens and Joe Bennett, who all acquitted themselves well.

He said: “The guys who came in did well. We made the changes to put more energy in the team. We have rotated all season so it is not something new to us.”

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