Alan Biggs: Use of ‘false target men’ another trick in the tactic stakes by Sheffield Wednesday

Or not target men, as the case may be.

Sheffield Wednesday are getting forward much faster these days, often getting an early goal, always preferring a rapid outlet to attack even when playing from the back.

And while the system has remained almost constant - a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-1-2 - the way Michael Smith and Lee Gregory have been used intrigues me.

Seldom in tandem, though one or other will invariably start, fitness permitting, with the versatile Callum Paterson (currently sidelined) a back up option.

What has surprised me, and perhaps opposing teams also, is that the “target man” tag has often been false.

Wednesday have looked to slide in early balls either side, often for Josh Windass but also for Smith, Gregory or Paterson.

The traditional build-up - slower - of a ball up to the big man, for him to shield, hold up and lay off with defenders at his back, is much more rarely seen. Or is that just me?

Of course, both Smith and Gregory can do it as a stock-in-trade, the latter the better of the two in that regard. They are also natural targets for crosses, corners and free-kicks.

But Moore and his coaches seem to have cleverly bypassed that traditional target route in open play, making the Owls less predictable as a result.

It hasn’t delivered either main striker a landslide of goals - 19 in the league between them, Smith (11), Gregory (5), Paterson (3).

But Windass, with 10, has been a beneficiary of the side always looking forwards rather than forwards and then back via a big man.

Wednesday haven’t been prolific but currently they have scored in eleven consecutive games of their record 21 match unbeaten run and the goals are well spread.

All underpinned by a fantastic unity off the ball that barely gives the opposition a sniff.

Portsmouth, Bolton and Barnsley are big tests immediately to come.

But something will have to go radically and unexpectedly wrong for a spanner to appear in this well-oiled machine.