Why Bailey Cadamarteri missed out on Sheffield Wednesday starting spot at West Brom
Youngster Bailey Cadamarteri was a surprise exclusion from the Sheffield Wednesday starting line-up on Saturday, playing the final 10 minutes of an excellent Owls performance in a goalless draw at West Brom.
Wednesday had the better of the second half and ended up disappointed with just a point having weathered something of a storm early doors against a Baggies side aiming for a play-off push. Ike Ugbo and Jamal Lowe were chosen to lead the line by Henrik Pedersen, with both players earning rave reviews from the Dane for their defensive aptitude in the game.
Cadamarteri has now started only one of the four matches played since he returned from international duty with Jamaica last month. Many had expected him to step back in to the starting line-up and asked on the thinking behind the selection, Pedersen suggested Ugbo’s skillset against the ball was a driving factor.
“Ike has trained really well and when he played the last time he did really well,” Pedersen told The Star. “He is really strong defensively and it is for his trigger and how he closes the centre. I think he showed his best side defensively. When we are on the ball, he is good to use in the red zone behind the six position and in front of the striker.
“What we are working on is that when he works on the next action he comes higher so that when we break the line he is a magnet to the goal. We do not want him to play too much of the build-up from here.
“These were the reasons we wanted to start with him and then we had Bailey and Charlie, two young players to put in with fresh energy. They did well when they came in.”