Bambo Diaby decision explained as Sheffield Wednesday head into winter madness

The German boss designed the club's plans over the November international break around frontloading work to ensure they can cope with a whirlwind December schedule that includes seven matches - four of which require away day travel. Röhl expressed pride in the fact his side have shown signs of progression in terms of the physical demands his methods require.

But with data closely monitored, decisions designed to keep the players fit and firing will be made. One such call was made in the midweek draw with Leicester City on centre-half Bambo Diaby, who was substituted on the hour mark. It was the first minutes Wednesday have played without Diaby on the pitch since Röhl arrived at the club.

Explaining a reshuffle that saw Liam Palmer given his first appearance under the new manager and Dominic Iorfa pushed into the middle of defence, Röhl told The Star: "It was to look at how we could keep our performance high. I had the feeling and thought Bambo and saw he had done a lot of running, he attacked forward and these things. It was also about bringing fresh legs in to keep our intensity high in the game.

"His performance was great, he had good, front-foot defending, which I like. It was not a bad performance, it was more about managing the load (with a glut of fixtures to come) and having the group coming forward until the end with high intensity and having the power to score."

Röhl's time as assistant manager of Southampton and Bayern Munich - who were involved in European competition throughout his time there - has given him prior experience of an 'English' Christmas fixture schedule. The task of managing the programme as manager is one he is looking forward to. Changes will be made to his line-up week-to-week, though consideration made to not changing too much as to lose any momentum built up.

"I think about my time at Munich and we had a lot of 'English weeks' where we had to play more than once per week," he said. "We have to get the fresh legs in but also keep your self-confidence and direction. If you change too much you can drop a little because you lose some on the pitch. You must have good balance to bring fresh legs in but also keep your strength in the group and how we play."