Danny Röhl critical of aspect of three Sheffield Wednesday player games - praises 'outstanding' response
Sheffield Wednesday were edged out of a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday evening as Premier League Brentford beat them on penalties.
The Owls went behind early and found themselves under a great deal of pressure for periods of the first half but were able to hang in the game and equalised through a long-range Djeidi Gassama goal just before the hour. Danny Röhl’s side pushed on after the break and had chances to win it, with Bees boss Thomas Frank admitting the visiting side had given them a fright.
Röhl is nothing if not honest in post-match interviews and asked about the quality of Gassama’s strike admitted he had taken a dim view of the first half performance of his front three, with Anthony Musaba and Ike Ugbo having partnered the young Frenchman up top. The high standards German boss felt the trio did not work closely enough out of possession and made no secret of his feelings when speaking to The Star in the moments after their shootout defeat.
“It was a good goal, but in the first half I was not really happy with my front three,” he said. “We had too big a distance between and we didn't recover right. This is basic and coming here, we knew we had to run and we had to suffer sometimes and sometimes we missed that. The second half was much, much better. It was a good goal and since Coventry we know he can score from outside the box, this is helpful and it gave us a lift today.
“That belief comes more and more back. I think it was a key point to fight for the steps inch by inch, the small steps. In the last 10 minutes both teams had some good opportunities to win the game. The quality on the bench was high and even Liam's penalty was a good save from the goalkeeper.”
Röhl was more than satisfied with the wider performance and the character shown by his side, with nine changes made to the line-up that had started out their 2-1 win at Portsmouth last week. What especially pleased him, it seems, was their ability to wrestle back a foothold in the game having gone behind the Kevin Schade’s fortunate finish after just 11 minutes. Wednesday have come from behind to win their last two away games in the Championship and Röhl has paid testament to a renewed steel in the side.
“It was an outstanding performance,” he said. “We know this is a tough place and Thomas has a team that is doing really well in the Premier League, it's a tough place. You see how many changes we did in the starting 11, we had to, we had a Saturday, Tuesday again and then a Saturday, Tuesday, Sunday. We have a lot of games ahead. My team did outstanding, how they connected.
“We felt in the first 10 or 12 minutes there was a different speed, but what was important at half-time was to give the message that we have to improve small things; to be more connected against the ball, especially the front three, they did better in the second half. There was the decision-making on the ball. We showed big, big character to stay in the game. For me this was key and we spoke in the past about conceding an early goal, you never know, but we stayed in our match plan. We did more and more of what he had to do and I take the draw as a win for the team.”
Efforts have been made to strengthen the depth of Wednesday’s squad and this season’s Carabao Cup run has in part been used as a testing ground for individuals who haven’t featured so much in Championship football. In going as far in the competition as they have in eight seasons, their midweek outings have served an important purpose and Tuesday’s clash in the capital offered big opportunity to three youngsters who all impressed; Pierce Charles, Gabriel Otegbayo and Sean Fusire.
Röhl continued: “We go in together and in the last six or seven weeks it doesn't matter who, everybody brings a quality in and I think to see Sean, Gab and Pierce, nobody knew their names a year ago - and now they can play against a strong Premier League team.”