Sheffield Wednesday boss explains controversial selection decisions as fans question changes

The Owls were beaten 4-0 at St. Mary's Stadium on Saturday afternoon as they were put to the sword by the Saints on the south coast, and while the hosts were the better side they also benefitted from a couple of mistakes that led to their opening two goals.

Röhl's decision to bring back Diaby after their impressive performances during his suspension, as well as choosing to put Bernard into midfield, was one that raised questions from supporters, but he says it was done with the intention of getting the team higher up the pitch.

Speaking to The Star, he explained, "It was a decision because I know Dish’s strength, and I wanted to have him higher up in the middle because we wanted to try and press higher as well. He’s dynamic, has good acceleration in pressing moments and he’s shown that as a centre back as well. It was about having one more guy who can carry the ball and speed up our game on the transition… When you take Dish as a number six then you need a centre back, and Bambo was my decision. That was ok."

He went on to say, "All in all we didn’t have many moments, we weren’t calm enough on the ball in the first half and lost the ball in easy situations, and if you don’t have the ball possession then the game is difficult for your side. You need good movements for self confidence, so it’s hard when you have 45 minutes behind the ball.

"That’s the reason I changed something at half time, I’m not the sort of manager who will just cross his fingers and do nothing. We wanted to try different things, but today it didn’t work well. We had some moments in the second half, but yeah we have to accept this - it’s a different fight for us against Southampton, we have other opponents who we have to beat.”

Wednesday now have a week to regroup before they face back-to-back games against Coventry City in the Championship and FA Cup, and Röhl will be eager to see an improvement as they seek a return to winning ways.