Some called it naive - but Danny Röhl's tactical approach had eyes set on Sheffield Wednesday bigger picture

There are vagaries of course, particularly in the Championship, and that's what keeps us all so invested; the yearning for that match-turning individual performance or the controversial moment or the team effort that defies the odds and crumples accumulators up and down the country. Tactics turn the tide, luck plays its role. But, for the most part, it's about which is the better football team.

That was the case on Saturday as Sheffield Wednesday went to Southampton off the back of three consecutive wins and with the hope of becoming the first team to beat the Saints since September. Premier League riches played off against an Owls squad put together largely on free transfers and loans. When Pierce Charles' £15m brother replaced a player in Will Smallbone who has been the subject of rejected bids in the region of that figure again, you can see the disparity.

A 4-0 scoreline and the nature of defeat has delivered a few questions from the Wednesday fan base with regard to how Danny Röhl set his side up, naming a positive side full of running and loaded with a little funkiness; with Di'Shon Bernard starting as a holding midfielder. The changes weren't able to defy the odds in Wednesday's favour and the Saints cruised to a heavy and deserved win.

Some of the cattier social media comments around Röhl's tactical approach have used terms such as 'naive', as if a coach of his devotion to preparation could go into a match ignorant of the challenge. Perhaps there is a parallel universe in which Sheffield Wednesday take a smash-and-grab win from St Marys yesterday, but as per the German's chats with the media after the slapping result, he knew it was a brave call to name such a bullish side. He's building towards a clear identity at S6 and a step away from that for the afternoon would have been to the detriment of that goal. It would have sent the wrong message.

Two Wednesday results against Southampton this season have returned two defeats but couldn't be further apart in how they came about. The first, way back on the opening day of the season, saw them set up to frustrate, barely move from their banks of resistance and at home, in front of the television cameras, they lost 2-1. Saturday saw them swept aside by a superior side while 'having a go'.

There's something about a team going into a game like that one and setting up in two banks of plenty, heading every ball clear to cheers from the away terraces and throwing themselves at every goal-bound shot on their way to a goalless draw. But that won't be Wednesday's way while Röhl is in charge. The non-negotiable principles he spoke about instilling at S6 from his very first press conference will not be parked just because they're playing at Southampton. They want to create their own problems and did so in moments. It's a positive and brave way of going about things - besides, how many times do those two banks of plenty come away with a point or more in any case?

Wednesday had anatomy handed to them on the south coast as Southampton continue their ravishing of the winter fixture schedule. But the bigger battles are ahead. There'll be tweaks and adaptations as we've seen throughout his weeks with the club already. But to the backdrop of Boney M, Danny Röhl will be sticking to the bigger picture come what may.