Shouting up, nuance and understanding: Owls tactical talking talking points

Four matches unbeaten with fate in their own hands, the task remains a stiff one and Wednesday will need to be on their mettle to produce the goods against a West Brom side hoping to secure a play-off spot.

There has been conversation throughout the Danny Röhl-inspired resurgence around the tactics employed, ones that represent a sharp shift from those utilised by previous managers Darren Moore and Xisco. The on-field set-up is varied, sophisticated and is in large parts difficult for the eyes of a non-football analyst - be that in the stands or indeed the press box - to read.

That chatter has switched in recent weeks to a perceived change in direction in Wednesday’s play. Akin to similar comments made at the back end of last season, it prompted Will Vaulks to comment that the style of the Owls’ win at Blackburn was not set to the ideals that Röhl may hope to instil longer term. The fact was that it was effective.

We enlisted the help of Wednesday fan analysts TWFootball and Thomas Peters to take a cursory pick at some of the technical talking points of recent outings.

Opening the tool box

The flow of Wednesday’s win at Blackburn Rovers last weekend was a curious one.

With data generally suggesting the way to win at Ewood Park is setting up to play through the lines, Wednesday produced their most direct data of Röhl’s time at the club, with a long pass percentage across the course of the match scaling 21% and reaching a high of 30% in-game.

In his pre-West Brom press conference, the Owls boss spoke about an increased confidence from his players to make their own decisions on the field and touched on an increased understanding and instinct for the principles he and his staff have instilled over the last six months. While the in-possession style played out differently, the key moments came from their ability to win the ball high.

Will Vaulks spoke post-match at Blackburn: “Listen, there is no way this is how the manager will want to play his football, but we’re in a position where we can’t take risks, we need to win the game. It was about winning second balls, getting it in behind.”

While the tactics will change hugely depending on opposition and availability, it is the principles Röhl holds dear. It is around those principles that a playing philosophy will continue to be built. Flexibility is important, he has always maintained.

“The goals on Sunday were from a ball-winning situation, from getting in behind and forcing into mistakes,” Röhl said. “This for me is always a tool to create goals, but also a tool is to have ball possession in the right moments, to move the opponent and to hurt them. You cannot have just one direction, it's important that you adapt, understand your players and be flexible.

“It makes it difficult for your opponent. If you play always just behind, they can always drop and receive the ball. When you have the balance between short and long, then it's difficult for them to understand what happens. We are in a good way, we understand more and more. When we have more and more tools then it is helpful for your team.”

Life on the road

While the long-term plan may well be to generally direct the Owls towards a modus operandi of a shorter passing game philosophy, their approach away has been more pragmatic. Wednesday kicked the season off with a run of nine away matches without a win, with travelling supporters sitting through six matches on the road without a goal. Now they have four away wins in six.

In a division that has a long pass percentage of around 10% by away teams, Wednesday’s six away wins this season have seen an average long pass rate of 16%. Wednesday’s away losses under Röhl have come with an average long pass percentage of 12%.

The data is nuanced in that Wednesday are nothing like a ‘lump it forward’ outfit, even away from home. In the three Röhl matches that have seen their longest ball data - wins away at QPR, Blackburn and Preston - the number of crosses have been low. Wednesday’s approach seems to be to get the ball forward quickly to set up counter attack and enter the box as often as possible - but not via crosses.

The logic bears out. In matches Wednesday have won on the road they have averaged 17 box entries, 6.1 of which have been crosses. In matches they have lost they enter the box more - 20.1 time by average - but with a higher cross average of 8.5. What does this mean? More crosses means more penalty box entries, but fewer points.

At Hillsborough the long ball metric is flipped; Röhl’s Wednesday win at home with an average of 13.5%, but lose with an average of 14.5%.

Smudged

While recent games have seen examples of a more direct style of play, the data simply doesn’t bear out the simplistic perception that Wednesday have ‘gone long’ as either a cause or effect of target man Michael Smith receiving more minutes - but it’s clear he gives them the option to mix things up. See also the return of Callum Paterson.

In the absence of Ike Ugbo through injury he started the game against Norwich in an initial match plan that was clearly designed for shorter build-up and Smith started at QPR in a match that saw long ball percentage rooted at 10.46%. Röhl’s approach is to entrust his players with decision making that brings out the best in the players around them. The Blackburn game delivered the most direct passing stats of the Röhl era - their long pass percentage scaled as high as 30% in the second half - with Ugbo up top for 80 minutes. It takes all sorts.

“I spoke a lot about decision making on the pitch and for me this was a key point on how we came to this point going forward,” Röhl told The Star this week. “When I saw our principles against the ball we were compact, organised, we had good transition moments to hurt them which was fantastic to see. I think the balance is now right.

“I know your question maybe goes in the direction of playing on the ground or playing direct,” he continued. “I think you need both, but you need to do it in the right moments. You have to understand as a player who your teammate is, maybe the player likes to receive the ball more in the red zone, the other guy likes to attack the space behind. If you go for a second ball you have to have a good net and if you play on the ground you have to have active positioning. This is about the meetings, the decision making.”

On-field understanding

Perhaps the most interesting section of Röhl’s technical breakdown in the pre-West Brom presser was around player understanding and time having produced a more instinctive understanding of his methods. For the second week running he glowed in detailing a real sharpness from his squad in training and this week explained that players are now taking it upon themselves not only to dig deeper into his instructions in team meetings, but to start carrying them out between themselves.

“If you are playing and something happens in front of you it is about coaching, connecting with each other, pressing, supporting your teammates,” said Röhl. “If one guy is not connected then the player must coach him and bring him into position. This is a culture we want to create with my players.

“My players know in the meetings they can ask questions, they let me know what they are thinking. This is a huge step forward from when I arrived here, the focus sometimes in the meeting can drop down after 15 minutes, but now they can really focus for a long time, they understand, they can answer a question when the gaffer asks. They have to think and they have to understand the situation they are in.”