Darren Moore explains how Barry Bannan tactical switch can reignite Sheffield Wednesday goal threat
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The 46-year-old pushed the club captain further up the field into a ‘number 10’ role in last night’s damaging defeat to fellow relegation scrappers Rotherham United, making him the main man in a 4-2-3-1 formation he used well during his time at Doncaster Rovers.
Though they lost the game, Moore watched on as his side created a host of chances but it was their failure to finish them that cost them dearly. Sickeningly, their expected goals (xG) tally based on the uality of their chances was 2.32, compared to the Millers’ 0.56.
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Hide AdThere has long since been a notion that stationed in his usual ‘quarter-back’ role deep in midfield, Bannan can be too easy to isolate, cutting off Wednesday’s main source of creativity.
Though he took far fewer touches than he would usually, Bannan completed a season-high five dribbles and two key passes in the 2-1 defeat.
Speaking to The Star after the match, Moore explained the thinking behind the change and suggested that it is something he will look to employ going forward.
“We know Baz has got wonderful technical ability and that he can work in really tight areas of the pitch,” Moore said. “He's got a real killer pass in the final third, so I wanted to get him higher up the pitch. It's up to us to get the ball to him.
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Hide Ad“We got him in some threatening areas, I thought he and Pato linked really well together and that he set a catalyst for the team tonight and really went about it in the manner we wanted. He'll be a huge player for us in the weeks to come.”
Wednesday controlled the direction of the play for most of the evening, making 398 passes to Rotherham’s 264 and had 14 shots in total on the night, with only five coming on target.
On a night that saw Wednesday unable to make their man advantage count after 67 minutes, Millers goalkeeper Viktor Johansson made a couple of classy saves to keep the Owls at bay and put a severe dent in their survival hopes.