In defence of Sheffield Wednesday's Barry Bannan - The stats don't lie
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Bannan has played 40+ Championship games in three of his five seasons with Wednesday since making the switch to Hillsborough back in 2015, and played 38 and 29 in the other two in campaigns where he remained a pivotal character at the heart of the midfield.
Having surpassed the 200-game mark for the Owls in 2019/20, the Scotsman has now played more games than all but four of the current crop of Wednesday players (Kieran Lee, Tom Lees, Liam Palmer and Atdhe Nuhiu), and he has been at the club at least a year less than all of them.
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Hide AdWith 33 assists, Bannan has created more goals than any other player in recent memory at Hillsborough, and is regularly top of the statistic charts when it comes to possession, passes, key passes and other aspects that you would expect from a midfield man looking to dicate play.
This season, which was understandably a frustrating one for SWFC fans, ‘Bazza’ came in for a fair bit of criticism from Wednesdayites, but was still top of the charts in terms of assists (8), key passes (98), passes (2273), accurate passes (1801 and accurate crosses (72). He was also top four for tackles won (63), successful dribbles (41) and interceptions (47) – showing that he’s more than just a technical footballer.
Perhaps the only real criticism of Bannan is that he’s too much of a focal point. Only two Championship players (Matheus Pereira – 116 and Jed Wallace – 99) made more key passes than the Wednesday man this season, and his nearest teammate, Kadeem Harris, got 49.
Since his arrival, Bannan has almost always been in the conversation for Player of the Season, though he’s yet to win it, and maybe if Garry Monk can find someone to help share his load, then 2020/21 could be the season he takes that crown.
