Sheffield Wednesday's 'project refresh' reviewed after break brought calm before the storm
Word from Middlewood Road is that there was something of a calm before the storm in Sheffield Wednesday’s international break programme.
It may well be that the Owls entered the break with heads spinning and bodies bruised from what has been a whirlwind few weeks and months, with the distraction of off-field madness combining with the nature of being the smallest squad in a brutal division. Pre-season trouble, managerial confusion, salary stress and results struggles; many would forgive Wednesday’s players and staff for having the feeling they had already played 40 games this season, not four.
Manager Henrik Pedersen has extolled the virtues of positivity since his arrival last month and it’s one that has been impressed on the coaches and staff around the training ground as they look to ‘be a mirror’ for the sort of attitude they expect from players battling difficult conditions.
And it is for freshness of mind that players and staff were given four days off at the outset of the two-week break to collect themselves and come back hungry for points, starting with this weekend’s visit of unbeaten Bristol City.
“It’s very important to re-set, to calm down and to see everything again from a distance,” Pedersen told The Star. “You are in the hamster wheel and it is not so easy to every day look at the big picture, come down, look at the big picture, come down. To have three or four days to look a little higher up from another perspective, it is very healthy for how we see everything.”
Calm before the storm indeed. Efforts on the training ground since their return have included; defensive organisation and when to trigger the press, delaying opposition attacks, taking care of the ball in transition, being aggressive in vertical possession, rest defence and creativity in the final third.
The addition of Craig Mudd to the Owls coaching staff has come as welcome relief to Pedersen and the likes of Andy Holdsworth and Giles Coke, who have stepped up admirably from the club’s academy ranks. Mudd brings over 13 years of experience rising through the ranks at Manchester City and is highly-rated - and an extra body allows Wednesday to open up their training programme and split sessions up to work on specific things.
Pedersen continued: “With his quality and the fact we have one man extra, this means a lot in the moment. Andy and Giles do all they can, with the other staff and coaches. Everybody works hard with great, great passion. To get Muddy in is of course a step in the right direction for us.
“I have seen a very concentrated group, but also constructive and positive, intensive. It was really healthy for the group to have some time off. Now we have four or five weeks until the next international break and we can go all in for this period, we have a rest and then go again.”