Henrik Pedersen makes bleak Sheffield Wednesday admission after Sheffield United defeat
Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen made a candid admission on his side’s performance in a 3-0 derby hammering at the hands of city rivals Sheffield United
The Owls were decidedly second best over the course of an afternoon that saw United pass-up further chances on their three-goal effort. Tyrese Campbell again acted as chief tormentor by scoring twice before misfiring forward Tom Cannon got himself underway for the campaign with a deflected and match-sealing strike. Wednesday failed to claim a shot on target.
In a season the Owls are rightly being cut a great deal of slack given the circumstances in which they are battling, a real off-day for several big players left a bitter taste for many. Pedersen approached his post-match press conference with ashen-face and admitted the Blades were the better side.
“We are all disappointed,” he said. “It was not the performance we hoped for today. I think we had a good beginning in the game, but after we conceded we struggled with the belief and the trust to have the ball and move the ball quick enough. They played a lot of channel balls, second balls and they were really strong in this. We had a challenge to match those phases of the game.
“Second half we concede after five minutes to 2-0 and then we had the ball, but it was from our goal to the last 20 metres. Here we struggled to have the last pass, the last cross, the last movement. We lost to a better team today.”
Individual errors at the back once again cost Wednesday dearly, with very little in terms of bite going forward. The Owls had made a great deal of progress in performance heading into the international break and will hope their output on one of the grandest days of all is quickly arrested at Millwall in midweek.
Pedersen continued: “We always analyse the difference phases of the game and I think from a defensive perspective, we were not as dominant as we often are in our pressing. They were longer triggers and that is why we will analyse the triggers, the second ball, the net distance in our pressing.
“The courage to play we needed more of we played backwards, we played long balls coming out. It is about how we can break the defending line for the opponent. This has been a theme all season and it will always be.”