Henrik Pedersen lambasts FIFA-imposed set-up after Sheffield Wednesday's 'open hearted' training week
Sheffield Wednesday will be subject to a break after this weekend’s clash with Stockport County.
An international duty-forced break from League One football that will essentially stretch across three weeks is simply ‘too long’ - according to Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen.
The Owls confirmed matches against Stevenage and Cambridge United are postponed with rearrangements to be announced in due course after the Owls saw a number of senior figures called-up to international duty that will see national teams play as many as four fixtures across the double-weekend break.
FIFA outlined the change in policy to bring two separate weekends of international rounds together ahead of this season and the number of Wednesday call-ups left little choice but for the Owls to postpone the October 3 Cambridge match - as they would have done for the trip to Stevenage had the opposition not done so first.
The break will offer opportunity for injured players to return and for the remainder of the squad to spend time on the training ground but Pedersen didn’t hesitate in expressing his feelings on the scheduling ahead of the break - in which two EFL Trophy matches will be played.
“I think it's way too long,” the Dane said. “I think it's not the right thing to take three weeks without games. I would much more prefer a normal system and then we get a rhythm again instead of having a season with so many games and then we don't have games for three weeks. I don't think it's the right way to do it.
“We should have the squad for this (a potential fixture pile-up), but I don't think for football it's... I would personally rather have the normal way to do it so we don't have so long breaks without games.”
Wednesday enter into the weekend’s clash with Stockport after a rare full week’s training as efforts continue to gel the squad together in these early stages of the campaign. The table-topping Owls welcome a side who came to within 90 minutes of promotion to the Championship last season and after a disappointing performance in last weekend’s goalless draw with struggling Wigan Athletic, Pedersen reported a positive week at Middlewood Road.
“I have seen a group of players with high intensity, with a high collective level... We have focused for our basic principle and our basic speed and our dynamic, our offensive intensity, our progressive passes. How do we break in line? How do we play a teammate in speed? How do we have more dynamic run on the front line? All the basic things and it was really good.
“I was really pleased after the training because here I saw my boys back again with this open heart. Play football with risk, play forward football, play football with intensity, play football with stronger relation.”