When Jordi Liongola and others will return to Sheffield Wednesday training as Owls leave training camp
Sheffield Wednesday ran out heavy losers across the course of an experimental 140-minute run-out against Stoke City in Vienna.
Henrik Pedersen provided an injury update on some of his key players after a Sheffield Wednesday squad split into two halves lost a physically demanding friendly run-out against Championship Stoke City.
A first half consisting of mainly senior players were edged out 2-0 in a scoreline that felt harsh, completing two 35-minute halves of football. New players Callum Slattery, Louie Barry and one Barry Bannan looked bright going forward but for individual errors to cost them.
The second half was a different story and errors once again cost them at the back as a mis-matched and inexperienced Owls side faltered after the pre-planned substitutions of more senior men Billy Mitchell and Cameron Dawson.
“I think we have to split this in two”, Pedersen said post-match from the OFB Campus on the outskirts of Vienna. "The first game was the first two halves, and the second game the third and fourth halves. The first two halves were a fantastic test for us, and defensively we showed strong organisation, we saw it many times where he had a good swarm.
“Physically I think we were better than them, and I liked the intensity that we had in our pressing and how many times we intercepted the ball. Last season we won most of our balls with tackles, but today we won most of them with interceptions where we could play forward and speed up the game.
“There was strong pressing offensively, and we were generally strong with the ball. We needed the first 10-15 minutes to really come into the game, and after that we had a lot of solutions.” He added: “The second game - the third and fourth halves, I think we were overmatched. The organisation was good but we were overmatched and I think the levels were just a bit too high for this group.”
Some of Wednesday’s travelling party were missing from the run-out, with Ricardo Santos and Liam Cooper continuing their recoveries from minor knocks. New boy Jordi Liongola was also a notable absentee, while Di’Shon Bernard continued his long rehabilitation from a major knee injury as he instead undertook running drills on the pitch before kick-off.
Explaining where those injuries are at, Pedersen said: “Jordi took a knock when we played against Preston and he would have loved to have played today, but it was a little bit too early said the doc. He will train normally when we are back, to stage up on Tuesday and then normally with the team on Wednesday.
“We hope that Ricardo and Coops will both train fully this week and then they can play 45 minutes next weekend. With Dish, it is going good for him right now. He had some tough running to do today and we will take it step-by-step. I cannot say how long it will take, but I can say everything is going in the right direction for him.”