The August afternoon that redirected the course of Sheffield Wednesday's season
It was just 20 days on from the opening day of their season and the summer was closing out on Sheffield Wednesday as they rolled into South Bermondsey.
That opening day proved to be their finest of the entire campaign; a rampant, dominant 4-0 home hammering of Plymouth Argyle that sent tongues wagging as to the Owls’ capabilities in the 2024/25 campaign. A Carabao Cup win at Hull City a few days later provided source for further excitement.
It all came in a whirlwind of pre-season plans and tactical changes that Danny Röhl had described as a hybrid of Brighton’s in-possession style and the ‘heavy metal’ pressing style of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Pre-season friendlies had showcased daring passing principles and high-energy; Wednesday looked a lot different from the side that had completed their survival effort just a few months earlier.
By the time South Bermondsey rolled around, things had turned a touch. Defeats to eventual top four duo Sunderland and Leeds United had seen the Owls fail to score or lay much of a glove on their opponents. But it was a 3-0 defeat at Millwall that turned the tide on Wednesday’s approach heading into the first international break of the campaign. Changes were made and it took some players weeks to regain their places.
Röhl moved away from the back four system worked on in pre-season and reverted to what had worked the season before. Though core principles remained, there was more pragmatism to their approach both with and without the ball. A handful of the members of a squad assembled with the previous system in mind saw their involvements reduced; Jamal Lowe and Charlie McNeill among them.
“We had up and downs,” the Owls boss told The Star. “You look at the first game against Plymouth and we set our level so high, immediately you saw what we did in the pre-season. We were immediately in the flow and it was amazing to see this. Then we had to adjust things a little bit, that was important.
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“We changed the shape to go back to the 5-2-3 and we went on a really good run. When I look back now to all our home games - and this is a little bit crazy - how often we dominate the games in all the data against strong teams and lower teams in the table, this is where we came to this point.”
It is the tactical aptitude and variability of Röhl and his coaching staff that went so far to inspire Wednesday’s season shift from last-day survival side to comfortable midtable outfit. The addition of technically-minded players such as Yan Valery and Shea Charles offered further flexibility and the advancement of the likes of Djeidi Gassama complemented the in-game changes that the Wednesday boss has built his fiercely fledgling reputation on.
Wednesday’s tactical approach grew throughout the season. But it all kick-started from the foundations of pragmatism staged from defeat at Millwall.
“I take from the season that we cannot have just one plan and you must be open-minded to have some things,” he said. “It is not that you question all your principles, this is not right, but in some games you go with these principles and in others other ones. Maybe you should ask the opponent managers about preparing for Sheffield Wednesday. I think it is not so easy, a lot of question marks on how we press, how we play, how we build up from the goalkeeper.
“The details mean it is not easy to prepare and for me this is the biggest compliment we can get, that we are difficult to prepare and play. Of course we look back, especially in the last weeks, and we find many games we feel we should win. This will come after the season and it makes me a little bit sad; what if? But football is football, there is not so much space for ‘What if?’ I will try to take all the positive things from the season.”