Mindset, motorways and a week down’t pit: Frazzled Sheffield Wednesday can be trusted to turn this around

Wednesday’s success this season has been built on all of the above, with an innate ability to time and again ‘get the job done’. They set club records for going unbeaten and clean sheets. Thou shalt not pass.

After four matches without a win, the adjectives hanging above the Owls’ name are a little different, those previous brought into question by a series of wobbly performances.

The nature of goals conceded at Barnsley and Cheltenham in particular have changed the face of a not-long-ago fierce defence. Shadow-chasing at times, Wednesday have for now at least ceded their ability to strangle the life out of their opposition with a vice grip on the tempo of occasions.

With those four winless games arriving inside 18 days, momentum has built up quickly in the wrong direction for the Owls. They’ve shaken off such disappointment already this season and can do again. The experience and nous of this squad has been spoken about over and over.

What is concerning – alongside injuries of no firm end date for Messrs Windass and Byers – is this sudden change in the way Wednesday are managing games. Their body language is different, their on-field interactions. One word trotted out in the last few days has been ‘frazzled’.

The importance of their comeback from two goals down at Cheltenham remains to be seen. Both Darren Moore and David Stockdale spoke of the point as something of a springboard out of their form funk. Can a squad so rich in achievement stay frazzled for much longer? This squad was assembled with moments of adversity in mind, after all.

Asked of a change in Wednesday’s recent application, Moore admitted to The Star he had sensed a slight change. Having spoken about the need to keep ‘rowing’ towards the finish line with the end goal to their backs, it seems one or two may have peeked over their shoulder. Maybe.

“A lot of it can be the timing of the season and where it is at the moment, the magnitude of the games,” Moore said. “Those can play a contributing factor.

“People know what is expected now and as we start to approach where the finishing line is, it changes a mindset and mentality, it really does. It's about staying in control of your own and that's the thing.

“Looking at the boys, they're eager, they want it and looking at the performances over the last four games there has been an eagerness - apart from the Forest Green game. We had a good chat about that one. You could tell by the energy in the changing room we wanted to respond and we did.

“I take into consideration the magnitude of the game and the eagerness the players are showing. We need to keep our composure in these games.”

Unable to rouse themselves into life at Forest Green Rovers, the first hour at Cheltenham saw Wednesday present as a side not lacking in effort, but perhaps a little tired.

It’s a squad small in size, shrunk further by injuries to not only Windass and Byers but Callum Paterson, Michael Ihiekwe and Ben Heneghan. A flurry of away matches – one to Pompey, two to Gloucestershire, have impacted recovery ability.

The whirlwind of matches has come as a source of tiredness to fans and – whisper it quietly – journalists. What of the players, operating at 100mph under mounting pressure, up and down the motorway, with few options when it comes to rotation?

It’s no double shift down’t pit tha knos, but in the terms of modern sports science it’s surely a factor on performance.

“What we are doing is having to go through repeated games,” Moore said. “Every third day we're playing. We have the same group of players and we're having to work and manage them through the games. I'll check the squad, there are one or two that limped off with niggles. We'll have to assess the squad again from there and go again.

“Once we get through Saturday we get a little bit of a breather through to the Bank Holiday and then we go again, but we're managing ourselves through this situation. We've been on the road a lot and we're back at home on Saturday in front of our loud and passionate fanbase which is great. We feel like we haven't played at home for a little while.

“In terms of the squad looking tired, it's just a case of managing the games. We've shown all season that we have an energy and a tempo to us, but certainly being on the road and managing the number of games, we've had to be careful with that.”

Once more to the well for the visit of Lincoln City on Saturday and then to Oxford. A quick turnaround falls for the visit of Accrington Stanley.

This squad has already proven its resilience, stoicism, mental toughness and yes, monstrous efficiency. In his media engagements Moore has been all of those things and burtally honest in terms of his assessment of performances.

Frazzled they appear to be, he almost admitted. A little tired too. It’s up to Darren Moore and Sheffield Wednesday to shake it off and use that Gloucestershire springboard as one we’re all talking about as followers of a Championship football club come May.

Nervy it is out there but they’re second, incidentally, a point off top spot.

Buckle up, it’s going to be a hell of a ride either way.

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