Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen mindful of suffering any more big injuries ahead of next season
The Owls don’t want to suffer any more injuries which could overlap into next season
Sheffield Wednesday’s season is drawing to a close but Henrik Pedersen is still mindful of players’ minutes.
The Owls have only got three games remaining, starting with a trip to Middlesbrough on Wednesday. They then go to Oxford United on Saturday and finish at home to West Brom a week later.
The curtain is about to come down on the campaign but boss Pedersen is not willing to risk any further injuries happening. As has been shown with young striker George Brown, who is now unlikely to be fit for next pre-season after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury which will see him sidelined for three to four months, any big injuries now could overlap into the summer and the start of next season.
With that in mind, Pedersen is keen to ‘take care’ of those who have just come out of the treatment room such as Max Lowe, Nathaniel Chalobah and Olaf Kobacki, who was withdrawn after an hour in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Charlton Athletic. The 24-year-old winger played half an hour in each of the previous three games against Stoke City, Leicester City and Coventry City before being handed his first start since Millwall away in the middle of February.
Pedersen told The Star: “Olaf came in after three lots of 30 minutes and I think he did it well.”
On whether it was always the plan to bring him off after 60 minutes, Pedersen added: “Yes. It is the same with Nath or with Max or whoever. We need to really take care of them because we are late in the season and they had no pre-season. We need to take care of them, push them, press them, always next level, but take care of them.”
Pedersen went on to confirm that Kobacki came through the hour fine with no problems so he could be in line for another start against Middlesbrough. Wednesday’s next opponents played on Sunday, drawing 2-2 at second-placed Ipswich Town, a result which keeps them in the automatic promotion race although their chances are looking slim.