Saido Berahino, injury updates and bear hugs: FIVE things we noticed from Sheffield Wednesday training video

Sheffield Wednesday have been hard at work these last few days. And they’ve welcomed a new face, too.
Darren Moore oversees training drills at Sheffield Wednesday's Middlewood Road training ground.Darren Moore oversees training drills at Sheffield Wednesday's Middlewood Road training ground.
Darren Moore oversees training drills at Sheffield Wednesday's Middlewood Road training ground.

By the time they face-off against Plymouth on Saturday the Owls will have had 10 days away from matches and have spent most of those at their Middlewood Road training ground with.

A short video released by the club’s media team on Wednesday afternoon gave supporters a glimpse of Saido Berahino’s first session with the club.

Here’s a few things we noticed.

Saido Bera-here-now

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“He’s camera shy!” Chey Dunkley jokes, referring to Saido Berahino having his back turned to the Owls media team camera at what is assumed to be the start of the session. “Let them know that you’re here! Make a statement!”

The new boy, over from Belgium and out of quarantine, is indeed here and taking part in his first minutes with his new teammates looked sharp and happy, stretching with Marvin Johnson and sharing a joke or two with George Byers before showcasing his finishing ability in some drills.

He underwent a full preseason with his previous club and it’s been suggested he could even make an immediate matchday squad down at Plymouth on Saturday.

Witness the fitness

A video fired out by Wednesday last week was encouraging in that it showed several previously injured players taking part in training, including Lewis Gibson, Sam Hutchinson and Olamide Shodipo. Chey Dunkley was seen, though it didn’t seem as though he took part in the bulk of the session.

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Dunkley seemed to be back in the thick of it as did Dominic Iorfa, whose absence from last week’s offering was spotted by a few eagle-eyed supporters.

It looks as though, aside from longer-term pair Josh Windass and Massimo Luongo, Darren Moore may well have a full squad to choose from heading down to Devon.

Moore encouragement

Crouching down on the edge of the penalty box, Owls manager Darren Moore had the best view in the house to watch his players run through what looked to be highly competitive training drills.

"Set Theo! Come on, come on, come on.”

“Good, Pato. I could see you’re were going to finish that from your first touch!”

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The mere presence of the boss always injects a bit of something into any workplace and bearing down at almost touching distance, you could see the affect his booming voice had on the intensity of the shooting session.

The effort on display looked a class apart, too.

Out from the back

It’s long been a preference of Darren Moore sides to play out from the back and we’ve seen glimmers of it – good and bad – from Wednesday this season.

One of the drills picked up seemed to be encouraging those movements and building confidence in those areas.

After 10 days hard work, it may well be that we see a little more of it after the break.

High spirits

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There’s something about footballers enjoying themselves like normal people that just warms your cockles, isn’t there?

It’s been said before, but this new-look Wednesday seems together and above all quite a lot of fun, whether that be Barry Bannan celebrating to the camera or Callum Paterson wrestling Korede Adedoyin to the ground in what looked to be a fairly strong bear hug.

It’s nice to see.