Sheffield Wednesday defender highlights fascinating comparison with Darren Moore promotion season
Sheffield Wednesday are six league matches unbeaten - though work towards more consistent performance continues.
A tally of 15 points from eight League One matches puts Sheffield Wednesday just a point shy of the progress they had made to this point in the 2022/23 campaign that saw them accrue a club-record points total.
Henrik Pedersen’s Owls sit seventh in the early stage league table, though that is expected to change as they claw back on the games in hand they hold over the teams above them in a manic run of fixtures over the coming weeks. Three morose draws on the spin, the latest at widely-fancied Huddersfield Town, has raised query over performances despite an encouraging league standing and the nature of a manic summer rebuild effort.
Owls defender Reece James knows better than most the parallels between the side that achieved that dramatic 2023 promotion and that of today and speaking in an extended interview with BBC Sheffield this week suggested there are clear similarities.
After eight matches of that campaign Wednesday were on 16 points one greater than the current cohort’s 15 and supporters had grown nervous as to the progress of a side that ended up achieving a 96-point total before staging a historic play-off campaign to secure their return to the Championship. Darren Moore’s Owls had scored 15 goals and conceded seven, while Henrik Pedersen’s side have scored 15 and conceded eight.
Defeats to Peterborough United and Barnsley raised concern in those opening weeks while other matches were won by the odd goal, with a handsome 5-0 home win over Forest Green Rovers offering similarities to the 7-2 win over Bromley at the end of August. Moore’s Wednesday, blessed with what would be argued to be a stronger and more experienced squad, went on to score over 100 goals across all competitions and at one stage launched a 23-match unbeaten run.
Speaking to BBC Sheffield, James said: “You talk about change and 18 players have been signed. You're all adapting to each other's games and trying to get used to how each other play and it's difficult. It does take time. I know in the first season that I did come here, when we had that 96 points, I think we started in a very similar position and on similar points.
“You've got to kind of build on that. Obviously we're only trying to improve but there's a lot of changing parts that have happened at the moment. Injuries have happened. But you're hoping that (gelling as they did in 22/23) is what's happening now. And during this period where you're going to have games thick and fast, that you're going to have everyone together.”