Danny Röhl is looking for gristle and leadership in his Sheffield Wednesday squad as they kick on into the rest of their season.

The Owls welcome QPR to Hillsborough this afternoon hoping to turn their three-game losing streak before the international break into a distant memory. Increased expectation on Wednesday this season has been brought about by a remarkable end to the 2022/23 campaign and a whirlwind summer transfer window seen by many as a strong one.

Much was made of the character shown by Wednesday players in last season’s survival effort and though many of those senior players remain, there seems to be a fresh feel to the changing room with some big characters having moved on to pastures new. Röhl told The Star he believes the nature of their 2023 promotion contributed to their ability to beat the odds once more the season after - and he’s looking to build new experiences of resilience with the new-look cohort.

He said: “Now we come to the process, to improve as a team, as a player and you can improve leaders. You need success, you need points and you need to come through difficult moments. Against Plymouth, for example, then you are in a flow and there is no need for resilience. Now we have more games and we need resilience and to come through as a team, through this resilience. I am convinced we will do and we will create more and more of this togetherness, this relationship, the things that we need to come through the season.

“Last season they had the ups and downs, but we had a team that had come back from the play-offs in a special moment. This moment was helpful to get a team in different moments through together because they had the same experience. Now, with my team, we have some players that we kept but we also had a lot of new players and young players, some academy players. Now we need these moments. In a good move, it is easy to be a good team, but in difficult moments you develop this process. For me, this is the biggest job.”

Röhl spoke in confident tones when discussing the QPR clash despite ‘question marks’ over the availability of a number of players - particularly in defence. He said: “I know the results and I know that we could not be happy because our demand is higher, but it is not the right moment to look too much in the wrong direction. It is the reason I don't want to look too much in the past, for me it is the QPR game, looking forward and I am very convinced we can make the next step forward.”