Henrik Pedersen has already hinted at Sheffield Wednesday formation change ahead of League One rebuild
Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen has admitted he prefers his teams to play with a four-man defence.
With the start of the transfer window now just a fortnight away, Sheffield Wednesday’s supporters are excited to see how this summer unfolds at Hillsborough.
Following a distressing 12 months, Wednesday were finally able to put the darkest chapter in their entire history behind them at the beginning of May when US consortium Arise Capital Partners completed their takeover of the club.
Although they have only had the keys to Hillsborough for a matter of weeks, they have made an encouraging start, banking plenty of credit from Owls supporters, who are looking forward to a brighter future after years of mismanagement and chaos under Dejphon Chansiri.
Having taken over a club in need of significant investment both on and off the pitch, Arise know they have their work cut out to try and get the Owls back on their feet. It is by no means going to be a quick fix, meaning patience will be required.
This summer’s leading priority, though, is rebuilding a battered and bruised squad. Last summer’s exodus left Wednesday light on senior players and bereft of the sort of quality required to compete in the Championship, making relegation to League One, even before the club went into administration last October, inevitable before the season had even started.
With a crop of players having been released, and further departures expected as the summer unfolds, Wednesday are in desperate need of fresh blood. The squad is so small that it is not unrealistic to suggest 15-20 new signings might be needed.
Following their exit from administration, Wednesday will operate under a two-year business plan agreed with the English Football League, meaning they remain under a budget restriction as part of the conditions of continuing as members of the EFL.
Nevertheless, Wednesday, although the specifics of the recruitment restrictions they will be under this summer are unknown at this stage, will be allowed to bring new players in, giving manager Henrik Pedersen the opportunity to try and build a squad suited to his needs and style.
This season, of course, the Dane persisted with a five-at-the-back formation due to the profiles he had available to him and the vulnerable position Wednesday were in at the foot of the Championship table.
However, with the onus going to be on Wednesday to go out and attack in League One next season, Pedersen has already hinted that a formation change, in a bid to make the Owls more aggressive, is likely.
Pedersen, speaking earlier this year to The Wednesday Word, said: “I have more or less never played with a back-five before; I love to play with a back-four.
“I have got a big injection from the Red Bull philosophy, the basic philosophy of Red Bull, with a very high and a very aggressive press with a lot of intensity, a lot of sprint metres.
“It is a pressing style we call ball-oriented pressing, where you want to create overloads around the ball so you can use this overload to play vertically forward when you win the ball. It is a hunting, defensive style.
“At the same time, we also want to be dominant on the ball, but it is in a more vertical way. I don’t just want to have the ball to have the ball; I want to use it when we have to create and to be dominant.”
Amid Pedersen’s honesty about preferring to play with a back-four, that could go a long way towards shaping Wednesday’s direction of travel in this summer’s transfer window. With that in mind, Wednesday’s thinking when it comes to strengthening their centre-back options will be interesting to say the least.
Their pool of natural centre-backs is currently made up of Di’Shon Bernard, Gabriel Otegbayo, Ernie Weaver and Cole McGhee. Liam Palmer and Yan Valery, who is expected to leave S6 this summer, have also played at centre-back previously, albeit in a back-three, likewise Max Lowe, whose future remains unclear amid his contract status.
Liam Cooper, who has been offered a new deal by Wednesday, is also a natural centre-back who could come into Pedersen’s thinking ahead of next season should he stay.
Bernard has missed more than a year’s worth of football after a serious knee injury, meaning it remains to be seen how long it will take him to get back up to speed, while Otegbayo, despite making notable progress this season, Weaver and McGhee are either 21 or younger.
If Cooper does not put pen to paper on a new deal, there will be a strong argument for Wednesday to recruit a centre-back with excellent leadership traits to try and guide and support a younger group of players around him. In fact, even if Cooper sticks around, there may be arguments for a second experienced centre-back to come in.
If Lowe, for example, does extend his Owls career, there will be a strong argument for him to return to left-back after such a long stint at left-sided centre-back in a back-three. He was originally brought to Hillsborough by Danny Röhl almost two years ago to play as a natural left-back.
On the opposite side, Liam Palmer, who is only too happy to play wherever instructed, is a capable right-back, while Sean Fusire is yet to be tested as a natural right-back.
It is a complex puzzle that, at this very early stage of the summer, generates more questions than answers. However, a switch to a back-four, loosening the shackles in the process, must be considered as a step forward.