Sheffield Wednesday boss identifies four improvements he is looking for after latest stalemate
Sheffield Wednesday played out a second successive stalemate on Saturday, drawing 0-0 with Stockport County at Hillsborough.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen has said he and his players will continue to hunt for solutions to improve their performances following Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Stockport County at Hillsborough.
Wednesday, for the second weekend running, played out a goalless stalemate, meaning they have now failed to score in three of their first four League One matches on home soil this season.
Stockport were the better side for long spells in the S6 sunshine, registering 18 shots compared with the Owls’ six. The closest they came to breaking the deadlock came when Harry Woods saw his header come back off the post in the first half, before Jack Diamond’s effort on the rebound was cleared off the line by Ricardo Santos.
Wednesday lacked confidence and imagination in their attacking play, leading some supporters to boo the players off at full-time following an underwhelming display.
The supporters, though, are not alone in wanting Wednesday to perform better, with Pedersen demanding the same improvements. The Dane accepts that Wednesday’s performances, despite their encouraging league position, need to improve, acknowledging that his team needs to move the ball much quicker and work out how to play against teams with different styles.
“We all want to have it much, much better,” said Pedersen. “We want to have the basic thing, we want to have a higher intensity, we want to have really aggressive pressing, we want to have quick transitions, and we want to be dominant on the ball.
“But we are still young in this direction, and it takes time. We work so hard every day to improve in those areas so we can be dominant against teams who press high and be dominant against teams who stay deep on the pitch.
“This is what we’re working for every day.”
With 18 new signings continuing to find their feet, adapting to their new surroundings and learning about their teammates, Pedersen has called for patience.
He added: "Be patient, but we're working very, very hard to get the identity they (the fans) also would like to see. It's easier to create a defensive team who just press, but also to create a team who has to be dominant on the ball.
“Of course it takes more time, it's the most difficult thing. But I'm very confident that we'll have a team who will score a lot of goals."