Sheffield Wednesday hope long-time Achilles heel is easing with 'loved' new figure
The international break offers second-placed Sheffield Wednesday the chance to continue working forward.
Set pieces remain a work in progress at Sheffield Wednesday - though confidence appears to be building that improvements can continue to be made with a new face handed responsibility for their progress.
Stripped of aerially-dominant figures from the season before, the crisis-riddled Owls struggled both in defence and attack in dead ball situations throughout their last campaign, a concession tally of 23 across their doomed Championship season worsened only by Watford (24). Five teams scored less frequently from set piece situations that their 14.
The mediocrity of their set piece output goes further back, however, with their output of 11 goals scored in the 2024/25 season in which they finished 12th under Danny Röhl putting them ahead of only three teams. In terms of set piece goals conceded, no team had a worse record than Wednesday’s tally of 20.
The foregone conclusion of relegation so early last season offered Wednesday the opportunity to prepare for the vagaries of League One, with set pieces publicly outlined as a key route to success in the division. With the squad re-stocked and ‘first contact winners’ brought into the squad over the summer, coach Matt Hamshaw has been brought on board and has been tasked in part with improving their dead ball record alongside analyst Ben King and others.
As in so much of the Owls’ play at such an early stage of their vast rebuild effort, work continues to continue edging set piece progress forward with the club second in the league table and five unbeaten. Two league goals scored puts them in lower midtable, though some way behind the likes of set piece honchoes Wycombe (eight) and Stevenage (six). Things have already improved a great deal defensively, with only one set piece goal conceded - only bettered by the shut-out of Burton Albion.
“Matt is working really, really well with them and there starts to be a new ownership for this, for the consistency to work with this in daily routines,” Owls boss Henrik Pedersen told The Star. “To go on to put more appreciation in this and see this as a very, very important part of to be a top team in the League One. Because we have to be better here.
“We have to be top here. And that's why we invest a lot of time in this. And why he also is here. There's many other reasons. He works really, really well with the players. I can feel there's a good atmosphere around it now and I'm sure we will progress.”
An extended international break started with some rest time for the bulk of the Wednesday squad but with two weeks ahead of them, set pieces are expected to be among the priorities as the club prepares for its return to league football at Huddersfield Town on October 10.
Hamshaw’s arrival to Wednesday last month was seen as something of a coup by those within football. A coach with four promotions from League One lodged on his CV from his time with Rotherham United and Derby County, the former Owls player knows all about what is required to succeed at third tier level.
“I love him,” Pedersen said with a grin. “He's a little bit different than the other guys. He fits really, really well in to our training, to our coaching group.
“He has amazing experience from League One, from English football. And he does the set pieces, he does a lot about the offensive together with Andy. I think he has been a strong card to help the rest of the coaching group to increase the level in everything what we are doing. So him, Pete, Andy, Giles, yeah, they have been good and developed a lot.”