Introspection required at Sheffield Wednesday after clamoured-for system failed at Swansea City
Henrik Pedersen and his coaching staff will take time this week to decide whether they stick with the back four system employed in their heavy defeat at Swansea City on Sunday.
The beleaguered Owls were slapped in South Wales, going down to a 4-0 scoreline that barely flattered the hosts as Wednesday failed to get any foothold in the game beyond the first half hour. Glimpses of a performance from new signing Joel Ndala proved to be a scant highlight for a side that have now spiralled to nine defeats on the spin.
A run of nearly 16 hours without a goal has heaped further pressure on a side whose relegation from the division could be confirmed in the next fortnight. With new faces in the side at Swansea, Pedersen opted to break from a long run of variations on a 5-2-3 set-up in an effort to create new fortunes in front of goal. The system was closer to the Dane’s preferred set-up before his time in the Hillsborough hotseat and came after growing calls for a switch in approach from the club’s fanbase.
The question now is, with the small matter of a daunting derby day clash at Sheffield United on the horizon, whether the new formation is given further chance after the nature of the Swansea defeat. Yan Valery will not return to the side as the final stages of his loan switch to Swiss side Young Boys are walked through, though Svante Ingelsson is expected to return for the weekend’s visit of Millwall having missed the Swans clash for personal reasons.
The Swede’s return will offer more steel, nous and ball retention ability but the fear may well be that Wednesday’s defence are not best suited to a back four system - and that the side’s pressing qualities are not where they have to be. For all their failure to create in recent weeks the Owls have been able to stay in games for the most part - and there will be introspection in the coming days with regard to how they choose to set up in the immediate future.
“The reason we went to a back four was to have more pressing higher up,” Pedersen explained to The Star post-match. “We have played 5-2-3 and in many, many games we have been solid and we could compete in these games. Today with the back four we wanted to press and have more players higher up when we won the ball.
“We had had days and we had time to speak about it, but we do not really have time to train it. (You need that) if you want to be good, really good, especially against a team like Swansea. Now we have a bit of a longer week where we have time to train things and we will look at the game again, we will see the plus and minus and then we will take it from there.”