Sheffield Wednesday’s surprise selection explained – Mark McGuinness update after injury scare

There were only two changes from the side that drew by the same scoreline at Lincoln City, but the decision to play Jaden Brown over Dominic Iorfa at centre back was one that certainly raised a few eyebrows.

Darren Moore was asked after the game about why he opted for the young full-back over somebody like Iorfa, and he was quick to respond…

“Left-footer,” was his swift reply. “Jaden’s played in the same position that Reece James has, and we’ve seen Marvin Johnson as well. It brings balance.

“I thought Jaden was dogged in his approach, I took him off to get another attacker on.”

Moore also defended centre back, Michael Ihiekwe, who was almost at fault for two goals in the first half and had arguably his most difficult game as a Wednesday player against the Gas – and who will now miss the game against Burton Albion due to suspension.

“I think his positional sense was a little bit wrong, in terms of dealing with the ball,” Moore said of the defender. “He was either getting under it, or too deep. It was like he had too much to think about.

“What I said at half time was, ‘what are your strengths?’. You’re a defender, you defend. So second half I told him to keep things simple, and I think you saw that from him. He realigned.

“He’s a solid defender, a seasoned pro, and I think in the second half he was much more like the player he is.”

Meanwhile, there can be a bit of a sigh of relief regarding Mark McGuinness after he went down towards the end of the game – it looks like he’ll be ok for the visit of Burton on Saturday.

Moore said, “We think Mark will be fine, we think it was just cramp, but we’ve also got a couple of others that can step in there… We have to wait and see with Ben, and we’ll have a look for Saturday because we lose Icky.”

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