Shot-shy Sheffield Wednesday players told to take a gamble

In recent months, Wednesday have struggled to create chances and slipped into the bottom half of the Championship.

The Owls failed to break down a resolute, well-organised Wolverhampton Wanderers backline on Friday night, with Ruben Neves’ classy first-half finish proving decisive.

Carvalhal is demanding his side build on their improved showing against the league leaders and show more belief in front of goal.

He told The Star: “We must play like we did against Wolves but must be more aggressive in the attack. We must create more impact on defences. We need to do that.

“It is why we were not happy during the game and we put Atdhe [Nuhiu] and Lucas [Joao] on in the second half to give more presence and physicality. We wanted to create more problems to the defenders. They made an impact. We created two or three situations after they came on.

“It is not just attackers. It is the midfielders and wingers too. We must be more aggressive to try and achieve goals. It is something we must do better.”

Carvalhal, without nine first-team players versus Wolves, was adamant their performance deserved a better reward.

“We have a clear definition of the type of press we must do to Wolves,” he said. “We blocked their dynamic completely - it was very difficult for them to achieve goal situations. The goal came from nothing, from a free-kick - I’m not sure it was a free-kick.

“We played against a strong opponent with a lot of players out and we must give congratulations to Wolverhampton because they have a good team, but I think we deserve a little more than nothing.

“I’m proud of what my players did. We played good football in parts of the game but we must achieve more situations.

“I was very happy with the players’ performance and we must give confidence to them.”