The problems Danny Röhl identified as Sheffield Wednesday come out of intense break

Some of the issues that hounded Sheffield Wednesday heading into the international break have been described by Owls boss Danny Röhl ahead of their important clash with Queens Park Rangers this weekend. Röhl has taken the majority of his players through an intense fortnight of training, with a handful missing on international duty.

Wednesday headed into the break off the back of a disappointing 3-0 defeat at Millwall with their manager having described the need to find the right formula with regard to playing personnel in these early stages of a significant squad overhaul. Röhl had also said for many weeks that the international break would provide opportunity for him and his staff to look over their matches played - and plan a route forward.

“Since I arrived here it was important to look back at what was the problem and in which areas we had problems,” he told The Star. “Me and my analysts looked back to the games and put clips together. For me there are some reasons why we took the results we did, especially against Millwall. When you look into the details for this game you see two things; against the ball we were not compact as a team enough and we were not sharp enough.

“With the ball - and this is a big thing with the decision-making - you can try and build-up, but it is about the final decision making. If you turn up on the right side or make the right pass, then you can create three against two situations, two against one, and you can attack the last line. But if you always make the wrong decision or look too much backwards, then you cannot attack the last line. If you cannot attack the last line in the final third, then it is difficult to score.

“In both directions we have worked on it. But it is about do it and bring the transfer from training to the game. It's not just the best individual players, or maybe it could be the best individual players, it is about the best team and who is able to go into such a game and deliver.”

Saturday’s opponents QPR played a behind-closed-doors friendly against Premier League Brentford during the break, with Wednesday preferring inter-club activity at Middlewood Road. The Owls are believed to have been in more days than they would perhaps usually.

“The training was high enough,” he said with a grin. “Of course a game is a game, but even if you have no game, maybe you have 11 v 11 and different ways to use the academy and under-21s, it is always good to work together. We have some players here and it was great. This week I saw a lot of good things in the training.”