"Unless it's fractured..": Tony Pulis on Sheffield Wednesday pair Julian Börner and Joost van Aken

The Owls started with five at the back, as they had done in an encouraging performance at Norwich just four days earlier, but quickly switched to a four as the Terriers midfield enjoyed almost exclusive time on the ball early on, eventually making their dominance felt by racing into a 2-0 lead that did not flatter them.

Moses Odubajo made the switch from right wing-back to left-back, with the returning Dominic Iorfa moving from a back three to right-back.

And things were disrupted further by the departure of German centre-half Julian Börner, who bowed out with a facial injury shortly before Huddersfield’s second goal.

Börner, who has fought his way back up the Wednesday pecking order this season having started way down under the management of Garry Monk, has been one of the team’s outstanding players in recent weeks.

And Pulis hopes the 29-year-old will be fit for Saturday’s clash with Barnsley.

“He has got a knock on his face,” he said. “As long as it is not a fracture or anything like that, he should be fit.”

Explaining his decision to change systems so early and why Iorfa was selected ahead of van Aken in the Huddersfield defeat, he said: “I thought Huddersfield were running all over us whatever we did. They were on the front foot and we weren't.

“I don't want to make excuses. I just thought we were awful in the first 20-25 minutes.”

Pulis also conceded that the penalty given early in the second half against Iorfa, which was missed by Juninho Bacuna, was the correct decision.

“Joosty [Joost van Aken] has done very well for us but when you look at Saturday and the goals we conceded, he looked as though as he was tired and needed a break,” he said.

“I wanted to see Dom. People have been raving about Dominic so I wanted to see him in his position.

“If you compare it to Saturday, it is chalk and cheese and that's not just one player. It was everyone out there. I don't think anyone put in performance anywhere near what they did on Saturday.”

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