Lack Of Consistency & Cutting Edge Continues To Hamper Owls Promotion Push
- Louis
- Nov 13, 2019
- 5 min read
Yet another international break is upon us and with a couple of weeks to regroup, Garry Monk has a few urgent matters to address with his Owls squad.
Sheffield Wednesday sit 8th in the Championship but The Owls manager, players and fans will all be thinking what could have been after recent performances.
In the last 5 games, Wednesday have taken just 6 points from a possible 15. This is made all the more disappointing when it's highlighted that from 3 of those games, The Owls have inexplicably dropped 7 points from winning positions. All of that's bad enough but when you dig a little deeper and look at those 3 games, Wednesday were winning up to at least the 87th minute in each of them.
Had The Owls taken those dropped 7 points, they would currently find themselves 2nd in the Championship, a point behind leaders West Brom. Instead they are 8th, 3 points outside the play offs and 8 points off top.
Quite simply, if Wednesday are to maintain any serious push for promotion this season, they've got to improve their game management, cut out the recent mistakes at the back and be more clinical up top.
Cardiff (A) 1-1
Cardiff was the starting point for the 5 game period in question. Wednesday took a first half lead through Julian Borner and were unlucky not to double that when Kadeem Harris rattled a brilliant free kick against the cross bar. With a win on the horizon, Lee Tomlin scored a free kick of his own for Cardiff although how it was allowed to stand is anyone's guess after Aiden Flint stood well offside and in Cameron Dawson's line of vision blatantly doing star jumps during the whole process. Dawson then saved Wednesday a point in the dying minutes with a brilliant save low down.
In isolation, whilst two points dropped is disappointing, a draw away at a club that was playing Premier League football last season can be seen more positively once the dust has settled.
Stoke (H) 1-0
Stoke at home brought a chance to get back on track against a team struggling in the relegation zone.
A dominant first half performance saw Massimo Luongo put Wednesday ahead just before half time but the second half saw a limp and sluggish Wednesday defend for the majority of the half as a battling Stoke team came out firing. Cameron Dawson again pulled off a great save for The Owls, this time saving them all 3 points as Monk's men held on to the final whistle.
Leeds (H) 0-0
Leeds travelled to Hillsborough for a massive Yorkshire derby the following game. The match saw Leeds edge a tight first half. Wednesday came out after the break and showed much more confidence and came close to taking the lead as Steven Fletcher smashed the ball against the crossbar following a great move down the left side. Leeds themselves hit the post late on but The Owls showed they could take on the teams at the top of the division and more than compete on their day.
Blackburn (A) 1-2
Wednesday travelled to Ewood Park to play an under performing Blackburn side struggling in the bottom half of the league.
Monk's men had 18 shots on goal during the game and created more than enough opportunities to make things comfortable for themselves. Jacob Murphy pounced on a rebound after Fletcher hit the bar to put The Owls ahead with less than seven minutes to play.
Before things had chance to settle down, Blackburn equalised from a looping header and with Wednesday still reeling, a rare mistake and poor attempted clearance from Julian Borner let in Blackburn again and they scored what turned out to be the winner in stoppage time. There was still time for Forestieri to have a shot deflected on to the post but 3 points had been dropped and fans were wondering how the team could let a game get away from them so badly late on.
Swansea (H) 2-2
The match at the weekend was another test for Wednesday against one of the top performing teams in the division so far this season.
The Owls dominated the first half, creating great chances and hitting the post from a Steven Fletcher header but as has been the case in most games recently, Wednesday failed to take their chances and were undone, conceding a goal that was all their own doing leaving them trailing at half time.
The second half for Wednesday continued with the same frustration as the first as Jacob Murphy could only fire against the post as they searched for a goal. It took the introduction of both Adam Reach and Fernando Forestieri to get some purposeful attacking intent back into the team.
Inside the last 10 minutes the two played a key part in the equaliser as Reach turned well and ran at the defence before unleashing a strike on goal. The keeper made a save low down but could only parry the ball to Kieran Lee who scuffed the ball across for Forestieri to scoop home. With that Wednesday went for the win and in injury time got a corner from which substitute Jordan Rhodes put a clever header towards Fox at the back post for him to smash home. Wednesday had seemingly earned a well deserved win but just like the Blackburn match previously, their game management failed them and in the 94th minute Swansea rescued a draw.
While one defeat in six sounds like a decent run of form on the surface, it becomes clear when you dissect that six match run that The Owls are struggling for the consistency and form that's required to maintain a promotion push over the long run.
Those six games have resulted in the following stats:
P6 W2 D3 L1
9 points from a possible 18
6 goals scored
5 goals conceded
80 shots at goal/27 on target
6 times woodwork hit
Further stats from over the whole season so far also show where Wednesday need to improve. They haven't won two consecutive league games since the start of the season and have only scored in both halves of a game on three occasions.
They've also scored two or more goals in a game just five times so far.
All the above shows that going forward there needs to be a much more ruthless end product as the team are producing more than enough chances to score but when you consider that The Owls are still sitting in 8th place it shows that their recent defensive lapses haven't always been there.
The Owls have the second most clean sheets in the division (6) and are fourth best for goals conceded (14).
Monk has so far relied on Steven Fletcher to lead the line this season and whilst he'0s done a great job for the team, he's not the 20 goal striker Wednesday need. He needs someone around him, whether it's another striker and playing two up top or someone like Forestieri playing just off him. With the strikers Wednesday have at their disposal, the burden of goals is there to be shared around.
With a busy period coming up towards Christmas, it will be interesting to see how Garry Monk utilises the squad to try and keep Wednesday in the hunt for promotion by the time the New Year comes around.
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