Sheffield Wednesday

I think most Sheffield Wednesday fans get what this season is about.

An instant return to the Championship would be welcome. Who doesn't enjoy a promotion season? But more than anything they just want to see convincing proof they're heading in the right direction.

New ownership has been warmly welcomed. David Storch's most recent social media post, external, backing Sheffield Children's Hospital whilst committing to doing what he can in the city, highlights how different this regime is.

On the pitch though it continues to be a mixed bag. Enough results to put the club within touching distance of the top spots, with mostly unconvincing performances.

The Wimbledon and Bromley games, against admittedly weak opponents, showed what Wednesday can be. They have the quality.

Yet too often in other games you wouldn't know it. The first half at Notts County sounded very similar to the experiences against Huddersfield, Salford, Stockport and Wigan. Ineffective, second best, confusing.

Manager Henrik Pedersen said after the game that the basics were not there. That's worrying, 10 games into the season.

He said it was difficult to compete with County's physical power. Ok, but this was only a second win of the season for newly promoted Notts.

The reaction from some of the fans made it clear how they feel. There were chants for Pedersen to go for the first time, plus unflattering songs about the quality of the football being played.

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You might look at the table and say this is harsh. No, this is just life at Sheffield Wednesday in League One. Just as it was in the past for other Owls managers, or anyone else managing a club of this size in the third tier.

Darren Moore won 85 and 96 points in his two seasons in this division and was only ever one loss (or even a draw sometimes) away from people calling for him to go.

That's no curse. That's the privilege of managing a big club.

The way to avoid the pressure is to play well. To convince with your plan. Your style.

The odd bad result isn't a surprise when you have to rebuild the whole squad in a summer. But Wednesday simply can't keep playing as poorly as they are.

There are other questions too. Was it too much of a gamble to play Di'Shon Bernard again in midweek, so soon after returning from injury?

On reflection, given he went off in the first half, it probably was. Yet Wednesday are not flush with options at the back. Gabriel Otegbayo, who came on for Bernard, gave away a penalty and has had a difficult season so far to say the least.

It begs the question — why are Wednesday considering sending Ernie Weaver on loan to the National League? Maybe that's best for his development. But with all due respect, could he do any worse than Otegbayo?

Saturday is a big game. The Steel City derby is the king of rivalries for Wednesday fans - but you better believe they hate losing to the other South Yorkshire clubs, who all revel in trying to get one over the Owls.

Whatever noise there was at Meadow Lane will be far louder if Wednesday put on a similar showing in Doncaster.

A win and a performance is needed.

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There was hope that an international break could iron out the kinks. Sheffield Wednesday had been picking up results - wins and draws - without playing particularly coherently or well.

Yet Saturday was more of the same.

It took the Owls an hour to have a shot on goal against Huddersfield. That can't be right. Not with the players they had on the pitch. Yet it's indicative of what's not working.

The number nine - whoever it is who starts up front - is too often isolated and at times anonymous. The wide players and number 10 aren't connecting well enough with the front man, nor are the central midfielders.

The Owls have barely mustered anything in the first half against Huddersfield, Stockport or Salford in the EFL Trophy recently.

We've seen Davis Keillor-Dunn, never a winger, feature out wide - before it was made painfully clear on the pitch he's better inside. Jamal Lowe has been asked to play out wide.

After half-time on Saturday, Callum Slattery seemingly shifted to the right wing. Yet it wasn't clear because his position was pretty inverted, despite Harry Gray hugging the touchline on the left. Was he a wide-man or not? I said in the commentary: "What is this formation?"

It was the most unlikely come-from-behind 2-2 draw I can recall, with Huddersfield the architects of their own downfall. Head coach Martin Drury must be the only person to be inspired by Thomas Tuchel's management against Argentina at the World Cup, given he adopted the same tactics.

Huddersfield blew it - and not only with their late-game approach. They messed up a 4 v 2 in the second half and if it wasn't for two excellent Joe Lumley saves, they could've won comfortably.

Wednesday were gifted a route back in and had enough about them to create the chances to score two goals. But why did they need desperation and opponent surrender tactics to spark into life?

Callers to Praise or Grumble who typically have defended Henrik Pedersen in the past threatened to turn on Saturday. Others are past the point of no return. The pressure is increasing on the Owls boss because the performances leave a lot to be desired.

As the excellent Alex Miller of the Sheffield Star jokingly tweeted at half-time of the recent Salford EFL Trophy game: "Emmeline Pankhurst grew up on the outskirts of Salford. Feel like I could tell her a few thing or two about sufferage after this first half."

He could've retweeted that during half-time at Huddersfield.

Wednesday have enough talent to be better than this. Which begs the question - is the boss complicating things too much?

Continental managers have a way of doing things, especially those like Pedersen who came through the Red Bull setup. Yet this is League One. It's not a very technical league, to be honest.

Amid all the talk of verticality and overloads, isn't it time to go back to basics?

The individual players at Hillsborough are better than most of League One has to offer. A simplified system with refined ideas could see Wednesday succeed more often than not.

Saturday's Praise or Grumble perfectly summed up the mindset of Sheffield Wednesday's fans at the moment.

An angry call, deriding a drab performance against Stockport. Then an even more passionate response from another supporter, calling for perspective.

There'll be a season of this and there's merit to both arguments.

It was poor on Saturday. Stockport comfortably controlled the first half, should've scored and if they were more ruthless they probably would've been ahead at the break.

Wednesday were simply too slow and the frustrated boos in response were understandable.

The second half was more of a tactical battle with little between the teams.

The use of Davis Keillor-Dunn as a right-sided player is an ill-fit.

He's a goalscorer, someone you want in the box. His record for Barnsley and Mansfield shows where his strengths are. He's never going to be a winger, even one encouraged to cut in and play narrow.

Jamal Lowe has been filling in admirably in a wider role but whilst he's comfortable there – he's not a winger.

It was crying out for Harry Gray – who gave Wednesday a major shot in the arm when he came on – and Kieran Morrison – to provide width.

Even then, the midfield didn't really mesh with the attacking system. Callum Slattery has flashed at times but sometimes seems caught between two stools. Barry Bannan and Billy Mitchell in the middle hasn't quite clicked.

It sometimes leaves the striker a bit isolated, even anonymous, and Wednesday struggled to create anything on Saturday.

They were out-shot 6-18 and they've gone scoreless in three of their four home league games (the other, of course, was the 7-2 spanking of Bromley).

Henrik Pedersen is often good at describing, as he did post-match, what the issues were. But that often begs the question from fans – where were the solutions?

His comment that their opponents had a wrinkle similar to Paris Saint Germain also invited derision, given they were, after all, playing Stockport County.

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Yet the counter to this is also fair.

Wednesday are still in the early stages of a rebuild the size of the Grand Canyon. The squad is so reliant on loans that one has to miss out on the matchday squad every week.

Despite injuries at the back, only league leaders Bradford have conceded fewer goals. Despite playing at a level below what is possible so far, they are still second in the table. That's a great platform to build on.

When Louie Barry returns, he'll inject goals, width and excitement. They have players in their squad that most League One teams would love to have.

Howard Wilkinson, footballing royalty in Yorkshire, was invited onto the pitch and awarded a lifetime presidency alongside Lord Blunkett and Clive Betts MP. It was a reminder that Sheffield Wednesday has finally got its soul back.

Acknowledging the good that has happened, and the enormous amount of work still required on and off the pitch, is only right. It has to be part of the conversation.

Yet it's also just a fact of life that when 32,290 are packed into Hillsborough, they expect to see a bit more. The doubts about Pedersen, rightly or wrongly, will go on until he's either celebrating a promotion or leaving the club.

He has to find the right formula and that could mean making some difficult decisions.

Should he look at Keillor-Dunn as a number ten rather than out wide? Does he need to consider not using Bannan for every game these days? Is it time to put more trust in young talents like Gray and Morrison – simply because they are the best wide options he has?

Rob Staton
BBC Radio Sheffield reporter

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It'd be easy to look at the League One table, see Sheffield Wednesday at the top, and figure it's not that unexpected.

After all, they're a recently relegated Championship team, and, as one of the bigger clubs in the division, it probably won't raise much of an eyebrow to outside observers.

That would be an error.

The best example as to why would be Leicester. On paper they still have a deep squad. They were among the favourites themselves to go straight back up. Yet they've just been spanked 4-0 by Oxford on their own patch. They're 17th. The turmoil on and off the pitch, clearly, has not subsided at the King Power.

Let's not forget how much work the Owls had to do themselves in order to even be a functioning team at this point.

They've signed 18 senior players in the summer window. That wasn't a spend-a-thon - it was necessary simply to have an actual squad to start the season with.

The Dejphon Chansiri-inspired misery brought on the club last year, that saw staff not paid on time, the squad decimated, administration, points deductions and no chance to compete, turned Wednesday into a husk.

Even with all of their new signings, you still look at the squad and see areas where it's thin. An injury to young defender Sil Swinkels, the absence of the experienced Ricardo Santos and the need to manage Liam Cooper's minutes are making things tricky at the back.

They also don't have much in the way of depth in central midfield - although the return of Jaden Heskey on loan from Manchester City has helped.

The financial restrictions placed on the club by the EFL limit what they can do. They've had to rely on loans - meaning they now have six in their squad but can only use five of those on a given match day.

Sporting director Simon Wilson and those working with him deserve a lot of credit because there's clearly been plenty of challenges as they begin to rebuild this club.

On the pitch, it's not that everything has fallen into place just yet. Though they have won 2-1 in their three away games at Leyton Orient, Wycombe and Peterborough, respectively, there are still areas for improvement.

However, that perfectly highlights the good job being done. If Wednesday had blitzed their first five games, looking like a well-oiled machine similar to Birmingham City at this level two years ago, in a way it'd be less impressive. That they're finding a way to get the job done as they attempt to grow into the season speaks to the work of Henrik Pedersen, his staff and his players.

There's no hiding from the fact that to many supporters the jury was out on Pedersen before the campaign began. A tricky start would've ramped up the pressure. It can't have been easy for the boss. He deserves credit for delivering a winning start.

His team are also third in the xG table and, thanks to their 7-2 demolition of Bromley, are joint top scorers in League One with Huddersfield.

It's only five games, and nobody should be getting carried away. As this story of a new era at Hillsborough reveals itself, though, this is a great opening chapter. It'll be putting smiles on many fans' faces after the year from hell last season.