Sheffield Wednesday were thumped 4-0 away against high-flyers Southampton in the Championship today.
Sheffield Wednesday returned to league duties with a long-haul trip to Southampton this afternoon, in a repeat of the opening Championship fixture of this season.
The Owls hosted the Saints back in August and it was Russell Martin’s side who beat Xisco Munoz‘s Wednesday 2-1 on the day.
Southampton faced a much-improved Sheffield Wednesday outfit managed by Danny Rohl today, but the Saints’ class shone through.
They took the lead through Che Adams after 35 minutes, sealing the win in the second half with goals from Adam Armstrong, Ryan Fraser, and Sekou Mara to keep Wednesday in 22nd, and now four points from safety.
It was a tough day out for Rohl and his players, but Michael Ihiekwe will earn some plaudits despite an overall poor defensive display from Sheffield Wednesday.
Michael Ihiekwe dominates the stats vs Southampton
Ihiekwe, 31, started for a fourth game in a row today, pairing Bambo Diaby at centre-back.
And although Southampton put four past the Owls today, Ihiekwe put in a commanding display at the back; the home side could easily have had more if it wasn’t for Ihiekwe.
As per Sofascore, Ihiekwe recorded 11 defensive actions (most of anyone on the pitch), 8 clearances (most), and 2 aerial duels won (more than any other Wednesday player).
On top of that, Ihiekwe made 2 interceptions and 1 tackle, with 52 touches (second most of any Wednesday player), with 29 accurate passes and the highest pass percentage of any Wednesday player today (91%).
Danny Rohl needs to figure out Sheffield Wednesday’s best defence
The midfield and attack has been fairly unchanged under Rohl, and is often quite easy to predict.
But the defence often changes. Diaby’s recent suspension caused another reshuffle in defence; the likes of Di’Shon Bernard often plays in the middle or on the right, with Akin Famewo either in the middle of the left.
But Diaby’s suspension has seen Ihiekwe playing in the middle and today, he was arguably Sheffield Wednesday’s best player.
He managed to impress despite the defeat, with Diaby often looking lax, and something of a liability at times with the Spaniard arguably at fault for two of Southampton’s goals.
Right now, Bernard and Ihiekwe seems like Rohl’s best centre-back pairing and after some trial and error in the last few games, and with Diaby now back and available for the bench, Rohl might start to stick with the same back-line.
There’s obviously still a bit of figuring out for Rohl to do with this current set of defensive players perhaps not totally suited to this passing style of play.
But with what he’s got, Rohl will continue to get the most out of them.
Sheffield Wednesday host Coventry City in the Championship next weekend.