Danny Rohl has admitted that the weather is making training a lot harder for Sheffield Wednesday.
Sheffield Wednesday have endured back-to-back defeats to Southampton and Coventry City in recent weeks, despite enjoying an excellent run of form over Christmas that left them just three points from safety.
While The Owls just simply weren’t good enough and didn’t create enough chances to win either game, Danny Rohl has admitted that training has been ‘not ideal’ due to the weather.
Recent snow, ice and minus temperatures forcing Sheffield Wednesday to train at Hillsborough, due to the pitches at Middlewood Road being frozen.
The constant use of Hillsborough – which has also hosted four matches in the first three weeks of 2024 – has disturbed the playing surface and has often made it difficult to play on.
Danny Rohl has admitted that training at the stadium is ‘not easy’, but claims that it could hand The Owls an advantage in games.
Speaking to The Star, he said: “We trained three times this week on the pitch.
“It is not easy, it is not ideal but we have to find solutions and it is my job to find these solutions. The pitch at the training ground was frozen.
He added: “If you train on this pitch and then play on it, it can give you an advantage. Opponents can maybe be a little bit surprised at how the pitch looks. We invested a lot into the game and it can be disappointing because when you do that and come away with nothing it is hard to take.
“We will see what we can do with the pitch this week. We will play them (Coventry) three times in five weeks, it is always difficult for both sides. We will bring players onto the pitch to beat them and make sure we go into the next round, but of course we will have to have a look. It is about what we can do as a team.”
Can Sheffield Wednesday seek revenge this week?
Training at Hillsborough certainly didn’t help them against Coventry City, but hopefully Sheffield Wednesday can return to Middlewood Road this week following the rise in temperature.
The Owls need to get back into their normal routine and not have any further disturbances as they look to progress through to the next round of the FA Cup.
The defeat at the weekend may spur Sheffield Wednesday on to a much better performance this time round, while it will also keep up the momentum for when they play Watford in the Championship days later.
While it is great for the team to do well in the Cup, it does take some of the focus away from their bid to avoid relegation. The fixtures already pile up quickly and the last thing they want is picking up any injuries outside of the second tier.