Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl has explained his thinking behind the change in formation vs Ipswich Town.
Sheffield Wednesday were dealt their heaviest defeat of the Rohl-era away at Ipswich Town in the Championship on Saturday.
The Owls were three goals behind at the break and conceded three more in the second half, with the gap to safety remaining one point.
Several players under-performed on Saturday; fans were critical of Marvin Johnson in particular, who was deployed as a left-back instead of a left wing-back.
A major talking point after the game was Rohl’s decision to revert to a back-four, which obviously proved ineffective.
Danny Rohl wanted to be ‘on the front foot’ vs Ipswich Town
Speaking to BBC Sheffield after the game, Rohl was quizzed on his decision to change from a back-five to a back-four, to which he responded:
“When my team concedes six goals then you can always ask me such a question. It’s then my job as a manager; I accept this, when you prepare for the game you are thinking, ‘OK, how can I win this game?’ And not how can you not concede goals. This is more my thinking.”
Rohl added:
“When I looked at the form, normally our four best offensive guys, with a lot of individual quality… We want to be on the front foot.”
Sheffield Wednesday back-five formation was working wonders
For the past several games before Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday had donned a back-five.
Rohl first deployed that formation in the 2-0 win at Millwall and stuck with all the way to the 2-0 defeat vs Leeds United last week.
Johnson and Pol Valentin at wing-back were causing havoc for opposition full-backs, and having three centre-backs on the pitch allowed Sheffield Wednesday to build plays from deep.
Against Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday did start very brightly.
This might be forgotten very quickly after the collapse at Portman Road, as heads immediately dropped when the first goal went in against the run of play.
Wednesday looked as though they had four players up front at times with Ian Poveda, Anthony Musaba, Djeidi Gassama and Ike Ugbo all pressing Ipswich.
Danny Rohl naive for Ipswich Town clash
Whilst there may be some credit due to Rohl for being so brave with his line up for Ipswich, it ultimately backfired horribly.
It’s easy to forget that Rohl is such a young coach and still very new in the dugout, so there may have been an air of naivety for the team selection against Ipswich.
But if Sheffield Wednesday score the first goal in that game, then it’s a completely different outlook, and Rohl all of a sudden looks like a genius.
Though in Sheffield Wednesday’s predicament, lining up with more solidity at the back may have been a better gamble, and it could limited the scoreline much more.
Up next for Sheffield Wednesday is a home game vs Swansea City next weekend.