Sheffield Wednesday fans have become concerned following a third successive defeat in the Championship.
The Owls were excused for poor performances against Sunderland and Leeds United, but supporters didn’t take their 3-0 hammering by Millwall very lightly yesterday.
Sheffield Wednesday haven’t scored since their own 4-0 thrashing of Plymouth Argyle on the opening day, while they have conceded nine goals in their last three matches.
The Yorkshire outfit have been heavily criticised for their performances in recent weeks, with yesterday’s defeat tipping many of the edge.
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Sheffield Wednesday ‘struggle’ with one key part of Championship football
Journalist Joe Crann has identified one ‘big part’ of Championship football that they have been ‘so poor’ at this term.
He wrote on X: “It’s by no means the only criticism, but as long as #SWFC continue to be so poor at set pieces – at both ends – they going to struggle. They’re such a big part of the Championship especially, and you can’t be so consistently blunt attacking and defending them.”
Despite claiming more possession, Wednesday were still dominated all over the pitch as they managed only four shots to Millwall’s 18.
As well as some poor defending for the first two, the Lions’ third came from a corner that should have been easily cleared by the visitors.
It comes after they conceded a poor free-kick against Sunderland last month, with Dennis Cirkin completely free as he nodded it in at the far post for their opener.
Danny Rohl needs to make drastic changes in the international break
Wednesday have long had issues with set pieces stretching into last season, while they have struggled to score from them too.
The Owls managed only ten set piece goals last term, more than only six other teams – two of whom were relegated.
Danny Rohl was expected to bring in a new centre-back ahead of Friday’s deadline, but they failed to make a single addition on deadline day.
The German then opted to bring Michael Ihiekwe in for Dominic Iorfa, but the 31-year-old failed to prevent a poor defensive display.
Wednesday were disappointing at the back all round and have underwhelmed for weeks now, but working on set pieces seems like one of the easier things they can really train for.
Bernard, Iorfa and Shea Charles are 6 ft 1 so should be key figures when defending set pieces, but they certainly aren’t a team blessed with tall jeans.
The likes of Josh Windass, Barry Bannan, Yan Valery and Max Lowe are all 5 ft 9 or below.
It’s something they need to get used to though and they certainly aren’t the only Championship club on the smaller side.
Rohl has a whole international break to work on the team now and he will surely be eager to get his time up to speed in both boxes ahead of their clash with QPR in a couple of weeks.