Sheffield Wednesday have one player who can play a ‘big, big part’ in the rest of the season after his own personal redemption.
Sheffield Wednesday‘s season began looking like it was already over, with a long list of players either falling out of favour or just starting the campaign particularly poorly.
That was until Danny Rohl came in and offered everyone an equal chance at fighting for their place in the team.
Marvin Johnson was left out of the match-day squad entirely for the first 13 matches, while Will Vaulks made only two starts under Xisco Munoz.
Rohl has completely transformed this squad and has taken those low on confidence and reinvigorated them – bringing plenty of hope back to their dwindling careers at Hillsborough.
Perhaps one of the biggest turnarounds we have seen at Wednesday this term is Michael Ihiekwe, who featured only four times in almost four months at the start of the campaign.
Even Rohl’s arrival didn’t seem to help the defender, as Ihiekwe made only two starts in his first 13 games in charge.
His time at Wednesday looked likely to be over, until he was brought back into the fold after Christmas.
Ihiekwe has now started 15 of the Owls’ last 18 games in the Championship, contributing to six clean sheets in the process.
Michael Ihiekwe: The ‘comeback kid’
The centre-back netted first goal against Norwich midweek – his first goal for Sheffield Wednesday and his first career goal in almost two years.
Following the well deserved goal, journalist Alex Miller took to X to praise his impact, claiming he can play a ‘big, big part’ in their final four games.
Miller wrote: “Michael Ihiekwe. Stat king. Comeback kid. His personal fightback – and that of a few others – seems systematic of the wider Wednesday picture over the past few months. He seems likely to play a big, big part in its dramatic crescendo.”
Ihiekwe deserves more credit
Despite starting less than half of Wednesday’s league games so far, Ihiekwe has still made the most clearances in the squad (102), has blocked the most shots (25) and has won the fourth-most headers (99).
It’s been an unbelievable turnaround for the centre-back and it is one of many fairytale stories since Rohl came in – that is if they can avoid relegation at the end of it.
He has been so important to the Owls’ defence in recent months though and the team would certainly struggle a lot more without him if he wasn’t available for these final four matches.