Sheffield Wednesday endured a major reality check as they were thrashed by Sunderland this weekend.
The Owls headed to Wearside off the back of back-to-back wins over Plymouth Argyle and Hull City, having picked up their own 4-0 victory on the opening day.
Sheffield Wednesday were confident heading into the tie, but were in for an immediate shock as they conceded three goals in the first 25 minutes.
Sunderland went onto add a fourth in the opening minutes of the second half, while Wednesday were unable to perform a comeback and failed to score a single goal.
Danny Rohl’s side were heavily criticised for their display against the Black Cats, with a number of the goals definitely avoidable.
Dennis Cirkin was left completely on their own for the opener, before Josh Windass lost possession for their second and then kept Luke O’Nien onside for the third.
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Sheffield Wednesday make history v Sunderland
It was a huge disappointment after last week’s victory, while the defeat confirmed that they were the first English team since 2010 to do one thing.
After the game, Opta Joe wrote on X: “Sheffield Wednesday are the first side in England’s top four tiers to start a league season with a 4+ goal victory (4-0 vs Plymouth) and then lose their second game by 4+ goals (4-0 vs Sunderland) since Blackpool in 2010-11 (4-0 vs Wigan, 0-6 vs Arsenal). Humbling.”
It was never going to be as easy as Plymouth win
Wednesday were always expected to enjoy a comfortable win against Plymouth, given that their opponents were tipped for relegation and had appointed Wayne Rooney over the summer.
It was always going to be significantly harder against Sunderland and there was no doubt that the team wouldn’t be able to play the same attacking football that they did against the Pilgrims.
It became apparent very quickly that they were being dominated in the midfield, with the Owls missing a defensive midfielder like Nathaniel Chalobah.
Wednesday were trying to take risks and it just wasn’t working, while it has proven to Rohl that his team can’t play the same way no matter who their opponents are.
It will definitely wake the team up, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t improve and return to winning ways. Wednesday will have learnt their lesson and can now build on this.
It is clear that the Yorkshire outfit have a way to go before they can get too excited about their season though.