Sheffield Wednesday’s expectations have risen even higher after their 4-0 win over Plymouth Argyle.
Despite narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Danny Rohl’s new contract and ten new signings encouraged many to predict a positive year for the Owls.
While many had tipped them for a mid-table finish, nobody was quite expecting such a dominating performance in their opening fixture at Hillsborough.
Sheffield Wednesday had almost 60% possession and racked up an impressive 31 shots and 15 corners.
The team looked completely transformed following last season’s relegation battle and there has now been question marks over whether they could reach the play-offs.
Play-offs could be a ‘bridge too far’ for Sheffield Wednesday
Journalist George Smith believes it could be a ‘bridge too far’, but has not written off what Rohl is capable of.
Speaking on The Championship Chat Podcast, Smith said: “There’s really a sense of confidence that Wednesday can have a good season, a I think for the vast majority of sort of level-headed Wednesday fans, a good season would resemble a top half finish.
“I think the play-offs is, it’s not impossible, but I think it could be a bridge too far. But you never know with what they do between now and the end of the window and with a manager as capable as Danny Rohl, we shall see.”
The Championship is just too hard to predict
Wednesday fans won’t want to get too ahead of themselves, but they certainly couldn’t have had a much better start than their win at the weekend.
However, it is only one game and there is so much that can happen between now and the end of the season.
Plymouth are tipped for relegation and were, on paper, one of the ‘easiest’ opponents that the Yorkshire outfit could have faced on opening day.
The Owls should wait till after they have faced Sunderland and Leeds before making any serious judgements, but even then it will be impossible to predict.
Rohl will be relying on the key players staying fit, as well as scraping through those really tough games.
They also need to stay consistent, as it is often the case that some teams’ form can dramatically change going into the new year.
Wednesday face a really tough February too, playing Luton, West Brom, Coventry and Burnley all in a few weeks.
If anyone can drag them to the play-offs then it would be Rohl, but there is still a long, long way to go. It’s a marathon not a sprint.