Sheffield Wednesday moved off the bottom of the Championship table in time for this month’s international break, after picking up an impressive point at Leeds United last time out.
It was Sheffield Wednesday’s first point of the season and arguably their best performance under Xisco Munoz.
The Spaniard’s task at hand remains a very difficult one, and despite a turbulent summer and a lack of resources in the transfer market, Munoz has come under criticism.
One of his main criticisms has been his team selections. He’s chopped and changed his side every game, playing players in new positions and trying out different formations.
It’s been so much so that Sheffield Wednesday are the only team in the Championship to not have a single player to have played every minute in the Championship so far this season.
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Munoz: Tinkerman? Or needs must?
Munoz has a lot of mitigating circumstances for this poor start to the season. He obviously came in late which pushed the club’s transfer business back, whilst also leaving them with whatever was left in the free and loan markets which Wednesday were largely limited too.
Then there was a lack of investment from the top; Wednesday spent money on the likes of Djeidi Gassama and Anthony Musaba but for a promoted team, a lot more needed to be spent to give the club a real chance of survival.
So Munoz chopping and changing his team makes sense. But some will argue that Munoz has done so too much.
The label ‘tinkerman’ gets banded around. Darren Moore was often called it too, but in the end, Moore steered the Owls to promotion from League One, so there may yet be some method to Munoz’s current means.
This two week break will have been a blessing for Munoz and Sheffield Wednesday. Munoz may well have treated it as another mini pre-season in which he could have tried to settle on one tactic and one XI in time for this weekend’s Championship clash v Ipswich Town.
It’s another tough outing for the Owls but after their strong performance at Elland Road, the club should be confident of taking something from this one.