Sheffield Wednesday and Danny Rohl will once again be working hard on the training ground during this international break.
The last international break in September came to the rescue for Sheffield Wednesday, who’d lost three-straight games with the last being a 3-0 defeat at Millwall.
Since then, the Owls have lost just one in five Championship games, and they arguably should’ve won that one but for some controversial refereeing against Luton Town.
Seven points from the last three games sees Danny Rohl’s side in 15th place of the Championship table with this October international break now upon us.
Despite the quite vast improvements we’ve seen over the last few weeks, there’s still room for more improvements, and this two-week break is an ideal time to hone in on the training ground.
But on Tuesday, it was revealed that Wednesday were set to play a behind-closed-doors friendly vs Aston Villa.
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Sheffield Wednesday set for Aston Villa friendly
This isn’t the first time that Rohl has used the international break to put his team up against Premier League opposition.
He did so on occasion last season, but it’s the first time he’s done so this season, with his side playing Champions League and Premier League outfit Aston Villa.
It’ll no doubt be a tough outing for the Owls. And whilst it’s good experience nonetheless, there’s surely a slight concern that it’ll be too debilitating for the players, especially with another congested run of fixtures coming up.
After the break, Wednesday play seven games in all competitions before the November international break, or seven games in the space of just 22 days, with the last being a Steel City derby away at Bramall Lane.
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Danny Rohl may be cutting it too fine with Aston Villa friendly
Sheffield Wednesday have a bigger and better first-team squad than they did last season. But Rohl definitely has a preferred XI and doesn’t rotate all that much.
So to not use this two week break to simply rest up and work on the training ground seems risky, especially with such a congested run coming up.
Rohl has certainly shown that he knows what he’s doing, and fans still have complete faith in him. But if Wednesday return fatigued, or become overly-fatigued come the Steel City derby, it may be able to be traced back to this international break, and the friendly vs Villa.
It’s one game though, and Wednesday likely won’t go full strength or play to their fullest intensity, so Rohl will hope that it won’t impact on player fitness.