Sheffield Wednesday gave an improved account of themselves on Saturday, in their 1-0 defeat at home to Preston North End in the Championship.
Sheffield Wednesday have now lost all three of their opening games of the 2023/24 Championship season.
Xisco Munoz’s side are the only team in the league without a point on the board so far but on Saturday, fans saw definite signs of progression from Munoz’s men, who gave Preston a good game.
And the game also saw Momo Diaby make his debut. The towering central midfielder gave a through account of himself before being forced off in the second half of the game – speaking on his potential injury, Munoz said that Diaby is set to undergo an MRI scan, adding:
“We will see. He arrived five days ago, he lives in a hotel, he has nothing and he played 100 per cent in the game. Normally, you are a man, not a machine.
“This is the thing I need people to understand. If I lose him for two months or three months, then after we are thinking. They are players, they are not machines. We will see what happens.”
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And Diaby drew praise from The Star’s Joe Crann as well, who tweeted about the 26-year-old:
What do the stats say?
Diaby managed 65 minutes in the game v Preston, but in that time, he managed to show fans what he can bring to the side.
And what he brings is a real physical and defensive presence in the middle of the park. He completed three tackles and also made an interception, as per WhoScored.
There were a lot of bodies in the midfield on Saturday but Diaby’s presence really gave Wednesday an edge in that particular battle.
He also showed that he has a range of passing making 30 successful passes on the day (four of which were long and 16 were short, with a pass success rate of 66.7%).
Compared to his teammates; only Diaby, Anthony Musaba, and Akin Famewo made three tackles in that game, and should Diaby have finished the 90 then he would’ve ranked near the top in terms of passing statistics too.
For a player who’s never played in England before, to be throw in from the off against a tough Preston outfit, Diaby did very well, and everyone will be praying that his injury isn’t a serious one.