Sheffield Wednesday brought the curtain down on a chaotic festive period with a 3-0 defeat to QPR at Loftus Road on Sunday.
Four games in the space of just ten days is enough to take its toll on any team.
But imagine having to navigate your way through four games in ten days with a threadbare squad offering next to no room for rotation. That was the challenge that faced Sheffield Wednesday and manager Henrik Pedersen over the festive period.
After a disastrous summer saw 16 members of last season’s first-team squad depart and just two replacements come in, the relentless festive period, offering no time for players to come up for air, looked like a daunting prospect for Wednesday long before the Christmas decorations went up.
But as people started to rummage in their lofts for their trees and their tinsel, Wednesday’s injury crisis was quickly escalating, meaning the four-game block between Boxing Day and January 4 was rapidly becoming even more daunting.
Wednesday brought the curtain down on their Christmas and New Year schedule with a 3-0 defeat to QPR at Loftus Road on Sunday. Wednesday, just as they have done countless times this season, gave as good as they had possibly got, but it was to no avail. QPR were simply too strong.
The Owls, sadly, simply do not have the resources to compete at this level in the way they would realistically like to. While some supporters of other clubs are becoming sick of hearing it, claiming it is now becoming a tiring excuse, the truth is that Dejphon Chansiri is solely responsible for this mess.
Owls boss Pedersen, who has conducted himself impeccably throughout what has been a distressing time for the club, named one of the youngest matchday squads in Wednesday’s history on Sunday, being able to name just five players over the age of 23 in his matchday squad.
Despite the ongoing clamour for Pedersen to blood more of the Owls’ youngsters into the fold, with supporters suggesting he has nothing to lose with relegation sealed all but in name, it is not as easy as simply throwing them straight in – a stance he has maintained for much of the season. The Dane is trying to strike the right balance between youth and experience, meaning that is why he is having to continue relying on Wednesday’s senior figures, such as Dominic Iorfa, Liam Palmer, Barry Bannan and Jamal Lowe, to be ever-presents.
However, that, in some cases, simply hasn’t been possible. Svante Ingelsson, for example, was unable to start the draw with Blackburn Rovers last Monday after running himself into the ground against Hull City three days earlier. The Swede is one of the most athletic members of the squad, but even he has felt the effects of the relentlessness of the division.
Over the festive period Jarvis Thornton banked four successive Championship starts, Cole McGhee earned his Championship debut against Blackburn Rovers and then secured a second start at QPR, Favour Onukwuli and Rio Shipston made three cameo appearances apiece from the bench and Devlan Moses made his Owls debut at Loftus Road late on. Pedersen, albeit not as quickly as some believe he should be, is trying to bring more youngsters into the first-team.
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