Despite early season optimism, with Sheffield Wednesday starting the campaign with a comfortable 4-0 Championship win over Plymouth Argyle, Danny Rohl’s Owls have found their recent batch of fixtures in the challenging league bumpy, to say the least.
Only two more wins have come since this opening day demolition job of the Pilgrims, with the South Yorkshire outfit just three points off the dreaded relegation spaces in the division after succumbing to a 2-0 defeat to Scott Parker’s Burnley last weekend.
There will have been plenty for the German in the Hillsborough dug-out to chew over when assessing this flat loss to the Clarets, with a number of his key players struggling to get going against their promotion-chasing opponents.
Sheffield Wednesday's main underperformers v Burnley
Ike Ugbo continuing to look lacklustre up top for the Owls is a major concern, considering the second-tier side went all out this summer to ensure the former Chelsea youngster made a dramatic return to the club.
The Canada international is still goalless during his second stint, with no strikes coming his way now from nine unmemorable appearances, with the low-on-confidence 26-year-old only managing a meagre 22 touches and five accurate passes up against Parker’s visitors.
Only registering one off-target effort too, Rohl will want to see some major improvements from the summer recruit moving forward, or his place up top in the Wednesday lineup could soon be up for grabs.
It was also a poor day at the office for the defenders at Hillsborough, with the likes of Akin Famewo only winning two of his five duels all afternoon long, alongside also giving away possession a costly 14 times to boost the away side.
But, the worst culprit at the back for Rohl’s men was Yan Valery, with the ex-Southampton defender at fault for Jaidon Anthony’s opener on the day, after wildly misjudging a clearance that saw the AFC Bournemouth loanee then fire home.
Valery's performance in numbers
The brand new Wednesday number 27 has had a part to play in every single Championship game so far this season for his new employers, but he could find he’s axed for the game against Swansea City this coming Tuesday night based on this showing.
Away from the sobering error that gifted Burnley the one goal advantage, Valery was shaky in other aspects of his game, with possession squandered 11 times to fit in with Famewo’s equally shoddy play out from the back.
Minutes played
90
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Touches
42
Accurate passes
18/22 (82%)
Clearances
2
Interceptions
2
Tackles
1
Errors leading to a goal
1
Total duels won
4/4
It wasn’t all doom and gloom from Valery’s perspective during the loss, however, with the Frenchman successfully winning 100% of his duels, but the ex-Saints man will have already played over that error in his head countless times that allowed Anthony to calmly score to make it 1-0.
Upon reflection, Wednesday were not completely dominated nor turned over by the visitors from Lancashire – with 13 shots in the home side’s favour to Burnley’s 14 – but costly mistakes like Valery’s can change games and allowed Burnley to gain some much-needed momentum to go on to collect a 2-0 victory.
Sheffield Star journalist Alex Miller handed out a low 5/10 rating to Valery after the defeat, with the mistake labelled as a “horror moment” amidst a poor showing from the Wednesday defender.
This could see Rohl shuffle his pack for the game against the Swans this mid-week, therefore, with Dominic Iorfa capable of coming in and displacing Valery, who is yet to experience being dropped for his new team in league action.
But, after this Burnley defeat, it could be a necessary alteration, as Rohl attempts to put together the best possible XI to overcome Swansea.
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