“I think we’ve just got to be patient with him” – Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit issues early verdict on Alex Mighten | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Sheffield Wednesday bolstered their forward options in a major way this summer, with powerful strikers and quick, versatile attacking players all arriving at Hillsborough.

Michael Smith joins the likes of Callum Paterson and Lee Gregory as the big men up-top, whilst Mallik Wilks and Alex Mighten also joined as players who have done their best work out wide.

Mighten was somewhat of a coup from Nottingham Forest on a loan deal, having made an appearance in the Reds’ first Premier League match of the season against Newcastle United, and later on last month Steve Cooper sanctioned a deal to let the USA-born England youth international head to the Owls.

Quiz: Real or fake.. Did these 20 Sheffield Wednesday moments actually happen or not?

1 of 20

Sheffield Wednesday won the top division of English football in 1930

Real Fake

So far, Mighten has appeared three times for Wednesday, once in the EFL Trophy and twice in League One, with his first league start coming in a change of formation in the 3-0 victory over Morecambe on Tuesday night.

The 20-year-old was substituted before Darren Moore’s side opened the scoring and went on to dominate, and it remains to be seen where he fits into the 3-5-2 formation that the Wednesday manager normally utilises.

Speaking on Mighten’s first few showings in a Wednesday shirt, FLW’s Owls fan pundit James Mappin said: “I think Alex Mighten is a great player.

“He’s raw, he lost possession quite a few times on Tuesday night against Morecambe, but he did show glimpses where he turned the defender inside out, got past him on the byline.

“Morecambe did play quite deep so their wasn’t that much space in-behind, so he couldn’t really use his pace to the full effect.

“But I think we’ve just got to be patient with him – I think there is a good player in there, if he was the finished article he wouldn’t be playing at Sheffield Wednesday, so I think we’ve got to appreciate that.

“Clearly we were aiming the ball down the right-hand side to get him on the ball and see what he could do, and I don’t think he disgraced himself – he didn’t have a fantastic game but it was only his first start for Wednesday so fingers crossed he can build on that.”

Mighten is a winger by trade, so at the time it was perhaps slightly puzzling as to why Wednesday would want him when they naturally do not play with wingers.

He has already featured in a number of different positions though so far, with Morecambe away being the first time he’s got to play somewhere familiar due to Darren Moore changing the system.

In the long-term though this season, he may have to develop playing as a striker – not that Wednesday are short of them – or an attacking midfielder, or maybe even as a right wing-back in the matches that the Owls are expected to dominate so he doesn’t have much defensive responsibility.

This season will be a learning curve for Mighten, and whilst he may not have stood out so far, there’s still plenty of matches to play.