Football League World
·26 September 2024
In partnership with
Yahoo sportsFootball League World
·26 September 2024
The Owls were perhaps unlucky to not come away with a point against Luton Town last week, and should not change too much against the Baggies.
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 are still looking for their first win in the Championship since the opening weekend of the season after Saturday's 2-1 defeat at the hands of Luton Town.
Despite taking the lead against The Hatters, a Carlton Morris double saw the one-time Premier League club take all three points at Kenilworth Road, with the hosts' first goal coming through a controversial penalty decision.
Di'Shon Bernard was sent off for handling the ball and although Wednesday appealed the decision, the red card was upheld.
Danny Rohl, therefore, will be forced into at least one change for the visit of top-of-the-table West Bromwich Albion. The Baggies are still unbeaten in the league and will be hoping to continue their excellent run of form at Hillsborough on Saturday.
However, if last season's clash in Sheffield was anything to go by, then Carlos Corberan will be looking to right some wrongs, with the home side running out 3-0 winners at the end of April - a result that helped the Owls on their way to securing their second tier status for 2024/25.
Sheffield Wednesday will possibly be slightly aggrieved that they did not take at least a point away from Kenilworth Road last weekend and this next test is possibly the hardest they could have asked for at this point in the season.
West Brom have been excellent under Corberan so far and look an extremely difficult team to beat. They have been strong defensively and Josh Maja has been electric up front, meaning that both Wednesday's forward line and defence must be ready to be tested.
With Saturday in mind, Football League World asked their Sheffield Wednesday Fan Pundit, Patrick McKenna, what changes he would make to the starting XI.
He told FLW: "Personally, I wouldn't be looking to make many changes now. There is the enforced change with Di’Shon Bernard being suspended, so I think that there will be a straight swap with Michael Ihiekwe.
"Now the temptation would be, since we're at home, to maybe go to a more attacking setup and formation because last week at Luton, reverting to a 3-5-2 was slightly more defensive, and we tried to hit them on the break, but I think we should try and keep to the same setup again."
"Ingelsson has shown that he is more effective in a forward role, and we’ve got Barry Bannan and Shea Charles, who can sit a bit deeper in the midfield and dictate the play.
"Ingelsson can then make his runs forward and try and take on West Brom. Windass is a confidence player and, unfortunately, it hasn't been happening for him this season. His shooting’s been off, so I think I would drop him down to the bench and give Ingelsson the start but, overall, I wouldn’t change it too much.
"However, we should bear in mind how tough a task this is, but hopefully, three points are on the way."
Although this weekend's opposition are the early pacesetters, the Owls can take solace in knowing that those at the top are not unbeatable.
Plymouth Argyle proved in their victory over Sunderland that teams in the bottom six do have the ability to take the game to the promotion chasers, such as West Brom.
Bringing Ingelsson in will help, as Windass does not currently seem comfortable, despite playing a key role at the end of last season. The Swede will bring more calm to Sheffield Wednesday, something that they seemed to lack at points against Luton.
Taking Windass out of the starting XI could work for him and allow the 30-year-old the chance to earn his place back in the team through performances off the bench.
He'll have fresh legs and can offer something different in the final 20 minutes to Ingelsson, who might have hoped for a bit more game time after starting the first three matches.