Sheffield Wednesday 3 - West Bromwich Albion 0

Brendan Clegg:

Infuriating complacency… the theme of the day and bubbling away for a few weeks.

Seeing the lineup and Mowatt, arguably our most consistent player this season dropped out of CM for M’Vila and an as yet unfit Phillips over either Fellows or BTA if Fellows wasn’t fit enough with Jed going wide… it had me concerned but you hope and think maybe CC has seen some genius tactic we haven’t. Spoiler alert… he hadn’t.

And although it’s too late, Bartley keeping his place after a shocking run of form and our goals against column on his return to the team really had me worried.

Started okay, nothing in it, MJ looking a threat but nobody else good enough on the ball.

Concede a poor goal, foul or not, with the two CBs awol. No reaction to an okay Palmer save.

The rest of the half was frustrating in that we were on top but slow or really sloppy. We panicked or forced or made the wrong choice as soon as we got into their final third. If it wasn’t that it was that we were slow and ponderous, or that we did the usual let’s be clever and draw them out instead of just having a go at them.

And they were there to have a go at… they were defending narrowly and in numbers but we had chances from set plays and in open play, with poor finishing or that bit of luck not being there for us.

At HT it was still there to win and it felt fairly obvious that we needed Mowatt and Fellows on. I found it inexplicable that CC didn’t make a single change given how the half had gone, we were losing and the importance of the game.

And we were punished early on, conceding a truly terrible goal. Phillips and Furlong playing risky passes under pressure and giving it away and as Wednesday came at us not a single player put in a solid challenge… we retreated, allowed a player to ricochet through three defenders and then when Okay should’ve walloped it clear he tried a silly back heel to keep the ball, was robbed and their player smashed it in.

We then made 4 subs… utterly daft the other way in terms of cohesion and emotionally reactive, and just frustrating again that we didn’t make the 2 at HT and give it 20 minutes first.

We applied some pressure but were wide open on the counter and conceded another shocker for the third.

It started when neither Okay or Bartley were prepared to win a 60/40 in their favour on the edge of Wednesday’s box (a theme of the day), they went up the other end, and then a shit from distance was hopelessly but deliberately punch parried by Palmer straight to their player who slammed it home.

For the rest of the game we made chances but couldn’t take them to make it even slightly interesting and just because I’m having a rant now, I thought the last 20 minutes were perfect for us to try something different we might need like 2 up top and get Maja some real minutes but instead Swift came on, and it was same old same old.

In summary, Wednesday came out pumped but with little quality and played with the commitment their situation demanded. We came out and played like it was a friendly, and it was so across the board that it can only be that ‘be calm, don’t get booked, don’t commit too much’ must have been drummed into them all week. Combine that with a couple of selection errors and then the in-game choices and overall complacency and we got the worst performance of CC’s tenure in the biggest game of it so far.

He’s a young and very talented coach. Let’s hope he learns quickly and the silly tinkering makes way. The later Ipswich and Hull game, resulting in us now needing only to avoid defeat, showed two teams absolutely going for it and that’s been Ipswich all season in what was definitely a league to have a go at.

• Palmer - 5 Complacency is contagious. A bad day.
• Furlong - 5 Seemed to be all over the place.
• Bartley- 5 Has dropped off a cliff. Has had the complacency bug the longest.
• Kipre - 6 Poor for the 2nd but at least had a go.
• Townsend- 5 Was not as bad as people make out, but was as bad as everyone else.
• Phillips - 5 didn’t let us down and showed good touches mostly but it was a big ask and the wrong call, and sloppy for their 2nd
• M’Vila - 4 I think he’s more reliable than Chalobah to bring on with 20 to go but shouldn’t be starting unless there are injuries. Why now? Got worse as the minutes ticked.
• Okay - 4 poor game. Wanted too long, tried to turn instead of passing it or clearing. Too soft.
• MJ - 7 was making things happen and lively. It’s too late now but can’t believe we haven’t tried him in a central role
• Grady - 6 I thought he at least showed touches and creativity, and was let down by others although was too easily bundled off it
• Wallace - 5 worked hard but couldn’t look after it well enough, and there wasn’t enough support from deep or wide

• BTA - 6 had a go, held it better
• Mowatt - 6 definitely linked defence and attack better
• Reach - 5 Put crosses in but weak and slow
• Fellows - 6 Sparky, got at them and we looked better
• Swift - 5 At least he had a go at goal a few times