League One expert hones in on problem he believes could kill Sheffield Wednesday’s promotion hopes
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That’s the assessment of the experts on a popular podcast focused on the Football League, who watched their narrow 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
Sometime Sky Sports pundit George Elek, of the hugely successful ‘Not The Top 20’ podcast, gave an honest assessment of Wednesday’s effort in the third tier so far 11 matches into the campaign.
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Hide AdHe suggested that while the Owls’ stuttering attacking output means they don’t quite look like blowing a team away, teams at their level have been successful in building from the back in recent seasons.
He said: “I think Wednesday are going to be a team this season who will be solid enough to rarely get blitzed, but don’t look consistent enough to push their way clear of teams, basically.
“It looks to me that there are going to be a lot of low-margin wins, which isn’t necessarily the worst thing. We’ve seen plenty of sides winning games 1-0 and drawing a lot of games.
“To keep that Bolton attack at bay when there was so much space in the middle of the park; Dalapo Afolayan had his weakest game in a long while. Bolton didn’t look like a consistent threat and that was the most promising part of Wednesday’s play.”
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Hide AdHe also gave a view on Wednesday’s goalkeeping situation, which has seen the place of number one Bailey Peacock-Farrell fall into question in recent weeks after a flurry of costly mistakes.
Having stepped in for the Owls’ last two matches and kept a clean sheet in the Bolton win, deputy Joe Wildsmith has put his name forward for increased involvement.
Wednesday boss Darren Moore has made clear previously that he backs the Northern Ireland international but admitted over the weekend that Wildsmith has a chance of selection.
“Bailey Peacock-Farrell was not in the squad because he was away on international duty and Wildsmith did a good job in goal,” Elek reflected.
“I’ll be interested to see if Wildsmith has done enough to keep his place. I doubt it.”