Hiding behind the scoreline and the anger are signs of rapid progression at Sheffield Wednesday

And as Sheffield Wednesday drove away from Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park last night, the feeling will have no doubt been of bitter disappointment as their winless start to the season edged further towards November.

To have lost 3-0 at a side to which they are surely closely comparable given where both sides came from last season is a punch in the gut - that it came against fellow strugglers as defeat at Watford had done on Saturday a further stab of nervousness heading into a repeat mission against Rotherham United on Sunday.

Right here, right now and as early as the end of October, Wednesday are flailing, 11 points short of the Championship safety spots. Included time adding on, they’ve played a touch over 11 hours of football without scoring and after shoring things up a touch seem to have developed a knack for the concession of avoidable goals.

So that’s it. Pack the season up and set sail for Stevenage, right?

This column argues it’s not quite so simple. Because in the embryonic stages of Danny Röhl’s time as maanager we have seen big progression in the Owls’ performances. It steps over what is admittedly a low bar, but periods of their effort at Plymouth were their best yet. They set about the task with a definitive plan and you can see where they’re trying to go with things - that hasn’t always been the case this season.

Fair logic suggests it might well be too little too late even at this early stage of the campaign, that the squad assembled has too little quality and too far to scramble. But squint a little into the sun and the progression is there. The Plymouth game came eight days into Röhl’s time at the club and though results retain - another disclaimer that it is only the result that ultimately matters - it’s clear that his methods are already beginning to take effect.

At Home Park Sheffield Wednesday produced season-high output for xG (1.53), shots (12), possession (59.54%), successful passes (404 - previous high just 304), forward passes / percentage success, (124 / 70.86%), and positional attacks (37). But for defensive lapses, opposition quality and the time-and-again failure to properly test the goalkeeper, they could have easily won the game. Alas.

“In the end it’s about the result and the result is not good,” Röhl said. “I am here now and for me I can see a direction on how we want to play. But it’s not about 25 minutes or 60 minutes, it’s about 96 minutes and going forward. This must be our goals.

In some ways it would be very fair to call a 3-0 defeat at Plymouth Argyle Sheffield Wednesday’s best performance of the season. In others, given the scale of the defeat despite all these hints at progress, it could be described as their most concerning.

These are early days for Danny Röhl and indeed in Sheffield Wednesday’s season. The incremental improvements shown so early offer seeds of hope.