Tony Pulis slams Sheffield Wednesday performance, speaks of a lack of 'real leaders'
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Early goals from Josh Koroma and Isaac Mbenza gave Tony Pulis’ side an early mountain to climb, and they were unable to get themselves back into it despite the manager’s efforts to ring the changes.
Pulis was constantly trying to get messages across to his players on the field at the John Smith’s Stadium, and he admitted after the game that he feels there is a lack of leaders in the side to see them come back from defeat.
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Hide AdHe told The Star after the final whistle, “I get engrossed in the game as much as anything else… I don’t think, and I don’t want to be too critical, that there are many leaders out on the pitch.
“I don’t think we’ve got many real leaders, so when you’ve got that situation you have to try your damnedest to gee them up and keep them going.”
Wednesday have won just one of their last 33 Championship games in which they’ve fallen behind – a run stretching back to the start of the 2019/20 season – and their task got even tougher when Dominic Iorfa gave away a second half penalty.
Luckily, Juninho Bacuna missed from the spot, but Pulis was clearly not happy with the performance of his side as his wait for a win continued.
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Hide AdHe said, “We played really well at Norwich, and as well as we played at Norwich, we were as poor tonight. There’s no hiding from that.
“That just wasn’t good enough from the players, who on Saturday played against one of the best teams in the league and probably should’ve won…
"We’ve played better than what our points tally shows, but today wasn’t good enough. They really looked tired tonight."
Next up for Wednesday is another local derby, this time against Barnsley, and Pulis may be tempted to change things up again after a disappointing showing in Huddersfield.
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Hide AdSWFC remain rooted to the bottom of the Championship table after 17 matches, and are now four points away from getting out of the relegation zone.