The Owls looked dead and buried at the break as they took on the Canaries at Carrow Road, with goals from Borja Sainz and Ante Crnac making sure the hosts were sitting pretty with a 2-0 lead as the half time whistle blew. But Röhl – who has seen his team fightback time and again – had other plans, and wasn’t prepared to give up on the game.
Speaking afterwards he admitted that his thoughts were cast back to the crazy comeback against Middlesbrough late last year when Wednesday came from three goals down to draw 3-3, and he opted to switch things up both in terms of personnel and setup in an attempt to get back into things in Norfolk.
Those changes worked a treat, and thanks to goals from Michael Ihiekwe, Josh Windass and Djeidi Gassama they were able to complete a fantastic turnaround to make it back-to-back wins heading into the Steel City derby against Sheffield United.
Danny Röhl’s Sheffield Wednesday changes
Röhl told The Star, “We knew before coming here to Norwich that it was a tough place against a good team who are well coached by a good manager – and they have a lot of individual quality. I felt straight after five or six minutes that we were a little bit too slow in the mindset, and we weren’t doing the right things in the right moments, and then the two goals… They played outstanding passes and it was well played.
“But even in the first half we had chances, though we weren’t clinical in our transition moments. I had thoughts before the game about how we approach it, and I’ve seen a lot of teams try different things against Norwich – you never know how they’re building up. So it’s not easy to press them.
At half time my mind of course thought to Middlesbrough, so I thought to change something, change the shape and add a striker. Have the pressing line higher and be more on the front foot. To take Shea Charles out isn’t easy, but with the yellow card it was crucial for me. We created energy step by step, and then we scored – that is also part of the story. The opponent still had chances, but we had a bit of luck on our side, and after some of the moments in recent weeks that feels really good today.”
The victory saw Wednesday climb up to 10th place in the Championship table with nine games left to play, and they’re now just five points adrift of West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City in fifth and sixth place respectively, keeping alive their hopes of sneaking into the play-off places come the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
Next up, however, is a big one at Hillsborough, one that holds more importance than just league points as city bragging rights are up for grabs against the Blades. Shea Charles escaped without the yellow card that’d see him suspended, Wednesday came from two goals down to win, and United conceded a last minute equaliser… It’s all set up to be a corker at S6.
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