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Sheffield Wednesday v Charlton Athletic | Wednesday 26 Feb | Match Preview, Prediction, News & Views
Sage
Posts: 7,282
Sheffield Wednesday v Charlton Athletic
Wednesday 26 February | Kick-Off: 19.45pm
Live on Sky Sports via Red Button
Previous Result: Charlton Athletic 1-3 Sheffield Wednesday
Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands) - Previously officiated Charlton in 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest
Introduction
Our home form was always going to be crucial in the run in for this season, and it's a good job that we got another 3 vital points on Saturday. Young George Lapslie coming off the bench and changing the game for The Addicks to score his first league goal in the process. A lot of talk has been made recently of how important this week is, and with two northern away games coming up in such quick succession, it's going to test our squad. History will be made for our midweek trip to the Steel City as we play Sheffield Wednesday, on a Wednesday, for the first time ever!
Opposition
Manager: Gary Monk (36% win rate)
Stadium: Hillsborough Stadium | League Position: 12th
Nickname: The Owls
Fun Fact:
- Sheffield Wednesday's original nickname was actually, 'The Blades', due to the term being used for any sports team in the City of Sheffield. It is of course now their bitter rival who hold the nickname, whilst Wednesday's, 'The Owls', took over once they introduced an owl mascot after their move to Owlerton back in 1899.
Wednesday will try to play a flat 4-4-2 as often as they can. They moved to that formation at half-time on Saturday. Recently though, a variety of formations have been used, but their direct style of play is just the same. Their previous starting line up away at Birmingham was:
Since Christmas, Wednesday have experienced a poor run of form. Only 1 win in 11 league games. The majority of their poor form has coincided with key player Steven Fletcher getting injured. A knee injury would rule the striker out for just over a month, and during that period of time, Wednesday lost 4 and drew 3 of their last 7. They also only scored 5, but conceded a very poor 15 goals. Fletcher, who scored a brace against us back in November, returned to come off the bench on Saturday at Birmingham. It would be expected that he will once again be involved for Wednesday in midweek.
Barry Bannan is Wednesday's playmaker; everything will usually go through him. The left footed midfielder has rarely missed any football this season and has 7 assists too. Bannan is capable of putting real quality into the box from set-pieces and finding pockets of space, especially on a big pitch like Hillsborough, to play an effective slide rule pass into the forwards. Marshalling the diminutive Scot is something that we will most certainly have to do.
The Owls play direct, often going long to bring their midfielders into the game rather than playing through the thirds. They also use the width of the pitch well too, Harris and Murphy are two tricky wingers in this division. Interestingly, even with their direct style of play, Wednesday struggled to cope with Jutkiewicz on Saturday. His strength and aerial ability caused them many problems and with all three Birmingham goals were incredibly poor defending. It would be fair to say a factor was due to them being so focused on trying to contain Jutkiewicz.
Charlton Team News
With Wednesday's direct style, and the possibility of them playing two of Fletcher, Nuhiu, or Wickham up front, I think Bowyer could be tempted into playing a back 5 away from home. Having 3 centre backs will help increase our chances of winning the first ball into our defensive third, it would then be up to our tenacious midfield to win the second ball. Playing this way can have its benefits in attacking areas too. Wednesday have conceded around a third of their goals from set-pieces (29.3%), so having three centre backs up, as well as our front two, could cause them problems.
There will of course be changes to the side who started against Luton on Saturday. It's a midweek game and we know Bowyer likes to rotate - protecting his squad from potential injuries and picking specific players to suit. Lapslie made a great claim to start in Sheffield after his fantastic second half display, but I don't think he will be given the nod for this one. McGeady, Hemed, and Bonne will be hoping to get into the starting eleven, whilst players like Solly and Aneke will be aiming to be in the squad for the first time in a while. This game is also likely to come too soon for Pratley and Williams. Leaving Oztumer and Green out of the starting line up would be incredibly harsh; especially as the former linked the midfield and attack so well on Saturday. However, after playing 79 minutes, it would be unusual for Oztumer to start twice in such quick succession. Regarding Green, he has been playing well recently, but again with another game just around the corner, it can only be a matter of time before we see Bonne start alongside Taylor.
Prediction
Wednesday are sitting smack bang in mid-table, 12th place and 11 points from the play-offs and relegation. However, with a possible points deduction looming, and thier recent run of form, they could quickly find themselves in trouble. A win for us on Wednesday means we go only 3 points behind them, and a win would be massive (pun intended) for us getting across that safety line. I think we will.
Wednesday 26 February | Kick-Off: 19.45pm
Live on Sky Sports via Red Button
Previous Result: Charlton Athletic 1-3 Sheffield Wednesday
Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands) - Previously officiated Charlton in 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest
Introduction
Our home form was always going to be crucial in the run in for this season, and it's a good job that we got another 3 vital points on Saturday. Young George Lapslie coming off the bench and changing the game for The Addicks to score his first league goal in the process. A lot of talk has been made recently of how important this week is, and with two northern away games coming up in such quick succession, it's going to test our squad. History will be made for our midweek trip to the Steel City as we play Sheffield Wednesday, on a Wednesday, for the first time ever!
Opposition
Manager: Gary Monk (36% win rate)
Stadium: Hillsborough Stadium | League Position: 12th
Nickname: The Owls
Fun Fact:
- Sheffield Wednesday's original nickname was actually, 'The Blades', due to the term being used for any sports team in the City of Sheffield. It is of course now their bitter rival who hold the nickname, whilst Wednesday's, 'The Owls', took over once they introduced an owl mascot after their move to Owlerton back in 1899.
Wednesday will try to play a flat 4-4-2 as often as they can. They moved to that formation at half-time on Saturday. Recently though, a variety of formations have been used, but their direct style of play is just the same. Their previous starting line up away at Birmingham was:
Since Christmas, Wednesday have experienced a poor run of form. Only 1 win in 11 league games. The majority of their poor form has coincided with key player Steven Fletcher getting injured. A knee injury would rule the striker out for just over a month, and during that period of time, Wednesday lost 4 and drew 3 of their last 7. They also only scored 5, but conceded a very poor 15 goals. Fletcher, who scored a brace against us back in November, returned to come off the bench on Saturday at Birmingham. It would be expected that he will once again be involved for Wednesday in midweek.
Barry Bannan is Wednesday's playmaker; everything will usually go through him. The left footed midfielder has rarely missed any football this season and has 7 assists too. Bannan is capable of putting real quality into the box from set-pieces and finding pockets of space, especially on a big pitch like Hillsborough, to play an effective slide rule pass into the forwards. Marshalling the diminutive Scot is something that we will most certainly have to do.
The Owls play direct, often going long to bring their midfielders into the game rather than playing through the thirds. They also use the width of the pitch well too, Harris and Murphy are two tricky wingers in this division. Interestingly, even with their direct style of play, Wednesday struggled to cope with Jutkiewicz on Saturday. His strength and aerial ability caused them many problems and with all three Birmingham goals were incredibly poor defending. It would be fair to say a factor was due to them being so focused on trying to contain Jutkiewicz.
Charlton Team News
With Wednesday's direct style, and the possibility of them playing two of Fletcher, Nuhiu, or Wickham up front, I think Bowyer could be tempted into playing a back 5 away from home. Having 3 centre backs will help increase our chances of winning the first ball into our defensive third, it would then be up to our tenacious midfield to win the second ball. Playing this way can have its benefits in attacking areas too. Wednesday have conceded around a third of their goals from set-pieces (29.3%), so having three centre backs up, as well as our front two, could cause them problems.
There will of course be changes to the side who started against Luton on Saturday. It's a midweek game and we know Bowyer likes to rotate - protecting his squad from potential injuries and picking specific players to suit. Lapslie made a great claim to start in Sheffield after his fantastic second half display, but I don't think he will be given the nod for this one. McGeady, Hemed, and Bonne will be hoping to get into the starting eleven, whilst players like Solly and Aneke will be aiming to be in the squad for the first time in a while. This game is also likely to come too soon for Pratley and Williams. Leaving Oztumer and Green out of the starting line up would be incredibly harsh; especially as the former linked the midfield and attack so well on Saturday. However, after playing 79 minutes, it would be unusual for Oztumer to start twice in such quick succession. Regarding Green, he has been playing well recently, but again with another game just around the corner, it can only be a matter of time before we see Bonne start alongside Taylor.
Subs: Amos, Oshilaja, Smith, Lapslie, Oztumer, Green, Hemed
Prediction
Wednesday are sitting smack bang in mid-table, 12th place and 11 points from the play-offs and relegation. However, with a possible points deduction looming, and thier recent run of form, they could quickly find themselves in trouble. A win for us on Wednesday means we go only 3 points behind them, and a win would be massive (pun intended) for us getting across that safety line. I think we will.
Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Charlton Athletic
Taylor
Lockyer
Taylor
Lockyer
38
Comments
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Agree we could well return to three centre backs, if so I'd give Davis a break and play Lapslie. Think we could do with that extra bit of energy especially if starting McGeady as he won't help out much. Though I'd like to see Oztumer continue even if only for an hour.2
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Wednesday have not scored in their last four home games, on this run hopefully we can exploit their poor form and get something out of this one.A tough ask but not impossible.6
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A bit like Luton when they ended their bad away form prior to playing us... Would have preferred it had Sheff Wed scored at home before playing us on Wednesday nightElfsborgAddick said:Wednesday have not scored in their last four home games, on this run hopefully we can exploit their poor form and get something out of this one.A tough ask but not impossible.
Agree with Sage's line up though - Will be very surprised if Oztumer plays three times in eight days and have a feeling that this midweek game will be treated a bit like the Blackburn game, i.e. a bonus if we get something but ultimately we'll focus more on Huddersfield1 -
I'd like to see Bonne, Lapslie and Oztumer start. At some point Oztumer will surely play 2/3 games in a row - or is he that unfit or injury prone that he's not capable?3
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3-0 Wednesday results against us and 2-3 points from relegation before Huddersfield turn us over and drop us in to the zone3
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I think to focus on one game or the other this week is a very dangerous approach.
If we don't get it right then the points gap between us and the bottom three could have evaporated completely by Saturday evening.
This is a huge week for all of the teams in the shakeup and two big performances from us could really change things in our favour.
Likewise, two poor results could leave us in trouble.5 -
Monk has said that Fletcher is not fully fit and is likely to be on the bench again (doubtless alongside the giant Kosovan, Nuhiu).
As @Sage says, keeping Barry Bannan quiet is likely to be pivotal, as he is their key creator and playmaker.
Given that clean sheets are not our forte, I hope that we don't adopt too passive an approach and instead have a real go at Wednesday.11 -
I think a silence on 2 minutes from both sets of fans to celebrate Katrien Miere's brain cells!15
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I'd rather hope that we don't see Pearce start in a back 3; his lack of pace drags the defence over-cautiously deep, isolating midfield from our attack, and inviting pressure on our back line. Pearce has got his virtues as organiser, warrior and 'never say die' leader - I do appreciate his qualities but on the other hand we struggle to get out of our half when he plays. Expect him to start then ..... (!)Talal said:Agree we could well return to three centre backs, if so I'd give Davis a break and play Lapslie. Think we could do with that extra bit of energy especially if starting McGeady as he won't help out much. Though I'd like to see Oztumer continue even if only for an hour.
I'd be surprised if Bowyer starts Lapslie after his long layoff, but we could certainly do with his dynamism during the 2nd half.
It's doubtful if Pratley will be fit, so keep Davis as gate keeper protecting the back line. It's where he's played most of his career and where he plays best.
I thought Oztumer was a breath of fresh air yesterday, good possession and passing; probing and always looking to thread through the killer ball. Expect to see him share the role with McGeady - but yesterday we saw Lyle drop back to do that for the last 20 mins, leaving Bonne and Green more forward.
Not sure if Green will be started ....... he's never started Saturday/midweek in succession with us; for the midweek game against Fulham he was sub and came on pretty late. There's been some talk that he has a problem with a toe and finds it difficult to play twice a week - let's hope that's some sort of urban myth.
My biggest fear, is despite their crap run, Wednesday are a big direct side. We often struggle against those sort of physical teams, but have made a habit of getting decent results against good footballing sides, who perhaps allow us to play our own game.
Verdict: Ain't got a clue.
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Comfortable away win 4-0.6
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When does the 10 bookings rule expire. I do not think we will see Pratley until after that date.
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Have a day off.oohaahmortimer said:3-0 Wednesday results against us and 2-3 points from relegation before Huddersfield turn us over and drop us in to the zone6 -
Middlesbrough gameDansk_Red said:When does the 10 bookings rule expire. I do not think we will see Pratley until after that date.1 -
Most confident I've been for a game all season with them in free fall and our best performance for a while yesterday. 0-2 win.1
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If we can avoid our irritating habit of following up a good performance with a crap one then I think we can get something out of this. Despite the welcome win yesterday the other results didn’t help us so losing the next two away games could see us bang in trouble. On the contrary, two good results and we could be waving at Boro and Hull as we go past them so let’s think positive. Massive gave us a kick on the bum in November but we were in the midst of our injury woes. Let’s put a positive side out and try, within reason, to take it to them. McGeady may well rotate with Oz and hopefully Bonne to start with Taylor. The Deji experiment is not to be repeated so Davis at the base of the diamond unless Pratters is fit. No Hemed please. I’m confident. 1-2. Taylor and Bonne.5
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Surely 2 mins of laughter.soapy_jones said:I think a silence on 2 minutes from both sets of fans to celebrate Katrien Miere's brain cells!3 -
A hard fought away draw 1-1 would do us very nicely here.
If Pratley is fit to start I would like him in the middle of the back 3. Gives us an option to switch to the diamond early on if we need to.
Cullen Lapslie and Oz in midfield. Bonne to partner Lyle.
Lockyer to score.1 -
Big physical side on a terrible run equals a Charlton defeat normally.
I think it's a score draw.
Bowyer's smart use of subs changes the game again.4 -
Nice preview Sage , difficult one to predict , going for a 1 -1 Draw , Bonne with our goal.
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Taylor on fire and the difference, albeit Wednesday remember how to score at home 1-2, Taylor brace1
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If we want to play 3 at the back with wingbacks I would consider JFC at LWB. I think Doughty could do with a rest having played a lot of minutes and being relied upon as a creative outlet. JFC impressed there earlier in the season and his crossing and set pieces will be beneficial.
If we play a back 4 I would go with Purrington.1 -
You make a fair point canters. However, am not entirely sure that Forster-Caskey is fit at the moment, and with how Doughty played against Wednesday in November - Bowyer singled him out for praise - I think he will continue to play and possibly be rested for the weekend.cantersaddick said:If we want to play 3 at the back with wingbacks I would consider JFC at LWB. I think Doughty could do with a rest having played a lot of minutes and being relied upon as a creative outlet. JFC impressed there earlier in the season and his crossing and set pieces will be beneficial.
If we play a back 4 I would go with Purrington.1 -
You're probably right. Theres been no news on his fitness but he does seem to have disappeared.Sage said:
You make a fair point canters. However, am not entirely sure that Forster-Caskey is fit at the moment, and with how Doughty played against Wednesday in November - Bowyer singled him out for praise - I think he will continue to play and possibly be rested for the weekend.cantersaddick said:If we want to play 3 at the back with wingbacks I would consider JFC at LWB. I think Doughty could do with a rest having played a lot of minutes and being relied upon as a creative outlet. JFC impressed there earlier in the season and his crossing and set pieces will be beneficial.
If we play a back 4 I would go with Purrington.1 -
Maybe just the one change from Saturday. Not writing Oshilaja off but I don't think midfield is his best position. I think Lapslie deserves a start in his place. Oztumer went of early which was hopefully with him starting on Wednesday in mind.2
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Looking forward to this one. I'm in Doncaster for work on Tues/Wed so will get over to Hillsborough for this one.
Hoping we can continue our decent form.3 -
Good preview Sage.
I think Saturdays win will fill the dressing room with confidence.
The massive have not been in great form recently so
2.1 Charlton.2 -
I do feel we chop and change our team a bit too much. Our injury crises has lessened and some continuity in the starting lineup would be nice to see.6
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February so far:
WLWLW what's next in sequence ?
Wednesday win Wednesday with windy weather worrying weary wanderlust wayfarers. (wanker !)
The good news is we win at Huddersfield 3 -
Would take a point4
