THERE are a lot of people asking about where things have gone wrong for Sheffield Wednesday this season.
Why are they not hitting the heights of the last campaign and why – after all the money spent – are they sat outside the play-off places?
But if you look into it, you’ll realise that they’re not doing much worse than last season. In fact, they’re actually doing pretty much exactly the same.
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After 17 games they’re on 25 points with 18 goals scored and 20 conceded. Rewind exactly 12 months and where were they? On 27 points, with 23 goals scored and 20 conceded.
In fact, Wednesday have won the same amount games this year (seven) as at this stage last season but have lost more, too.
Also, as the end of 2016 approaches, it’s worth pointing out that only Brighton and Hove Albion (23 wins, 80 points) have picked up more points or won more games in the Championship than the Owls (17 wins, 63 points).
Fans are not going to sit here and say how this is all okay, that everyone should happy being 10th with more than a quarter of the season gone, but they also shouldn’t be moaning like it’s the end of the world either.
The league is tougher this time around, there are better teams and therefore more points to be lost. Another key factor is FF. Fernando Forestieri, or Fessi, as he’s known in S6.
After 16 games in 2015/16 the man from the Land of Lionel Messi – Rosario – had bagged eight goals already.
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This year, following the transfer debacle in August, he’s got only four, even though he averages 3.3 shots per game. He’s not clinical enough. Wednesday aren’t not clinical enough. However, if his goal and
performance against Fulham are anything to go by, Wednesdayites may be about to get the real Forestieri back.
You know only five teams in the Championship average more shots (13.9) and shots on target (4.5) per game than Wednesday? Yet just five clubs average less goals per game (1.1). Is it a lack of confidence? Possibly. Is it reason to panic? Not yet.
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SWFC were a surprise package last season. Nobody expected anything from them, and to be honest the almost successful push for the Premier League could be their biggest enemy this time around. Now teams expect them. Fans expect something from their club.
With the money spent, they should, but they should also remember that that their 2015/16 season only really got underway in December.
Carlos Carvalhal will have lost count of the amount of times this season that a game has been there for the taking only to be thrown away.
It happened again at Fulham, but fix that, and they’ll be right.
To read more from Sheffield Wednesday fan Joe Crann, follow him on Twitter here
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