CARLOS POSITIVE OWLS CAN UP TEMPO
SHEFFIELD Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal believes his players will benefit from the international break and backs them to return stronger than ever
The Owls travel to Bolton next Saturday and go into the game on the back of a 3-0 win over Yorkshire rivals Leeds.
But going into the derby last weekend, Wednesday were missing a number of first-team players and Carvalhal hopes they will be available again after the break.
He said: “We had Keiren Westwood, Glenn Loovens, Sam Hutchinson, Almen Abdi, George Boyd and Fernando Forestieri out, so players with a big value.
“We didn’t want to talk about this before the Leeds match because I do not want excuses.
“In this moment, we have two weeks to work and we will give more time and tempo to Glenn and Sam.
“We will give more time, tempo and intensity to the players that have not played often, that have a big value here like Daniel Pudil, Liam Palmer, Frederico Venancio and Lucas Joao for example.
“This will make the internal fight stronger because we need there to be a very good internal fight.”
Wednesday are 12th in the Championship with 16 points from their opening 11 games. But they are just four points outside the top six.
The Owls have missed out on promotion via the play-offs in the last two seasons and Carvalhal is hoping that competition for places can help make it third time lucky.
“The intensity of the training is much higher because all the players must fight for the position,” he explained. “And we have more options also on the bench to manage in the games.
“It is why I believe that after the international break, we will come back stronger.”