NOW PRESSURE IS ON CARVALHAL’S MEN TO DELIVER
CARLOS CARVALHAL celebrated 15 months at Hillsborough this week. The Portuguese is rightly proud of the transformation he has brought.
“The previous season, the team scored 15 goals at home,” said the 50-year-old, who was appointed in June 2015 to replace Stuart Gray. “Just five or six victories here all season. We have brought in very good players, changed the style of play.
“I am very proud to have 34,000 fans enjoying the way we play. And not just our fans. If you see the opposition coaches talk about our team, they recognise us as one of the best footballing teams in England.
“We’ve beaten Arsenal in the Cup. We’ve beaten Newcastle. We achieved a place in the play-offs. We have more players in national teams. It is a short time, but a lot has changed.”
It has, and for the better. Dour and plodding in the straitened dog days of the Milan Mandaric era, the riches of Thai owner Dejphon Chansiri and the tactical nous of Carvalhal have acted like a pinch of snuff on a sleeping giant.
For vast tracts of last season, the Owls were the most attractive side in the division. Inspired by the twinkling toes of playmaker Fernando Forestieri, attacking with ferocity and fearlessness; few sides could withstand Wednesday in peak form.
Yet, as Carvalhal concedes, one of the biggest changes has been in expec- tation. Last season’s run to play-off final defeat at Wembley was an underdog story, a card Carvalhal played liberally all season.
Promotion was not discussed. “We are not one of the big teams in this division,” he would tell reporters. “We look at the next game only.”
Now, though, the shoe is on the other foot. When Wednesday take on Huddersfield today, their opponents are the fairytale. The Owls, for the first time in years, shoulder the burden of expectation.
“We are going to have to get used to coping with that,” said keeper Kieran Westwood at the end of last season. “But I’m sure everyone here will be able to deal with it. If we want to get promoted and play in the promised land, we’ll have to.”
So far, however, it has appeared a heavy load. Carvalhal’s men have won four of their last six matches, yet their record on the road is sketchy at best. Only rockbottom Blackburn have been vanquished.
More worryingly, the attacking fluency that was their hallmark last season has been largely absent so far. No victory has come by more than a single goal.
Last season, no team could have so comfortably kept them at arm’s length the way Brighton did in winning 1-0 at Hillsborough last time out.
Yet, if pressure has played its part, the bigger factor is personnel. Having promised that no expense would be spared this summer, Chansiri put his money where his mouth is.
Steven Fletcher, reportedly on £25,000-a-week, was followed by £5m Middlesbrough winger Adam Reach and Almen Abdi, a £3m signing from Watford.
Yet, rather than strengthen the squad, the trio appear to have muddied the waters. With the arrival of Fletcher, Gary Hooper – who dovetailed so prolifically with Forestieri following a £3m switch from Norwich in January – has found himself in and out of the side.
Abdi, who moved from Watford disillusioned at being forced to play wide and openly insisting on playing through the middle, has suffered the exact same fate, unable to dislodge either Barry Bannan or Kieran Lee.
Reach does offer pace out wide, but the Owls midfield remains heavy on ball-players and short on width.
The overall impression is that, two months into the season, Carvalhal is still searching for his best XI – and with it the chemistry that crackled last season.
The manager, though, isn’t worried. “The best is still to come,” he said. “We will grow up over the season. But it is important that everybody keeps their feet on the floor.
“If you are flying, it is very easy to fall down. If you want to climb the mountain, you must put your feet on the rock and go step by step.”