Sheffield Wednesday got back to winning ways today with an impressive 4-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, picking up their first three points in nearly a month after coming back from behind at Hillsborough today.
Fernando Forestieri kept up his fine start to life at S6 by bagging a brace, meaning that he has already broken even with last year’s top scorers in the league, Atdhe Nuhiu and Chris Maguire, on eight goals.
The win took Carlos Carvalhal’s men onto 33 points for the season, four points better than after 22 games last season, with Gary Hooper’s late goal making sure that they went seventh on goal difference ahead of Birmingham City and Cardiff City.
With Fessi’s help, Wednesday have scored twice as many goals after 22 games this year (32) than last season (16) and are currently the joint-fourth highest scorers in the Championship.
Breakdown –
Passing:
Despite having less possession than Wolves (48.7%/51.3%), Wednesday bossed every other possession and passing stat, making more passes (360/350), more accurate passes (274/256) and completing more passes (76%/73%) than their opponents on the day.
More telling, however, is the fact that SWFC made more than double the amount of key passes (16/7) than Wolves, with Bannan putting in a serious shift by supplying 25% on his own. The Scottish midfielder also led the way on the individual passing stats, making 55 passes (45 accurate) and having 71 touches throughout the course of the game.
Carvalhal will be supremely happy with the way his side went forward, supplying more than double the amount of key passes than their opponents even though the possession and passing numbers were close on the day.
Offensive:
It was a really good day going forward for Wednesday, with those 16 key passes helping to contribute to 24 shots in total (13 more than Wolves), and eight shots on target (four times more than Wolves – 2). Forestieri, who got two goals, had more shots on goal (12) than the entire Wolverhampton side (11), four of which were on target.
Keiran Lee and Jack Hunt completed more dribbles (2) than another other players on the pitch, with Lee actually managing a 100% dribble completion compared to Hunt’s 50%. Lucas Joao did relatively well in the air, winning three of his seven offensive aerial battles.
Ross Wallace was Wednesday’s biggest threat on the wings yet again, supplying nine crosses during the game, however wasn’t as busy out wide as Jordan Graham who made 13.
Defensive:
As good as Wednesday were going forward, they were also just as committed at the back and didn’t make many errors defensively, successfully completing 23 of their 26 tackles (88%), with Bannan (5) only being beaten by Dominic Iorfa in terms of successful challenges (6).
Sam Hutchinson proved his worth in the centre of the park once again, doing his job quietly by making nine interceptions in the game, while Glenn Loovens followed close behind him with eight. Wednesday made 32 interceptions in the match compared to 19, showing a good reading of the game for CC’s men.
Hutch was also a close second when it came to clearances, with ex-Owl Danny Batth (15) the only player who made more than him (14). Wolves were, however, far better in the air, winning 62% of the aerial battles at S6.
Summary:
Overall, it was was statistically a very good showing from Wednesday against Kenny Jackett’s outfit. To come back after going down to a penalty so early on showed some serious character from the boys, and to then control the game like they did is a real testament to the spirit that CC has instilled into the team.
Two big games now lie ahead before the end of the year, against Birmingham and Boro, and if the lads can pick up a couple of decent results then we could see Wednesday enter 2016 sitting pretty in the playoff spots.
Best Of The Best*
Most Passes – Barry Bannan (SWFC) – 55
Best Pass Completion – Jeremy Helan (SWFC) – 95%
Most Successful Dribbles – Keiran Lee/Jack Hunt (SWFC) – 2
Most Successful Tackles – Dominic Iorfa (WWFC) – 6
Most Key Passes – Barry Bannan (SWFC) – 4
Most Interceptions – Sam Hutchinson (SWFC) – 9
Most Crosses – Jordan Graham (WWFC) – 13
All stats via WhoScored.com
*Played more than 15 minutes