Sheffield Wednesday made a much better start to the Championship season than what happened a year ago.
Danny Rohl and the Owls secured a statement victory over Wayne Rooney in his first competitive match as Plymouth Argyle boss.
Argyle just couldn’t get going from the off and even though there were moments where Plymouth could have built some strong attacking movements, Wednesday were quick to defend and intercept those moves and make the most of their opportunities to attack and create chances to score.
The goals kept coming and Argyle didn’t learn their lessons, as the Hillsborough fans were rewarded with a statement victory on the first day of their Championship campaign.
Sheffield Wednesday are off to a flyer
The contrast in styles between Danny Rohl and his predecessor is obvious.
Xisco Munoz set his team to play a lot more long balls up the pitch and less grounded movements in possession. The style of football from Danny’s Sheffield Wednesday is much improved on his predecessor by a landslide.
What we see from Sheffield Wednesday this season already is more fluent, progressive and more grounded attacking football.
This was clear in the first half goal scored by the Owls, as a wonderful move led to a ball in from the far side, as Jamal Lowe finished in the area to score a debut goal for the South Yorkshire side.
The fluency involved in the build-up towards that goal was so entertaining to watch.
The way they all link together and connect in possession with graceful and beautiful passing ability on display showcases the potential of Sheffield Wednesday going forward under Danny Rohl.
The third goal, scored by Josh Windass, was an example of the increased awareness and football intelligence gained by Sheffield Wednesday.
He placed himself into the right area at the right time through the overlap and the assist was perfectly performed by Anthony Musaba, as Windass capped off an incredible opening weekend for the Hillsborough faithful.
Ibrahima Cissoko Has So Much Potential But Needs Time To Flourish At Plymouth Argyle
One of Argyle’s new signings, Ibrahima Cissoko, impressed me in some areas, especially in the first half.
The way he carries the ball forward comfortably and how he utilises the forward areas fluently to drive his team forward is exciting to watch.
He is a player that Wayne Rooney can build around on that right-hand side.
Although he did indeed lose possession on several occasions, he can offer Argyle a lot of strong attacking movements up the pitch and he showed samples of that in this game.
Svante Ingelsson Demonstrated A Strong Showing On His Hillsborough Debut
Wednesday’s new number eight Svante Ingelsson had a strong debut at Hillsborough today.
The 26-year-old Swedish player is a hard-working and physical player and that was on display.
In the 88 minutes he played in his first game as an Owls player, he had a 76% accuracy percentage in his passing and won three of his 13 duels overall.
He showed glimpses of his strong drives forward and showcased what he’s capable of for the remainder of the season.
Yan Valery will rightly get the plaudits as the player of the game, but credit must also go to Ingelsson for the way he glides across the pitch and makes things tick during build-up play.
Plymouth were on the back foot
Argyle had their opportunities going forward now and then but there wasn’t a consistent spell of pressure lasting longer than only a few minutes at most.
They couldn’t get their act together throughout the majority of that match and it cost them with their lack of structure.
In possession, there were many lackadaisical moments where they needlessly gave the ball away multiple times and a lack of care in individual moments on the ball.
Wednesday also had the attacking capabilities of reclaiming the ball and making things happen on the counter.
Defensively, Argyle needed to be solid to deal with the Sheffield Wednesday pace, but they couldn’t. When we look at the fourth Wednesday goal, there’s a serious lack of protection around the goalkeeper Conor Hazard.
Mumba stood still whilst Michael Smith finished the job at Hillsborough and defensive concerns, especially at this level, are a major concern, even on matchday one.
Even the Argyle goalkeeper around the 75th minute had a lapse in concentration when he distributed the ball and Wednesday claimed it back, but luckily for Argyle, it led to nothing on that occasion.
Wednesday overall was the better team and deserved the three points, as Argyle will have to look at their in-possession work and head back to the drawing board this week to create some new attacking plays on the pitch.