Experience the thrill of the game

By Eduard Banulescu

Danny Röhl’s Sheffield Wednesday are the Premier League’s promotion challengers this season. It’s all quite unexpected and is due to the German coach’s tactics. They have impressed enough to potentially lead him to manage struggling EPL side Southampton.

Today I’m looking at Danny Röhl’s tactics and methods and what he could do to improve a Premier League team in the near future.

Career before managing Sheffield Wednesday

Danny Röhl is a young football manager who seems to have a lot of potential. However, he previously enjoyed a low-paying career in Germany. Röhl, who comes from Zwickau in Saxony, played as a defender for several lower-class clubs in the region.

After giving up his career, Röhl managed to gain coaching experience by working for, among others, RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and, at times, Southampton.

In 2023 he was appointed head coach of Championship team Sheffield Wednesday. And although things got off to a shaky start, Röhl avoided relegation in his first season and made Wednesday a promotion candidate in his following season.

If you want to test your knowledge of English football, you can do so in the Championship fantasy football competitions hosted by FootballCoin. The game is free and there are prizes in each competition.

Tactical philosophy

The first thing worth noting about Danny Röhl is that although the German has limited experience as a senior manager of a team, he has already built an excellent CV. His style is of course heavily influenced by the influence his work for RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich had on him.

Nevertheless, Röhl had to become a pragmatist. In a league with 24 teams, the clear favorites of which are clubs like Leeds, Burnley and Sheffield United, Röhl knew he had to adapt to the reality of his squad composition and the quality of the opponents.

Therefore Röhl’s Sheffield Wednesday plays direct football and almost always sits in the middle block. The team uses its chances on the counterattack, mostly attacking from the wings or attempting long-range shots.

Teamwork and work rate are the two most important ingredients for this style of football to work. The rest is thanks to Danny Röhl’s careful strategic planning and tactical variations based on Wednesday’s opponents.

When you consider all of this, it’s easy to understand why Southampton, a team where Danny Röhl worked as an assistant coach, wanted him for the main manager position. Simply put, Röhl has shown that he can get a job done with very few resources.

Formations and adaptability

Hardly any other manager changes formations as often as Danny Röhl. However, this comes back to the adaptability mentioned earlier. Sheffield Wednesday changes formation and style of play to suit the team’s opponents.

Essentially, however Sheffield Wednesday operate in a 3-4-3 formation. This is the starting point, but this can easily be changed to a 3-4-2-1, 4-2-3-1 or more recently a 5-4-1.

Sheffield Wednesday in defense

Defensive solidity is the hallmark of this Sheffield Wednesday side. The team can play with either three or four defenders, but the principles remain the same.

The key ideas in defense are to compress space, defend around the halfway line and crowd the central area of ​​the pitch, forcing the opponent to make mistakes.

One or two centre-backs will always sit back. Your job is to sweep away all through balls. The two full-backs almost always play around the halfway line and give the team formation width.

The width is important because Röhl otherwise tends to overcrowd central areas of the pitch with his team. The team will compress the space and not allow the opponent to play between the lines. Meanwhile, the attackers will drop deeper to support the central midfielder’s pressing.

Ideally, Röhl wants his team to win the ball back on the halfway line by forcing a mistake rather than through aggressive pressing.

In a 3-4-3 system, Pol Valentin and Marvin Johnson switch from the full-back position to more wide midfielders. Their speed and cross play are then crucial for carrying out the team’s counterattack.

Also consider the work rate and understanding of how the team’s striker, usually Jamal Lowe or Michael Smith, applies pressure. Lowe in particular makes a big contribution defensively. His role out of possession is to harass the central defenders, who are forced to advance with the ball and pass to the midfielders.

Nevertheless, as already mentioned, Danny Röhl is aware of how important Wednesday is for adapting to the opposition. This means that most of the time his team prefers to hold back and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. However, the team will press aggressively against opponents who allow this.

Sheffield Wednesday in attack

There are things that are beyond Sheffield Wednesday’s control. And there are things Danny Röhl can control. Most of the team’s goals came from clever counterattacks or the use of free kicks and corners to the team’s advantage.

When counterattacking, Wednesday usually presses moderately, looks for the opponent’s mistakes and launches an attack down the flank.

In the build-up, the Röhl teams try to create width, in contrast to defense, where the space is condensed. The precision of the direct passes seemed to get better from game to game.

The contributions of central midfielders Barry Bannan and Shea Charles are crucial to the passing game. Bannan is a strong passer who performs well off the ball and often goes deep to help central defenders set up.

Charles now has good technique. While Charles is one of the best dribblers on the team, he is also usually the first to try to intercept the ball when the ball is lost.

The Owls try to advance the offensive transition with quick, direct passes. The midfielders and attackers tend to move in unison. This means that the cross from one of the full-backs can be received by multiple attacking players.

The number of scoring chances and goals themselves have also improved over the course of the season. Wednesday is still the ninth best team in the championship. But the team is creating more chances and is more efficient than at the beginning of the season.

So who scores the goals for the Owls? Luckily, the team doesn’t rely too heavily on a single stringer. Attacking midfielder Josh Windass scored six goals and Smith five. Playmaker Barry Bannan also contributed with three goals. Note that only Windass averages more than two shots per game. It’s important that Wednesday make the most of the few opportunities they have.

What’s next for Danny Röhl and Sheffield Wednesday?

Danny Röhl has proven that Sheffield Wednesday can be successful in the championship even with limited financial resources. This was achieved through discipline. This was also achieved through strong tactical optimizations. These changes occur from game to game.

Sheffield Wednesday could even enter the Premier League promotion race. But such appearances also increase the focus on the club.

Danny Röhl is considered the favorite to succeed Russell Martin at Southampton. The Saints are in last place in the EPL. Röhl has shown that he can do good things with little resources. He has also shown an ability to recognize opponents and adapt his tactical plan to get the best out of his players.

There is certainly a lot of uncertainty as to whether Röhl at Southampton or Sheffield Wednesday will be able to get the deal over the finish line and get the team to achieve their goals.