Stoke City v Sheffield Wednesday: Danny Rohl looking to finish on a happy note
Stoke City v Sheffield Wednesday A film of Sheffield Wednesday’s season would not be in line for any awards, but manager Danny Rohl is still hoping for a feel-good ending before the credits.
The Owls’ penultimate away game of 2024-25 at Stoke City on Friday. The only cliff-hangers revolve around the hosts – and even then, the relegation peril is barely PG.
Wednesday comfortably avoided a remake of last season’s great escape, but have been unable to produce a rousing finale in the play-offs.
“I always try to speak a little bit in a story,” says Rohl, who looks increasingly unlikely to be back for a sequel next season. “I compared our situation with a good movie. When you watch a movie, to stay with it, it must be exciting – I think our start to the season was exciting. And a good move always finishes with a happy ending.
“It was a normal week – three meetings, we prepared, we looked back, we spoke about basics and all the things we should do in the final four games.
“When you look back at the moment you will say two or three more wins we are in a fantastic position.
“Now we have four more games and we want to win, we want to play good football, we want to play our style off football and we want to take points.”
Barry Bannan is one of three doubts after missing the last two matches with an ankle injury. Whilst logic might dictate anyone doubtful for a dead-rubber should not play, Rohl says his captain’s attitude will not allow him to think that way.
“He works very hard to come back, he wants to play,” says his manager. “That’s a good signal.”
The involvement of Michael Ihiekwe (knock) and Anthony Musaba (ankle) is also in question.
“We go into any game like we did before, that we want to win this game, but I think the thing is the resilience during the game,” he says. “Just look back to the conceded goal against Oxford, how our body language was.
“If you’ve got five, six, seven setbacks in the second half of the season – and I think we’ve had more setbacks than happy moments at the end of the game – you feel the one percentage goes a little bit to the other side.
“This is why we speak now about 53 points and not about 60 points. That’s two-and-a-half games we missed to achieve more.”
