Danny Rohl should take Darren Moore inspiration with bold Sheffield Wednesday player call

It has been an excellent season for Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship, and they are currently involved in an incredibly competitive race for the play-offs.

Following a tight escape from relegation last season, Wednesday have made great progress this season under manager Danny Rohl, emerging as surprise promotion contenders in recent months.

However, the Owls’ play-off hopes have slowed significantly with only three wins in their previous 11 games, and they were defeated 2-1 by fellow promotion aspirants Coventry City at Hillsborough on Saturday, with Ellis Simms’ stoppage-time goal securing all three points for the Sky Blues.

Despite the defeat, Wednesday remains ninth in the table, just three points behind the play-offs, but their next two games are against automatic promotion rivals Burnley and Sunderland.

Championship table (as it stands 19th February)
	Team	P	GD	Pts
9	Sheffield Wednesday	33	-4	45
10	Watford	33	-5	45
11	Middlesbrough	32	7	44
12	Norwich City	33	6	44
13	QPR	33	-2	44
14	Millwall	33	-1	42
15	Preston North End	33	-4	42
16	Oxford United	33	-13	38

Ahead of the trip to Turf Moor on Friday, Rohl’s major concern will be to figure out how to break down a Clarets defence that has kept 11 straight league clean sheets, but he also has a big decision to make over the goalkeeper position.

Danny Rohl facing big James Beadle decision ahead of Burnley clash

Beadle joined Wednesday on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion in January, and after helping the team stay in the division last season, he returned to Hillsborough for a second temporary term this summer.

The 20-year-old has started all 33 league games for the Owls this season, but while he has made some critical stops and gained his team valuable points, he has also received criticism at times.

Wednesday have kept just eight clean sheets and conceded 50 goals this season, with only relegation-threatened Luton Town, Cardiff City, Portsmouth, and Plymouth Argyle conceding more, and Beadle ranks 12th among Championship goalkeepers in terms of goals prevented, with a score of -0.8, according to FotMob.

Beadle’s place between the posts has been relatively secure for much of the season, but after failing to deal with a long ball in the 92nd minute against Coventry on Saturday, which allowed Simms to score the winner, he has come under fire.

Of course, Beadle should be given some leeway as a young player in the early stages of his career, but it is difficult to find an excuse for his mistake on Saturday, and he was fortunate that one of his previous errors in the game went unpunished after Simms was adjudged to have committed a foul before scoring.

Rohl defended Beadle after the game, noting that “we cannot point the finger at him,” but with highly rated second choice Pierce Charles on the bench, some have claimed that the German should swap goalkeepers.