There’s always something nice about an evening kick off for Wednesday when you’re a fan on the other side of the world.
Most of the time if I want to watch the Owls live it’s a midnight kick-off here and as time has passed and children have been added into the mix that nocturnal life has been harder and harder to justify.
So it was altogether reasonable to only have to wake just before 5am to tune in for the Bradford game.
Of course the result was definitely enough to make your breakfast taste sour but for what it’s worth, here’s my takeaways from my first chance to see the new-look Owls in action.
THE NEW ARRIVALS
The first thing I’ll say is Wednesday looked every inch a club that has brought in 14 new players in the summer.
While Bradford were organised and clearly defensively well drilled, our boys were the archetype of a team that is still very much learning how to gel and play as a cohesive unit.
Of the newbies on show, Callum Slattery looks a right player.
Workrate, invention and intelligence. It really looks like this lad has all those attributes and his ability to connect the midfield and front line is an enticing prospect.
In front of Slattery I was also excited at the prospect of how a front three with Louie Barry and Harry Gray looks in combination with Jamal Lowe.
We may not have found the back of the net but that three’s ability to swap positions and move across the defence has definite promise – now just to add some end product to it.
Throw in the arrival of Kieran Morrison and I can really see that working over time, it’s just not quite there at the moment.
Barry Bannan is obviously not a new face at Wednesday but he was his usual self in midfield and I’m sure as his connections grow with Slattery and those up front we’ll see more of the clever defence-splitting passes like the one that set up a good chance for Barry in that opening 25 minutes.
THE FULLBACKS
One area that did leave me a bit concerned was the performances of Max Lowe and Yan Valery.
Both of these guys should be top, top players in League One – they’re experienced and talented but they really flattered to deceive against Bradford.
Valery’s main contribution was a long range shot that was blocked and he was often caught in possession or out of position.
Lowe meanwhile was just a bit of a non-entity, he didn’t really do anything horribly bad – but that’s more because he didn’t really do anything of note.
We should be expecting more from both those guys at this level.
THE BIG QUESTION
My final takeaway from Wednesday’s opening match of the season has to be that the jury is still very much out on Henrik Pedersen but time is not on his side.
It’s true he had both hands tied behind his back last season.
It’s true he’s trying to stitch together a cohesive team following a mass influx of new players over the summer.
It’s true we’ve only had two matches this league season.
But Pedersen needs to start delivering to get fans onside.
What won’t help is the way Bradford seemed to react after our bright start and largely nullify the contest.
While the Bantams didn’t exactly offer much of an attacking threat, from about the 25th minute they didn’t give much away in defence either and exploited Wednesday’s problematic weakness at set pieces to score the game’s only goal.
This ‘one-half decent, one-half less decent’ performance and conceding from a set piece will be all too familiar to fans who have watched closely during Pedersen’s time at the club.
The midweek visit of Wolves won’t be the game Pedersen is judged on – it’s a nice-to-win but not-fussed-if-we-don’t type fixture.
Anything less than a win at home against Bromley next weekend however and the heat will surely be on.
UTO!