Appalling!

Last updated : 17 September 2008 By C. Morris

The 6-0 defeat at Reading last night highlighted many areas of cause for concern for the Owls.

Although the margin of defeat was the biggest since the 8-0 defeat to Newcastle in the Owls' Premier League relegation season it was in truth symptomatic of the biggest problems for the current side.

First there is the away record. Wednesday have 1 point from three away games so far this season- a point that they were lucky to pick up after a first-half hammering at Swansea. They have scored just twice and have let in 11 in these three games.

However, it isn't a new problem. Going back to the away victory at Plymouth at the beginning of last November Wednesday have lost 9, drawn 9 and won just 2 of the 20 league and cup fixtures on the road. The two victories came against Colchester and Leicester, both of whom were relegated from the Championship last season.

The second major problem is the porous defence. At the turn of the year Wednesday's defensive record was amongst the top six in the division even though the club were struggling at the wrong end of the table. This slowly began to take a turn for the worse and the Owls failed to keep a clean sheet in their final nine league fixtures last term and have only managed one so far this season.

Only Nottingham Forest have conceded more Championship goals thus far and although it is fair to expect a reaction in Saturday's home fixture against Ipswich it is the away performances that really need to addressed urgently if the Owls are to bring some much needed cheer to their large, vocal, long-suffering away following.