No signings at Hillsborough on Deadline Day
Sheffield Wednesday fans were left bitterly disappointed by 11pm on Monday night as the winter transfer window deadline day passed with no new faces entering the fray. The main issue that many felt needed addressing was the lack of a target man up top - a physical presence who could add goal but perhaps just as importantly, bring others into play.
In truth it is a problem that should have been addressed many months ago. Wednesday lost two players of that ilk last summer in Steven Fletcher and Adthe Nuhiu. While it was disappointing to see Fletcher go it wasn't a surprise, he had been on a big salary that the club could not maintain. Nuhiu wasn't as effective but was a useful player to have so in not making more of an attempt to keep him it was reasonable to assume that the club would have someone lined up to play the target man role effectively.
The summer transfer window came and went with a few new faces but no physical presence in attack. Wednesday aren't a team built for tiki-taka-type football, the lack of an imposing figure in attack was a worry for many and this has played out over the 25 Championship games so far.
The Owls are currently the lowest goal scorers in the division with just 16 from 25 games. Some might point to a lack of chances created but this again can be traced back to the target man problem. Barry Bannan has been among the top ten players in the Championship for assists and key passes in recent seasons, even when the Wednesday team as a whole has struggled. Not having a target to play off up top makes his and his midfield team mates job much harder.
In addition to the lack of goals, Wednesday also have the 2nd lowest possession in the Championship. On top of that, with the little possession that they do have of the ball, only two teams have had less average possession per game in the opposition half. It is clear to see from watching the games that the Owls struggle because they do not have a physical striker capable of holding the ball up and building a platform to play off.
Wednesday signed Andre Green earlier in the month, a promising attacking option but again, likely to be more of an asset if he was to have a physical striker to play off from.
With 21 games to go, Sheffield Wednesday are currently in 23rd place in the Championship table, 4 points adrift of where they need to be. Time will tell if Chansiri's inactivity proves to be leaving the Owls chances of achieving safety to chance.