'Direct with good intensity' - Henrik Pedersen finds positives after Sheffield Wednesday's loss to QPR
Sheffield Wednesday’s miserable season continued with a 3-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers - but Henrik Pedersen managed to identify some positives.
A youthful Owls XI was named for the battle in the capital, with Dominic Iorfa, Barry Bannan and Jamal Lowe the only players who could be described as senior.
Rumarn Burrell gave QPR the lead after 14 minutes, slotting past Pierce Charles after a clever pass from Nicolas Madsen.
The lead was extended twice in the final 10 minutes of normal time, when Rayan Kolli bagged a brace.
Henrik Pedersen reacts
Pedersen told The Star: “The beginning of the game was difficult. We worked our way really into the game, and then we got some tiredness out of our bodies - after 20/22 minutes we changed the formation and got some good organisation defensively.
“We got many more pressing situations and we gave less away. But at the same time I felt like in the first half we were good on the ball and able to break the first pressing line, but then we came to the defensive line of the opponent and here we played too much on the front side.
“The theme from the first half was that we wanted to play a bit more around, a little bit more vertical, so we could run with the back four.
“We changed the formation for the second half, and we got much more verticality. We wanted to create something and make some goals, and I think the second half unit when they made it 2-0 I think we were good.
“We were direct with good intensity. We had some opportunities to score at 1-0, but they scored after we lost the ball and that was 2-0.
“They scored after our own throw-in for 3-0. It was again a game that we could compete for 81 minutes, and we only had three senior players in the starting line-up.”
Wednesday will have a break from league action next weekend, when they will host Premier League outfit Brentford in the third round of the FA Cup.