Sheffield Wednesday v Wolves: Carvalhal retains belief Owls will climb to the top

defiant Carlos Carvalhal insists his future as Sheffield Wednesday head coach does not hinge on tonight's visit of Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal (Picture: Steve Ellis).Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal (Picture: Steve Ellis).
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal (Picture: Steve Ellis).

Carvalhal launched a passionate defence of his achievements at Hillsborough – reaching back-to-back play-offs – in yesterday’s pre-match conference.

The 52-year-old Portuguese coach was tasked with finally gaining promotion this season, at the third time of asking, by owner Dejphon Chansiri to celebrate the club’s 150th anniversary.

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But following last week’s 3-1 defeat at Norwich City the Owls are languishing in 15th spot in the table, 21 points behind Wolves.

There is a 10-point gap between the Owls and city rivals United – who occupy the final play-off spot – and pressure is mounting on Carvalhal to improve quickly an abysmal record of just two wins in last 10 games.

But Carvalhal, who tonight serves a touchline ban for being sent to the stands against Hull City, rejected reports in the national media that defeat tonight could bring down the curtain on his time at Wednesday.

“Someone wrote about that because I said we must win Friday, but I meant we must start winning games,” explained Carvalhal.

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“Someone said we must win Friday or something will happen. That is not fair because I explained what I meant.

“I believe I will be (here) at the end and I believe that we will go to the Premier League, I still believe in that, but I must recover the players, we must get all the players fit, understanding we will be more strong.

“It’s almost a team (Owls are missing),” added Carvalhal, which was part of a two-pronged explanation offered by the Owls’ chief in defence of a stuttering campaign.

Wednesday are currently missing seven first-team players through injury – including talismanic striker Fernando Forestieri and midfield enforcer Sam Hutchinson.

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Others absent are defenders Jack Hunt and Tom Lees, midfielders Kieran Lee and George Boyd, plus striker Steven Fletcher.

Allied to his depleted squad, Carvalhal also claims refereeing decisions have cost his team 10 points so far this season.

“Of course I am frustrated. I cannot put a high-intensity team out every week, with fantastic internal competition for every position,” he said.

“I am happy with the players I have (available), I must give confidence to them. I like them a lot and believe they are really good players.

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“But if you ask me do I wish to play with all the players fit and available, with high intensity, to press opponents and score more goals, of course I wish this.

“I am frustrated and wish things could be different. I like my teams to be resilient, I am resilient also.

“I know what is the problem, some of them we can solve, some of them we can’t.

“The bad decisions by the referee are not in our hands. I hope things will begin to be normal.

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“Some players change the face of the team. We are happy with all the players, but there are players who you don’t have a real substitute for them in the squad.

“Take Messi from Barcelona, who would substitute Messi at Barcelona? You don’t have a substitute.

“You have another player who can play there, but not the same level, it’s a different player with good abilities.

“There are some players where you can’t have two players the same in the squad. I wish I had two Forestieris, two Sam Hutchinsons, two Kieran Lees in the squad, but you must spend £12m or £15m each.”

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The absence of Forestieri, the 27-year-old Argentinian who is due back next month after knee surgery, has been a huge blow for Wednesday, who lack pace in attack.

Carvalhal revealed he would have attempted to bring in a replacement in August if he had known Forestieri needed surgery.

“When he plays it is completely different,” said Carvalhal.

“You can say to me we don’t have Forestieri, we can achieve a different player. The problem is first we didn’t know he would be injured, but to achieve a player like Forestieri you must spend £10m or £15m and under financial fair play we can’t do that.

“So with the injury it made an emergency at that moment. He went for surgery three or four days after the transfer window closed.

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“If the surgery was one day before the transfer window, we needed a player with pace and some skill, absolutely I would have tried to get one.”

Tonight Wednesday face a Wolves team rated by Carvalhal as the best team in the Championship since he arrived in England in 2015.

When you consider that includes sides like current Premier League trio Burnley, Newcastle United and Brighton it is a huge accolade for the Monlineux club.

Carvalhal said: “We are playing the best team I have seen in the Championship so far since I have been here. We have a very big challenge.”

Last six games: Sheffield Wednesday WDDDDL Wolverhampton WWWWWD.

Referee: D Bond (Lancs).

Last time: Sheffield Wednesday 0 Wolverhampton 0; January 2, 2017; Championship.