Analysis: Sheffield Wednesday's 'romantic' football a real passion-killer as reality bites Hillsborough
Some of the football Sheffield Wednesday tried to play in their 3-0 defeat to Derby County was hopelessly "romantic", to coin a phrase from Henrik Pedersen. By the time they tried to prove they had a harder edge, it was too little, too late.
The first flush of romance at Hillsborough after Dejphon Chansiri's defenstration has fizzled out. There may well be another when a new owner takes over, but it will soon be back to a very bleak 2025-26.
Even with a packed away end, there were not 23,466 in the ground on Monday, as many season ticket holders opted for the sofa or the pub, but got counted anyway.
Motivating yourself to support a team which will go into Christmas on minus Championship points must be difficult. Those that tried found it tough, an argument breaking out in the main stand about whether to get behind them if it meant accepting some unacceptable football.
Players going through the motions make is harder still, but they could not even get showing they are not right.
There were boos at half-time but just an air of resignation at the final whistle. It had been a passion-killer of a performance.
Those on the field were soppy and sloppy, giving Derby the ball far too easily for all three goals, not keeping it when it was passed to them, knocked off it too softly in the case of Sean Fusire for the second of two Patrick Agyemang goals.
It was like watching an academy side play against grizzled old pros in the Football League Trophy. Fusire, Charlie McNeill, Pierce Charles, Bailey Cadamarteri and Harry Amass are still very green but had 1,999 league appearances alongside them.
Dominic Iorfa was the walking disaster, it was Liam Cooper who teed up the opening goal, Max Lowe turning a cross to Agyemang and Jamal Lowe who went missing.
Charles made a couple of saves to keep it at 3-0 but it hardly mattered. Most people had gone by then.
McNeill and Amass got late bookings that on another day could have been red cards after Iofra was booked for scuffling with Agyemang. Pedersen praised the fight, but a cheap suspension is the last thing a squad thinning so much it probably needs to visit a Turkish clinic needs.
Afterwards, manager Pedersen lit an F-bomb to show his frustration, putting it out before it detonated.
"I'm fu... I'm hating to lose, and the players hate to lose," he insisted. "I don't want to accept we're just a part of the game, we want to be more.
"If there was no reaction, we'll also be angry. A reaction? Hey, it's okay.
"If someone punishes us, we want to punish them back. If we couldn't do it with effective football, then we can do it with some bad tackles. I understand the frustration."
But he started it. Or rather the execution of his soppy tactics did.
The fit-again Charles is a footballing goalkeeper, and a very good one. But his presence has the rest thinking they should play that way too and frankly, not all are good enough.
"I can see we progress in the build-up phase, (but) I can also see we make some easy mistakes, and for this we need a better rest defending," argued Pedersen.
"Dominic played really well in Watford, Coops played really well in Watford and used a lot of energy from the physical side, but also from the mental side. On Monday we didn't reach the level of intensity.
"In the first half, defensively we were well organised. The challenge (problem) was when we lost the ball.
"Second half, at 2-0, it was flat and the energy was brought down.
"We wanted to attract them so we could play behind them, and the gameplan is not to play short but sometimes you need to play short so you can play around, play behind, or play direct behind.
"There is no happiness to just play short balls for short balls' (sake). It was one of the things in the break that we spoke about, to play much more around, so we lose less balls in the centre, and play behind them.
"You cannot just play long balls against them, then they will be too strong for us. That's why we tried more on the ball, but we were not good enough.
"We don't only play long balls because I don't think we can win more games with this."
Cadamarteri is no Mark Bright or Lee Chapman as a targetman.
You could argue since relegation is nailed on, better to treat games like academy football, prizing development over results. But this is Sheffield Wednesday. That will not do.
It is why the likeable, loyal, uber-positive Pedersen is starting to feel some heat for the first time after 14 games without a win.
"You are romantic if you just play, play without a good rest defending,” he said. “We want to be effective.
"For me, it's 1) to win the next football game, 2) develop players to the next level, to learn to be a part of a team, to have a clear philosophy."
Playing like this, though, the Owls are just three free points.
If this were Roy of the Rovers, the next owners would sanction signings to pull off mission impossible.
This is not romance, this is reality.