Sheffield Wednesday preparing to start season brightly

Carlos Carvalhal has done just that during Wednesday’s preparations as he tries to hit upon a winning formula ahead of the opening day visit of Bristol City to Hillsborough.

Results have been disappointing, not least because two fixtures against League One and Two opposition failed to yield a win. But the new Owls chief insists the past few weeks will have no bearing on how things go when the ‘real’ action begins.

“Pre-season games are not official,” he said. “They are friendlies so the score is not important. Of course, I was not happy to concede four goals (at League One Scunthorpe United).

“But, when we are building a team, these kinds of things can happen. All of us were upset after the match. But it was not necessary to talk too much. We could not do anything straight after that match, we had to wait until training and then work hard.

“That is what is involved in pre-season. The most important thing I learned in my first month was about my players. And which players understand what we want, what their concentration is like.

“I must tell you that I was not unhappy with the players after Scunthorpe. I saw that night as like an accident. The concentration was not good but it was good that kind of things like Scunthorpe happened then and not when the official games start. We cannot make those mistakes in front of our fans and we want them to enjoy watching us at home.

“We want our fans with us and us to be with our fans.”