Oldham Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday: 'Show us what you have got' is Dave Challinor's message to Owls

Dave Challinor has done plenty of talking in his first week as Sheffield Wednesday manager, and when the action starts at Boundary Park on Sunday evening, the message to his new players is clear.

The 51-year-old has had his first week on the Middlewood Road training pitches, and now he is anxious to see how his new players put it into practice in the FA Cup first round at Oldham Athletic.

"I'm really looking forward to it, more as my first real eyes on from a dugout position," said the former Colwyn Bay, Fylde, Hartlepool United and Stockport County manager.

"There will be information we've given the players and we want to see how they can carry those things out.

"We know between now and Christmas the run of games we have got of Saturday-Tuesdays and we go against some of the sides you would expect to compete for promotion.

"We have to hit the ground running. We've got to continue to develop whilst winning.

"The players I won't say have been bombarded. We have to prioritise the bits that are important.

"There are things that have been in place that are good and we have to make sure we continue to improve on those things but just add bits.

"It won't be immediate change, it'll be constant over the next couple of weeks.

"We have done quite a bit without going into too much detail. I hope you will see in the first game the changes that we want to look at.

"We've got a really good group of players and we need to try to facilitate their best bits on a football pitch, regardless of the opposition. That's what we'll try and do."

Challinor's job is to try and learn about his squad.

"I will speak to all the players," he said. "Everyone has different drivers, different markers.

"But if you can't enjoy being a footballer at Sheffield Wednesday, especially when you're at home in front of 30,000 people – I'd worry for you.

"Will there be some mistakes? Of course there will. But I'm really intrigued to see what they've got from the start from a pitchside, from a dugout perspective.

"I've got true belief that we'll produce a performance befitting of everything that happens on Sunday in terms of the travelling supporters."

He needs professional pride to be a factor in the 5.15pm TNT Sports game at League Two Oldham.

"They're a little bit up and down in terms of results," said Challinor. "They had a good result on Tuesday going to Northampton and winning.

"It's the FA Cup. From our side of things I don't imagine playing on a Sunday at 5.15 would have been the case if they'd have thought it was a synch and a walkover.

"We've got to go and be Sheffield Wednesday, that's the most important thing for us.

"We've got really good players, they need to perform for ourselves and for the supporters – undoubtedly we'll have a full away end – and show what we're about.

"There's been things said about the team recently that aren't nice. Use that as a motivation."

Di’Shon Bernard is available having has trained all week, but the bulk of the Owls' injured players will not be back until next week's league game at home to Plymouth Argyle, which now looks set to go ahead. Liam Cooper, Joe Lumley and Ali Al-Hamadi could feature then.

"They're probably not too far away in terms of being back in training to a certain degree," said Challinor.

"We've got the midweek fixture against Accrington (in the EFL Trophy). We have to plan. It's not something you'd ideally do in November, but that's where we are."

For now, that might mean players having to play out of position.

"That's probably going to be the case for the next few weeks," warns Challinor.

"You would love to put people into positions where they are comfortable but that's not always the case that you can do it.

"There's been plenty of adversity over the course of the season with injuries, suspensions and all them things and that continues because we've still got players out but we can't use that as an excuse.

"We hope over the next couple of weeks it will get better because we'll get numbers back which will allow us more options as players back from injury and I would expect that we'll get stronger and stronger."

Sil Swinkels is suspended after his red card against Blackpool.

Will Grainger will miss next week's games after being selected by Wales for their European Under-19s Championship qualifiers against Finland, Spain and Iceland.

Sunday's game will be played to a finish, with extra time and penalties to decide who goes into Monday's draw.