Sheffield Wednesday v Hull City: Experience warns young coaches what to expect of opposition

There is an aura and intelligence about the young pair – Hull City's Selles is 41, Sheffield Wednesday's Rohl 35 – which makes you feel they have bright futures, and CVs which have packed plenty in already.

Both have already worked in the Premier League, for starters, as assistants to Ralph Hasenhuttl at Southampton – and in Selles' case his temporary replacement – but the similarities go much further.

This time last year, Rohl was managing a Wednesday side revived since he took them over bottom of the Championship in the first half of the season, yet still struggling to pull away from the relegation zone.

For the Owls, 23rd but only below the dotted line on goal difference with seven games of last season left, read the Tigers, 21st today, a point above the trapdoor.

Having seen how his team fought then, Rohl is braced for much the same from Hull on Saturday.

Selles did his grounding dealing with perpetual crisis at Reading. Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri will never be a model owner but at least he is not Dai Yongge, whose right Royal mess has made berks of his club.

The club Selles began the League One campaign with are somehow only a point outside the play-offs, a place above Huddersfield Town, so he knows just because Wednesday's players have not been paid does not mean they will be a soft touch.

"Those things can always go in two different ways," he warns. "You can get that one per cent less attention but also you can want to prove even more that you want to be professional and you can do things.

"I expect that part of the equation.

"I have also seen a team that has worked really well during the season and I expect that team in front of us on Saturday."

Likewise, Selles knows not to read too much into the fact Wednesday have home disadvantage.

The Owls have not won at Hillsborough since New Year's Day but Selles is coaching the only Championship team with fewer points on their own turf this season, and until the defeat against Luton Town last Saturday that hauled them back into the mire, had Hull on a two-match(!) winning streak at the KCOM.

I never believe it should be part of my question as a manager," he responds when the Owls’ awful home results are put to him.

"We know we have been good away from home but that doesn't guarantee anything.

"We know what we need to do, truly, is just to prepare to be our best version for the game and try to win.

"The news from there can change at any hour solving the situation. My biggest thing is just to prepare my team to be ultra-competitive.

And Rohl knows that whilst he might share ideas with Selles, neither would have got where they are without their own identities.

"He worked some months with Ralph and got parts from that," says Rohl of Selles, who indirectly followed him at Southampton after varying roles at the University of Valencia, Aris Thessaloniki, Villarreal, Shinnik Yaroslavl, Asteras Tripolis, Gandía, Neftci, Stromsgodset, Qarabag, Aarhus and Copenhagen.

"But he will have his own style.

"I have my own style of football, how I want to play – some bits from this manager, some bits from this manager. Don't try to copy and paste a manager. Even if you work with a manager you will not be the same.

"You shouldn't compare manager with manager or Ruben as assistant coach with the manager. You go your own way."

When asked about Selles' style, Rohl – who also coached at RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Germany in his apprenticeship – uses it to try to pile pressure onto the Spaniard.

"They have good counter-pressing and play with more intensity, they have a different structure (to under Tim Walter)," was his assessment.

"They had some good results, some results have been a surprise. It's a little bit up and down, a roller-coaster for them this season.

"Don't forget this business is about results and he has the pressure that he has to stay in the league with this group of players. I don’t think it's the squad value for a relegation fight, they should be in another position.

"Last season we adjusted as a group to get results so let's see what they are are doing but for us it's about our performances. I want to see that we've made the next step after Cardiff (last week's 1-1 draw) and continue what we did in the second half, not the first half."

Selles has a decision over whether to slot centre-forward Joao Pedro back in after a three-match suspension. Rohl has confirmed Shea Charles, who joined Southampton after Selles' 2023 interim spell as coach, will be restored to the XI after being rested to the bench in Cardiff.

With seven games to play, goal difference means the Owls are effectively six points adrift of the play-offs in 12th.