Sheffield Wednesday v Preston North End: Danny Rohl reveling in job as game-changer

Guessing who would play where used to be one of the big challenges when the team-sheets came out in Darren Moore's time as Sheffield Wednesday manager. Under Danny Rohl you can also lob in having no idea what formation they will start in either, never mind change to.

You feel for Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom trying to do his homework.

Rohl insists "I prefer to play 90 minutes with one shape because it means it works well" but there is no disguising he enjoys playing extreme chess on the sidelines.

This week's first conundrum – Preston will try to make sure it is not the last – will be how to make light of a suspension to Barry Bannan. Since no one – probably in the Championship but certainly the Owls squad – can imitate the Scot, is there any point trying or would it be better to set the team up differently?

Fortunately Rohl has developed a squad that can switch formations and positions effortlessly.

He drilled them throughout pre-season on different shapes and, like Moore, enjoys asking players to do jobs they might never have seen themselves in. Midfielder Shea Charles went back to his Manchester City academy days as a second-half centre-back at Derby County on Sunday but wing-back Max Lowe admits he was surprised Rohl saw a central defender in him.

So whilst the German points out he is making fewer personnel changes from game to game, those selected are changing more often within them.

"I really enjoy it because playing in different positions, even ones I might not have a lot of experience of, really improves me," says right-back-cum-wing-back-cum-central-defender Yan Valery. "It will allow me to be more comfortable and understand different types of football I might have to play in the future.

"Because we completely trust the coach, when he asks something you know he knows what he's talking about so you just change and do it."

The trust goes both ways.

"When I took over, against Watford (in his first game, in October 2023) I looked over at my bench and I wasn't really feeling who I could bring on to make an impact," admits Rohl. "Now I understand my team, I know the players and which parts they can help me, which parts are their weaknesses and strengths.

"I like to make decisions, it's part of my job. It's not just me, I speak with my assistant coaches.

"If you can really make an impact because the players subbed in make an impact or you change the shape, it's great teamwork.

"I do my homework before the game to prepare for our opponents. I look at the games to see if the opponents change something or change nothing, what they do if you go to a back four?

"Against Derby County I asked Sascha (Lense) to give me a paper and pen, I had my thoughts and put them down and showed him what I wanted to do.

"At half-time you have no time to make big discussions with everybody, it's not the right moment. My team is waiting for me.

"We have Chris (Powell) in the stands, Henrik (Pedersen) on the bench with the iPad (studying the in-game analysis). I'm listening and I take all the information and go straight for my decisions – sometimes wrong, sometimes right."

Valery has a theory about why Charles and Lowe have taken to centre-back so well.

"They're both really clever players and that's why the coach knows he can put them there," he says. "They have a good knowledge of football.

"Each position demands different things whether with the ball or without the ball and to assess this and make it happen straight away you need to understand football and what you have to do.

"The last game against Derby we changed tactics (formation) four times and the four times are different things we get asked to do.

"Sometimes when you start a game it's not the same as when you started the last game, even if it's the same back five.

“When you play every three days you don't have time to train. Most of the time we do video. The coach asks us (to do) different things for different games.

"Some players who might not have played the game before have to come into the team and be straight on it.

"Sometimes it's just about passing the information on the pitch to all the players because the coach might say it to the closest man on the line but it might be the game is playing, so some players might be, 'Are we in a four or in a five?'

"Sometimes it can be a bit hard in that moment but when everyone knows the tactics it's just fine because it's things we worked on in training and in pre-season, and that's why pre-season was good – we worked a lot of different shapes and tactics.

"You can see we have really good players all together helping each other."