Sheffield Wednesday's elephant in the treatment room as Danny Rohl intrigues without informing

But whilst he stopped short of the full picture, Rohl heavily hinted it is not just on the sub-standard Hillsborough pitch where his club are the architects of their own downfall.

Not everything was depressing about Friday’s defeat as Japanese left-back Ryo Hatsuse made a highly encouraging first start.

But the pattern of good performances and bad results is. Hillsborough has only seen five home wins all season – only Hull City’s MKM Stadium has been more miserable.

As too often in 2025, the best team lost an Owls game – their fourth defeat in five matches home and away.

They would not had they not been so wasteful in front of goal. Again.

Nor would they had they better defended Eliezer Mayenda's two goals, either side of one for Callum Paterson. Failing to do their job defensively is also a recurring theme.

Michael Ihiekwe lost Mayenda for his second goal, Liam Palmer’s positioning giving the striker a free run at a cross Trai Hume delivered without the required harassment.

They could also point to referee Will Finnie turning a blind eye to Maydenda controlling the ball with his arm before shrugging off Max Lowe too easily, plus another handball decision that went against them earlier, in Sunderland's area.

And they could bemoan their luck when Ibrahim Cissoko and Michael Smith went down with illness before the game. The winger came out the back end of his in time to make the bench, Smith did not.

Lowe went off shortly after Mayenda's opener, Paterson not long after scoring. Yan Valery and Stuart Armstrong missed the game injured. That, Rohl suggested, was not bad luck, though he left us to join the dots on what exactly it was.

"They have calf problems," he said of Lowe, Valery and Armstrong. "I know the reason why, but I will not speak about this reason. There is something that we know is causing these calf problems at the moment but this is football."

Asked if it is related to a training ground regarded as not up to the standards Sheffield Wednesday aspire to, the shutters came down.

"I will not speak about the reasons," he insisted, closing down the debate he opened. "I know it and that is important.

"Fitness-wise we do not have an issue. We can play with high intensity, we can sprint, we can run.

"But of course if a lot of players have the same issues then there must be a reason why."

Answers on a postcard please to Danny Rohl Stirs the Pot Again, Hillsborough, Sheffield.

Paterson’s unspecified injury was harder to take because his switching to centre-forward at half-time gave his team an edge. Even Hatsuse’s display came with a but.

“He had a fantastic game," said Rohl. “To come in for his first start with front-foot defending, calmness on the ball, solutions. When necessary he played the long ball behind.

"He is learning English at the moment and it is maybe not so easy to come from so far away. It is his first time playing out of the country (Japan) and he is so open-minded, smart, he is listening again and again.

"But he also at the end had problems with his calf.”

Back to the elephant in the treatment room. Unfortunately and unhelpfully it still left plenty of space for inevitable speculation.

What we do know is a mid-table Championship team appears incapable of making the next step and becoming a play-off side. What we can safely deduce is that the reasons go far beyond simple bad luck.