Sheffield Wednesday v Rotherham United: Identity game as Darren Moore looking to build on hard graft

As a self-confessed tinkerman, Darren Moore must look at his friend and managerial rival Paul Warne with a fair degree of envy when they stand in the Hillsborough technical areas tomorrow.

At the moment Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday side is not far off picking itself with 10 players injured for tomorrow’s visit of Rotherham United. Four consecutive wins without a goal conceded would suggest, as Barry Bannan did on Tuesday night, it has its plus points, but still Moore admits he will be rotating away as soon as he gets the chance again.

Even without hamstring victims Will Grigg and Mickel Miller, Rotherham’s personnel is harder to second-guess. Warne has built a squad of players he constantly likes to mix and match but the difference is, he has been in his job more than five years, as opposed to 11 months for Moore. Warne’s players are pretty interchangeable and whoever plays, the identity is the same, even if some outsiders are a little confused as to what exactly it is.

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Moore, whose first game as Owls manager was a stoppage-time Hillsborough defeat to Rotherham last March, would love to get to that stage – no easy feat at a club with a trigger-happy chairman, but Dejphon Chansiri is being rewarded for unusual patience by his team’s play-off push.

Owls boss Darren Moore.    Picture: Seve EllisOwls boss Darren Moore.    Picture: Seve Ellis
Owls boss Darren Moore. Picture: Seve Ellis

“With the longevity Paul’s had, he’s got an identity that runs right through the club,” says Moore. “Irrespective of what XI he puts out, there’s an identity. He’s been there a long time and everybody knows how he wants to play.

“That’s all been worked and worked on on the training ground and by playing games. The players have been together a few seasons now.

“At Wednesday I’d like to think there’s been a progression with the team in the 11 months I’ve been here and a progression of the club, that’s what everyone wants.

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“I’d like it to be quicker for everything to slot into place and when it does, happy days, because that’s what we work towards.

“I love to work on the training ground, to get those consistent levels of work because that’s ultimately where the work has to be done that goes into games. It takes time but how much? How long’s a piece of string?

“I can name different clubs in our division where managers have that longevity and you can see a clear identity in their teams. That’s what it boils down to, but I understand it’s a results industry.

“I hope over time there’ll be a clearer identity to our team.

“I’ll continue to work towards that.

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“Am I pleased with the work so far? Yes. Am I satisfied? Far from it, because there’s a lot more to go.”

Ask Moore about the league leaders’ top-scorer Michael Smith, and he says: “A lot of people talk about his aerial prowess but on the floor he moves well and he’s good with the ball at his feet.”

It goes for the whole team. Rotherham have a reputation for being direct and physical because they often are at their best, but with midfielders as cultured as Dan Barlaser and the fit-again Ollie Rathbone and wing-backs as talented as Chiedozie Ogbene, they can play a bit too.

It is that mixture on both sides – the Owls have battering-ram players like Callum Paterson alongside safebreakers such as Bannan – that adds to the excitement Moore is feeling about tomorrow’s noon derby, the first in front of a Hillsborough crowd since 2018.

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“They’ve got an identity but Paul’s added to his team very well and there’s some quality players there,” he stresses. “They’re top of the table for a reason – they’ve consistently been the best team in the division.

“We know the quality that will be coming into Hillsborough on Sunday. It’s a game we’re looking forward to as a team because we’re in good form as well.

“Both teams have players with that physical element, players with that technical element and some players have both.

“I think you’ll se a physical contest but some magicians on the pitch for both teams.”

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