Sheffield Wednesday on tour: Joe Crann and Alex Miller in Austria - alongside special guest, BBC Radio Sheffield's Rob Staton.
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00:00Good morning and a very warm welcome to the start coverage of, I should say, what I'd say is a pre-season trip here in Austria.
00:08If we could pan the camera around you'd see, well, a heady mixture of a building site and some beautiful rolling houses.
00:16It is both gorgeous and awful.
00:18Yeah, yeah.
00:20As you can see, we're joined by a very special guest, a polycompedant, Rob Staton from BBC Radio Sheffield.
00:28So, Rob, thanks for doing the interview.
00:30Oh, look, as you say, it's a great view, isn't it?
00:32This mountain top building site.
00:36It's the best words of a sunrise, isn't it?
00:42Yeah, we're going to have a chat about the game that we saw yesterday, Sheffield Wednesday.
00:47It was soundly beaten, I think it's fair to say, at the Red Bull Arena by the Red Bull Salzburg.
00:53Rob, we'll kick off with you as our esteemed guest.
00:56What did you make of the game, sir?
00:58Well, I think it's pretty obvious that the team we were playing were at a different level both in terms of sharpness and quality.
01:06Their season started with the Austrian Cup on Friday and their first league game was seven days later.
01:13And, you know, they looked really good.
01:16And there was one moment, I think it was in the first half, when Dominic Hay-Orff came out on the bicep,
01:24and it made you sort of think, wow, hang on a minute, this is some real pace at foot here.
01:28It doesn't tend to happen in the Championship, does it?
01:30So they were sharp, they were fast.
01:32You know, their goals that scored with good quality, that created some really good chances.
01:38So I think overall, you never get very much from a game like that in terms of the result.
01:44I think the one positive takeaway for me was coming to what is James Beedle's performance,
01:49and the other one was the fact that if the aim of a game like that was to practise, break and oppress,
01:55and play at the back against a high quality opponent,
01:58that they're not going to face when the Championship season begins.
02:02They've got a bit of something out of that in the first half that we actually let go of.
02:07Rob's not the only guest that we've been joined by though,
02:10and he's the best stationer, flies here this morning.
02:13So if you see us randomly swatting away, we're not trying to help.
02:16We're just bringing it back to Loughborough.
02:20Because in Spain, there were flies constantly.
02:23I've never known so many flies when we're fighting away.
02:26It's a challenge to play.
02:28Yeah, this is just two or three, but there's just something really irritating about flies,
02:32they don't get a hint.
02:34Joe, Rob's touched on it there.
02:36There is a feeling that despite the nature of the result, Wednesday will have got something out of that.
02:42You can almost go two ways in pre-season.
02:44You can sort of line up with a load of games against lower league opposition,
02:48and blitz them and get the confidence going and all the rest of it.
02:52Or, as it seems that Wednesday have done with the teams that they're lining up against,
02:57we've got Werder Bremen coming up in a few days' time.
03:02There is a feeling that, particularly in that first half, they will have got something out of it.
03:06Yeah, and I think we've spoken about it before, Danny was very clear about the way he wanted to approach his pre-season.
03:13He didn't want a lot of games, he wanted more time on the training pitch.
03:16He also wanted the quality of the opposition to be one that could test Wednesday,
03:20rather than one that they could gain confidence against.
03:24And this team, yes, they definitely tested them, because the press was fantastic,
03:29the quality of their movement was great.
03:32Danny was talking beforehand about how he wanted his team to have the fine solutions in order to get through.
03:39They did come up to the page, there wasn't many chances that Wednesday formulated,
03:45like we said, against a very good side.
03:47But I think that they will definitely have learnt things from it.
03:50It's going to be interesting, we're going to speak to Danny on Monday,
03:55and get a bit of insight into how things played out for him and what he thought he got from it.
04:00But I definitely think it was a useful process for him.
04:03There was one attack that sort of stuck out for me.
04:06It wasn't a money attack, let's be frank.
04:09It sort of came through, they beat the press twice, it sort of broke the line twice and went out.
04:15And then a Marvin Johnson brought over to Baley Calamansi.
04:18We were looking at the score as well, wasn't it? It was a really good save.
04:21It was a good save, it was a good save.
04:23I think what you said there, Rob, about sharpness,
04:26those are the sort of chances when you're three or four games in,
04:29that perhaps you take a little bit more sharply.
04:35Wednesday had one real, real send-off goal, it was James Beedle.
04:39Wednesday had been one to get him back, hopefully, for the full season.
04:44It was a really good save.
04:48The saves that...
04:50The goalkeepers, sometimes, they are there to make saves.
04:55There's a lot of shots in a game and it's a bit one-sided and the keeper makes a lot of saves.
05:00It can be a little bit deceptive sometimes.
05:02I don't think that was the case in this game.
05:04He made saves that you would not necessarily expect him to make.
05:07There was one, towards the end of the first half, he stuck his hand out.
05:11One-handed save, got a lot of strength in that hand to stop it going in across his body.
05:16It was a very difficult shot to save, but really good.
05:19Throughout the half, it was by far Wednesday's send-off performer.
05:25I think he's going to be an interesting player to follow and track this year,
05:31because he went from Oxford to Wednesday and he did quite well.
05:37Now you're wondering what's the full season, the pre-season of Wednesday,
05:41going to be like in the Championship for him.
05:44That was really encouraging.
05:45I also think, this is no disrespect to the trialists who were playing in the second half,
05:50but that ability to break the lines and get out from the back completely was lost in the second half.
05:58Sometimes you forget that actually in the modern day,
06:02the goalkeeper, his distribution or his decision-making,
06:06when he has the football, can be the most important thing in that.
06:11With Beedle in the goal, it wasn't just the saves,
06:14it was that a lot of when he was better playing,
06:16it started with him making the right decision,
06:19and the players around him working with him to break that precedent and get forward in the second half.
06:26So I think for many reasons, James Beedle, fantastic saves,
06:31take them to the way they want to play,
06:33and if he's going to play like that this season, then he'll acquire you.
06:38I was watching the highlights back this morning,
06:40it felt like he played well, but we were watching the game.
06:43I watched the highlights and for about a minute and a half,
06:45it's just like, shot and Beedle, shot and Beedle.
06:48Yeah, he was brilliant.
06:50We saw the stuff that we expect to see from him in terms of his movement on the ball was good,
06:57his work in possession was strong,
06:59but yeah, I think there is a little bit these days about overly focusing on their ability with their feet,
07:05because you still have to be a very good goalkeeper if you're going to make it a good level,
07:09and I think he showed a lot of the saves that he made that he is one of those.
07:13Joe, in terms of other performances,
07:15as we say, Wednesday in terms of possession,
07:18a little bit too far between,
07:20I know that Jamal Lowe had a couple of moments in what was otherwise a fairly barren second half.
07:25Yeah, his movement was good, wasn't it?
07:28He seemed to be putting himself about a lot,
07:30and there was one moment in particular where he sort of jinxed his way through the box,
07:34and then he looked like an exciting prospect, Jamal Lowe,
07:38and I think anyone who's seen him play in a championship,
07:40he's one of those that, when he's signed this summer,
07:43that there isn't really a question mark on,
07:45because you look at Svante Ingelsen and Olof Kovacic and these players,
07:50and it's like there's clearly something there,
07:52we've seen in little sparks so far there's something there,
07:55but there is always that question mark of how are they going to adapt to the English football,
08:00how are they going to adapt to the championship,
08:02whereas you look at Jamal Lowe, and you go, that's championship football,
08:06we know exactly what we're going to get with him,
08:09and I think that having spoken to him the other day at St George's Park as well,
08:14it's really interesting the way that his brain seems to think,
08:18and there was one line that stuck out for me,
08:20he said something along the lines of,
08:22with this manager, if you don't understand what you're doing,
08:28then you've not understood what you're doing,
08:30and obviously that is a situation that he has found himself in at Wednesday,
08:35where they're being given all the information that he needs to know what to do,
08:39if on that team to enact it,
08:42and I think we definitely saw little sparks in the game yesterday of what he could do in that sense.
08:49I think the second half as well, there was a little bit from Sean Fosera,
08:52I thought Sean equipped himself well when he came on,
08:56it's an interesting moment for Sean,
08:58because he's come through the ranks at Wednesday,
09:00he missed a lot last season because of injury,
09:02but I saw him coming up through as a right-back,
09:06and then he became a right-wing back, and then a centre-midfielder,
09:08and then yesterday he was rolling all over the place.
09:11The other one for me I think in the second half was Jan Valery,
09:13I thought Valery came on and put himself about well,
09:17obviously he's another one, but he will be new to Sheffield Wednesday,
09:22but English football isn't particularly new to him.
09:25There was a lot of talk last season, wasn't there,
09:27after Danny came in about Wednesday playing from the back,
09:31I think it's quite possible we're going to see another scale of that altogether,
09:36with what they were trying to do.
09:38What do you make of that, Rob?
09:40It's clearly something that, Danny, when he talks about his principles,
09:44we know that Henderson has a lot to do with the in-production stuff.
09:47What do you make of the way the men's team are handling that?
09:50It's become a big thing within football,
09:53a big topic of discussion and a big tactical debate that goes on.
09:59I suppose it's how you do it,
10:01and you saw it a little bit with England actually during the Euros,
10:05that if you can have all the attention playing out from the back,
10:07if the team is really pressing to get on you and you can't break that press,
10:11you'll end up going long anyway,
10:13and then you've got to be able to mix it up a little bit.
10:16I think that's the...
10:18If you are not breaking the press from playing out from the back,
10:21have you got that ability to play an intermediate forward to a field?
10:25Can you find a tactical way to try and get over the press,
10:29rather than having to play through it constantly?
10:32And whether...
10:34It's not going to be any opponent that compresses you,
10:36and they've not got the quality that Michael Salzburg have got in the Championship.
10:40Even the team that took it out from Bremen will not have that.
10:42They were a very impressive team.
10:44There's a reason why they've won 10 of the last 11 titles.
10:47They probably should have won the title last year as well,
10:49but they didn't, and they're in the Champions League.
10:51So, if you are playing someone who pins you in,
10:56is there that ability to say,
10:59this isn't working after five minutes,
11:02and five minutes, maybe a bit longer at that point,
11:05to adjust?
11:07There were some games last season
11:09where you felt that style put Wednesday behind the eight ball
11:15very quickly in games to come,
11:17and I think 2014 was a good example of that.
11:20But, I guess these are the risks you've got to take.
11:24If you're going to play that way, you're going to play that way.
11:26If Daniel Royal was sat here right now,
11:28he'd point to Boonson down the field against Blackburn,
11:31and two passes later, it's in the back of his head.
11:35And equally, you could then turn around and say,
11:36well, I don't mean it, that's because he didn't deal with second ball,
11:38and it comes back.
11:40So, there's all sorts of different ways of looking at this.
11:44Everyone's analysed the pros and cons of playing out from the back to death,
11:47but I thought the most encouraging thing about yesterday,
11:51aside from the goalkeeper, was that Wednesday did actually look
11:55relatively comfortable and controlled,
11:58playing in tight areas, deep inside their own half,
12:01inside their own penalty area,
12:03and then were able to switch the ball quickly,
12:06which is what England didn't do during the all-arounds,
12:09and what Sheffield Wednesday did do at times yesterday,
12:11was to find that space,
12:12and that's when you're sort of pending that ability
12:14to play very dangerous passes across the half,
12:16and then switch it to the side and find where the space is,
12:19and have ideas of how to break the pass.
12:21Wednesday did actually do that in the first half yesterday,
12:23and the reason why I think the second half was such a tough potch
12:26was just that it didn't function at all.
12:29They did not have that ability to get the ball,
12:32or goal to get it completely straight to
12:34so much work that is inside their own penalty area.
12:38But it's going to be something that's fun to talk about a lot,
12:41because they always do it at the Olympics,
12:43and if there are going to be goals,
12:44I suppose the thing to say is that there probably will be,
12:46at some point during the season,
12:48goals Wednesday that we weren't able to work on,
12:50but there may also be benefits to doing that,
12:53which enables Wednesday to be a much better,
12:55more rounded, attractive football team.
12:59Yeah, the hope is that the pros outweigh the cons.
13:02Yeah.
13:04It feels like Wednesday is still a relatively early stage,
13:07so we've heard, with respect to judgement data,
13:09St George's Park, the line that he sort of used was that
13:13they're doing it until the autumn break.
13:15We've heard that some sessions have been scheduled for 90 minutes,
13:18and they've actually taken three hours.
13:20They are drilling in, drilling in, drilling in.
13:22And we saw yesterday that Wednesday made 11 changes at the break,
13:25Salzburg being almost an hour in before they made any changes at all.
13:29Wednesday still have a lot of time and a bit of a journey to go,
13:32in the next few weeks.
13:34Yeah, absolutely, far from being the finished product.
13:37You can look at the way the sides lined up,
13:40the two different XIs,
13:42it was almost like the first XI was last year's team,
13:45and the second XI was largely just new signs.
13:49It would be interesting to see what happens against Bremen,
13:53about whether that's the same again,
13:55or if the team starts to intersperse,
13:57because you feel like, come the first game of the season,
14:00that there is going to be a mix of those.
14:02I'd be very surprised if the starting XI that we saw against Salzburg
14:06is particularly close to the one that we see against Plymouth
14:09on the other bit of the season.
14:11So it's going to be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks.
14:14We've obviously got two friendlies coming up,
14:16there's the Werder Bremen one, and then there's Liam Palmer's testimonial.
14:19And as much as it is a testimonial for Liam in that sense,
14:23Liam has been very quick to jump on the fact that it is a proper pre-season.
14:30So that game won't be a case of just having a bit of fun for a fun family day out,
14:38that is a proper final test for Sheffield Wednesday.
14:41So I think that game will give us our best indication
14:44of how Wednesday is going to be lined up this season.
14:46And it is going to be a test, isn't it?
14:48A German Bundesliga sign, a La Liga sign.
14:51You know, Wednesday can't take it easy.
14:54No, no.
14:56But yeah, we will see, we'll have our boots around.
14:59It was a beautiful city, we had a little look last night at Salzburg,
15:02we were all pretty tired, I think we had about three hours of sleep combined.
15:07Yeah, that's why we were drinking all of the Red Bull that was offered to us.
15:12We kind of did have a bit of everything to do with Austria,
15:15we had a press and a schnitzel.
15:17We got a very good schnitzel, I might add.
15:19Red Bull, maybe a couple of the local brew.
15:24Me and Alex had an ox and chicken sandwich.
15:28Yeah, it was bacon.
15:30It was a pig, cow and chicken sandwich.
15:34And it is more or less 24 hours, so we've ticked a lot of boxes already.
15:39But yeah, we'll continue to give you as much coverage as we possibly can
15:44over the next few days.
15:46We've got media day at Wednesday's training camp on Monday,
15:49hopefully there'll be plenty to come out of that.
15:51And as we said, winding down towards Alberta, Bremen, at what is it?
15:57Zemenziller.
15:59Zemenziller, yeah, that sounds accurate.
16:01So yeah, keep it locked, as ever, to thestar.co.uk.
16:05And of course, Peggy O'Sheffield, Rob, will be leaving us in a couple of days
16:09to our own devices.
16:11But yeah, keep it locked, as ever, to thestar.co.uk.
16:21.