Have Sheffield Wednesday turned the corner?

On Saturday, thousands of Sheffield Wednesday fans descended on Selhurst Park, South London, in a noisy wave of excited optimism. 

Wednesday had gone 17 matches unbeaten under Dave Jones and had just outplayed Premiership Fulham, beating them 1-0 in the League Cup. 

Last season's triumphant last-day promotion at the expense of Sheffield United was still fresh in people's minds and many Wednesdayites were giddy with early season predictions of a second promotion on the bounce. 

Some were comparing the team to Big Ron Atkinson's promotion and League Cup winning side of 1991. Many could not remember that far back and were enjoying the feeling of cocky hysteria for the first time, happily accepting the dark days were over and top-flight football was only a year away. What a difference 2 months can make. 

Wednesday lost that bizarre game to Crystal Palace 2-1 on 1st September and neither team have looked back since. Palace had lost their first three games but have stormed through the league since beating the Owls. Unbeaten in 10 they are now fourth in the table and two points behind Leicester in second.

Long suffering Wednesday fans

Wednesday, on the other hand, nose-dived down the table and failed to win their next 10, losing eight of them, finding themselves second from bottom in the league.

Before the defeat to Palace, delirious Owls fans were climbing the stands of Selhurst Park, orchestrating manic away support from the camera gantry, now they were brought back down to earth with a crash. When asked to explain the sudden abandonment of form, catastrophic defending and shoddy finishing most were at a loss. 

The creative spark was present, with Michail Antonio and Jermaine Johnson still terrorising defences and Jose Semedo dictating play, most notably in the home defeat to Huddersfield and the unfortunate 2-1 defeat to Southampton in the Cup. 

It soon became clear that the blame lay with the front and back lines. 

The defence had been strengthened in the summer with the signing of the experienced Anthony Gardner. Martin Taylor arrived on deadline day to add further no nonsense know-how. 

But then Gardner got injured at the start of the season and Miguel Llera found it hard to adapt to centre-half duties after being given a freer full-back position towards the end of last season. Against Brighton, Huddersfield and Burnley the defence looked nervy and disorganised. It seemed too many players were being played in different positions across the back four, causing an unsettled defence to concede time after time.

Up front, the high-profile loan signing of the talented Jay Bothroyd from QPR raised the prospect of an exciting partnership with the already creative Wednesday forward line. Antonio and Johnson had been linking well with former Barcelona B striker, Rodri, and Chris O'Grady had established himself as a fans' favourite following blistering early goal-scoring form.

It may have been the pressure of replacing the popular O'Grady that affected Bothroyd, but a string of non-existent performances in his first few starts meant he was substituted in his first four games, to ironic cheers from Wednesday fans. Poor finishing was a feature of Wednesday's performances and of the 10 games since Palace, only against Burnley did they score more than two. The pick of which was a scintillating 35 yard screamer from Antonio.

Jones seems to have identified and solved these two crucial failures and the recent performances against Leeds and Blackburn were strong and convincing, arguably deserving maximum points from both games. 

Ross Barkley celebrates scoring against Bolton

Then on Saturday Wednesday seemed to have finally stopped the rut, recording their first win in 11 with a 3-0 victory over bottom club Ipswich Town.

The stand-out player in that game was again a midfielder, on loan starlet Ross Barkley finally finding form and rounding off a commanding performance with two goals. If this bright prospect is allowed to stay for the rest of the season by his parent club, Everton, then a strong midfield of Semedo, Barkley, Antonio and Johnson could stabilise Wednesday's season and propel them up the league.

Pairing O'Grady with Bothroyd up front and a run of starts from the impressively solid Gardner at the back could solve problems in both areas. If Jones can forge a strong, settled back four and work out how to get the most out of the young Bothroyd then Wednesday can storm back up the league and take up a position closer to the top six finish many took for granted at the height of unbeaten fever.

The crucial home game against Peterborough United today gives the Owls a chance to continue the recovery and leapfrog the Posh out of the relegation zone.

by Alex Fenton-Thomas