Following on from our massive 0-1 win over Newcastle at St James` Park on Boxing Day, Vital Writer Greg Pursehouse @greg10greg10 gives us his take on the player ratings and ponders further questions as a result from that performance.
Team performance
Overall, it has to be an impressive 9/10, the Owls soaked up Newcastle`s pressure and provided their own ammunition to take a well-deserved 1-0 victory back to Hillsborough. From defence to attack each member of the team followed the script to play their part with heart, determination and accuracy. The only thing that stood in the way of this match being classed as a perfect ten was the scoreboard; the Owls had the best of the clear-cut chances and failed to capitalise on this, on another day this could have cost us, the scoreboard could easily have read 0-4 and really sent a statement of intent out to the rest of the footballing world.
Keiren Westwood – 10/10
Outstanding performance from the six foot plus shop stopper, showed real class from the beginning when producing a fine save to turn a Newcastle chance onto the post. Throughout the game he came and collect/ cleared everything and ensured a quick release to put the Toon on the back foot and ensured Forestieri could do what he does best; terrorise the defence! When a goalkeeper does this in breeds confidence throughout the team, easy to see why he now has 39 clean sheets in 101 games for Wednesday, which is just under 40%!
Liam Palmer – 7/10
One of the better performances from the life-long Owls fan, did little wrong in defence, spurned a glorious opportunity to play in one of the forwards give Wednesday the lead, instead choosing to go it alone after breaking through the Newcastle defence and shooting well over the bar and the ball is still travelling into outer space somewhere. Would Hunt have done the same?
Tommy Lees – 9/10
Classy performance from the stand in skipper, did his job when needed and kept the Newcastle attack for most of the game, dealing with aerial threats with ease and style. He really highlighted why he is one of the best defenders in the league and destined to play premier league football one day; hopefully with the Owls!
Glenn Loovens – 9/10
Lead like a true captain from the first whistle to the final whistle! Loovens rose to the occasion and produced a display that reminded everyone why he is captain of our great club. Cleared everything that came his way and was constantly calm never panicking, when he left the field he checked his back pocket to see Dwight Gayle in there! His solid display was rewarded by his first Owls goal thanks to a well-timed knock back from Forestieri.
Daniel Pudil – 6/10
It has been a stop-start season for the Czech international, he has not hit the heights of last season when he was on-loan from Watford, could his permanent contract be a sign he has taken his foot off the gas pedal? Or possibly still not 100%, we all hope it is the latter. Shakey in defence; he was the only weak link in an otherwise excellent performance.
Ross Wallace 7/10
Constant threat to the Toon defence until he was replaced by ‘Big Dave` late on in the second half. His crosses caused many problems for the back four and if it wasn`t for Darlow in the Newcastle net the scoreline would have increased thanks to the pint-sized Scotsman. If only he was 5 years younger…
Barry Bannan – 8/10
What a return to the team for the tiny Scottish international! Showed us again why he has his own Wednesday song sang about him on a weekly basis, he explained himself he is finally happy to be playing without back ache. He was all over the place (in a very good way!) throughout the match, tracking back where needed and pushing forward with opportunity. For Bannan to push onto the next level he really needs to fine tune his shooting.
Sam Hutchinson – 10/10 M.O.M
Superb, what more can you say? Based on his pre-match press conference when asked how he would deal with Dwight Gayle and his reply of “Who is she?” we got the impression this was going to be his match. Never shied away from a tackle he really took the game to Newcastle receiving his customary yellow card in the process. During the 90 minutes his stats were; 67 touches, 41 passes, 88% accuracy, 5 tackles, 6 clearances and 82% of duels won. Sammy, Sammy is just going from strength to strength.
Adam Reach – 7/10
Getting stronger in each perfmormnace for the Owls, plays better in his natural position on the left of midfield. Reach was quick on the counter attack and played several well-timed through balls for Forestieri and Fletcher to chase down. Like Bannan, Reach needs to fine tune his shooting skills.
Fernando Forestieri – 7/10
Good to have him back! Frist match back since his red card against Preston. A threat throughout his time on the field, set the goal up selflessly for Loovens to head home, the magic man really showed he is back to being a team player since his blip at the beginning of the season.
Steven Fletcher – 7/10
Arguably his best game for Wednesday, did everything in the match apart from the main thing he is paid for and that is putting the ball in the back of net. His performance deserved a goal, lively from the beginning tracked back to midfield to offer support in Newcastle`s spells of dominance. Fletcher kept Newcastle stopper Darlow on his toes throughout the game forcing him into 3 world-class saves one of which helped lead to Loovens` goal.
Substitutes
Lucas Joao – 6/10
Provided some needed pace up front after replacing Forestieri.
David Jones – 7/10
The ex-Burnley man replaced the retuning Bannan for the final ten minutes, he helped to soak up the pressure from the Newcastle onslaught in closing of the match.
Atdhe Nuhiu – 7/10
Played his part for the three minutes he was on the pitch; held the ball up in the Newcastle half well to soak up valuable seconds on the clock.
Points to ponder!!!
Should Kieran Lee return to the starting eleven V Preston if he is fit? Do we drop Pudil and push Reach back to left back to accommodate a return for the man whose touch is golden and comes from Oldham? L
Should Fletcher have had at least a brace of goals?
If Hooper is fit is it a straight swap for Fletcher?
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