"It says a lot" Key change in Sheffield Wednesday man vital to survival push

The on-loan Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper put on a show in the weekend’s 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, making eight saves in keeping his seventh clean sheet in 18 appearances while on loan with the Owls since January. An England youth international, 19-year-old Beadle arrived at Hillsborough to take the next step in his burgeoning career and has made a marked impression.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing, however. A reaction from a minority of supporters to errors made playing out from the back prompted Röhl to launch a defence of his goalkeeper and of his belief in that style of play. Stronger decision making and more player autonomy over how and when to play more direct has been evident in recent weeks, with Beadle a key part of that.

Speaking to The Star after a win over the Baggies that put Wednesday to within a point of safety, Röhl made clear cleaner decision making has made a big impact on a run of five matches unbeaten.

“I think today was the first time the fans sang his name,” he said. “That says a lot! James was very strong in the last weeks, his first really good performance was against Birmingham when he had an outstanding game, and now we have the decision making which is fantastic to see. We found the balance to keep the ball on the ground and to can football from the goalkeeper.”

Wednesday’s ‘mix it up’ approach to their passing play has altered their approach, with Röhl making clear it’s been useful to keep teams guessing. Against West Brom, opposition boss Carlos Corberan admitted the Owls set-up had taken him by surprise in some respects. Explaining aspects of his technical approach against the Baggies, the German coach said: “It was difficult for the opponent, sometimes they pressed with two - then we played on the ground - if they come with more we played for the second ball.

“This is what I have said, it is about a balance, we do not have just one direction. We can be flexible more and more and we understand what we need to do, this brings us closer to the perfect game. We can still improve a lot. We have one more week, then we will see.”