Danny Röhl’s Sheffield Wednesday are Premier League promotion challengers this season. It’s all rather unexpected and all down to the German manager’s tactics. These have impressed enough that they could potentially lead him to manage the struggling EPL side, Southampton.
Today, I’m looking at Danny Röhl’s tactics, methods and at what he could do to improve a Premier League side in the near future.
Career Prior to Managing Sheffield Wednesday
Danny Röhl is a young football manager, seemingly with plenty of potential. But, before that, he enjoyed a short-paying career back in Germany. Röhl, a native of the Zwickau, in Saxony, played as a defender for a number of lower-tier clubs in the region.
After hanging up his boots, Röhl managed to accumulate coaching experience while working at the likes of RB Leipzig, Bayern Munchen, and, for a while, Southampton.
He was appointed head coach of Championship side Sheffield Wednesday in 2023. And while things started out shakily, Röhl avoided relegation in his first season and turned Wednesday into a promotion challenger in his following campaign.
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Tactical Philosophy
The first thing worth noting about Danny Röhl is that while the German has limited experience as the senior manager of a team, he’s already built up a stellar resume. His style is, naturally, greatly influenced by the influence working for RB Leipzig and Bayern Munchen had on him.
Still, Röhl has needed to become a pragmatist. In a league that includes 24 teams, the clear favourites of which are clubs like Leeds, Burnley, or Sheffield United, Röhl understood he needed to adapt to the reality of his squad composition and the quality of opponents.
That is why Röhl’s Sheffield Wednesday play direct football while nearly always sitting in a mid-block. The team takes its opportunities on the counter-attack, usually attacking the wings or attempting long-range shots.
Teamwork and work rate are the two most important ingredients in making this style of football work. The rest is due to Danny Röhl’s careful strategic planning and tactical variations based on Wednesday’s opponents.
Looking at all of this, it is easy to understand why Southampton, a team where Danny Röhl worked as an assistant coach, would want him for the main managerial position. Simply put, Röhl has shown he can do a job with very few resources.
Formations and Adaptability
Few managers change formations quite as often as Danny Röhl. However, this comes back to the adaptability I mentioned earlier. Sheffield Wednesday switches formation and playing style to accommodate the team’s opponents.
Essentially, however, Sheffield Wednesday operates using a 3-4-3 formation. This is the starting point, but this can easily be changed to a 3-4-2-1, 4-2-3-1, or even more recently, to a 5-4-1.
Sheffield Wednesday in Defense
Defensive solidity is the hallmark of this Sheffield Wednesday side. The team can play with either three or four defenders, but the principles remain the same.
The key ideas when defending are to compress space, defend around the halfway line, and overcrowd the central area of the pitch, forcing mistakes by the opposition.
One or two central defenders will always sit back. Their duty is to sweep any through balls. The two full-backs will nearly always play around the halfway line and will give the team formation width.
Width is important because, otherwise, because Röhl likes his team to crowd central areas of the pitch. The team will compress space, not allowing the opposition to play between the lines. Meanwhile, the attackers will drop deeper to help the central midfielder’s pressing efforts.
Ideally, Röhl wants his team to win the ball back around the halfway line by forcing a mistake, not by aggressive pressing.
When playing in a 3-4-3, Pol Valentin and Marvin Johnson will switch from their full-back position to acting more as wide midfielders. Their speed and crossing are then essential for carrying out the team counter-attacking.
Also note the work rate and understanding of how to press by the team’s forward, usually Jamal Lowe or Michael Smith. Lowe, in particular, contributes a great deal defensively. His job out of possession is to pester the central defenders, who are forced to advance with the ball and play a pass to the midfielders.
Still, as mentioned earlier, Danny Röhl understands the importance of Wednesday in adapting to the opposition. This means that his team prefers to sit back and wait for an opposition mistake most of the time. However, against opponents who will allow them, the team will press aggressively.
Sheffield Wednesday in Attack
There are things outside of Sheffield Wednesday’s control. And there are things that Danny Röhl can control. Most of the team’s goals have come from smart counter-attacking or using freekick and corner drills to the team’s advantage.
When counter-attacking, Wednesday will typically press with moderate intensity, look for an error from the opponent and launch an attack on the flank.
When building up, by contrast to the defence where space is compacted, Röhl’s men try to create width. The precision of the direct passes has been improving, seemingly, with each game.
Vital to the passing game are the contributions of central midfielders Barry Bannan and Shea Charles. Bannan is a strong passer and works well off the ball, often dropping deep to help central defenders build up.
Meanwhile, Charles possesses good technique. While Charles is one of the best dribblers on the team, he is also usually the first to work to intercept the ball once possession has been lost.
The Owls look to move on the attacking transition through quick, direct passes. The midfielders and attackers tend to move in unison. It means that the cross from either of the full-backs can be received by a number of attacking players.
The number of goal-scoring opportunities and goals themselves have also improved across the season. Wednesday is still the ninth-best-scoring team in the Championship. But the team is creating more chances and being more efficient than earlier in the campaign.
So, who’s scoring the goals for the Owls? Luckily, the team isn’t over-reliant on one single stringer. Attacking midfielder Josh Windass scored six goals, while Smith scored five. Playmaker Barry Bannan has also contributed with three goals. Note that only Windass averages more than two shots per game. It’s vital that Wednesday make the best of their few opportunities.
What’s Next for Danny Röhl and Sheffield Wednesday?
Danny Röhl has proven that Sheffield Wednesday can thrive in the Championship with limited financial resources. This has been done through discipline. It’s also been done through strong tactical tweaks. These changes occur from one game to another.
Sheffield Wednesday could even enter the Premier League promotion race. But these kinds of performances also increase focus on the club.
Danny Röhl is the favourite to take over for Russel Martin at Southampton. The Saints are sitting in last place in the EPL. Röhl has shown capable of doing good things with little resources. He’s also shown to be capable of reading opponents and adapting his tactical plan to get the best out of his players.
There’s certainly a good deal of uncertainty over whether Röhl at either Southampton or Sheffield Wednesday will be able to get the deal over the line and get the team to complete their objectives.
