Championship betting tip: Stoke City- Sheffield Wednesday
Mar 30, 2019
Championship: Stoke City- Sheffield Wednesday
Ahead of City's trip to Griffin Park earlier in this New Year I spoke about the issues new head coach Nathan Jones would have ................
Disappointing season for Stoke who were amongst the pre season favourites for promotion, they parted company with head coach Gary Rowett in midweek, with highly rated Nathan Jones coming in from Luton Town. We might see the change make an immediate impact, but Jones plays a very different style to Rowett, like night and day and he will try and get players to adopt an adventurous system totally alien to Rowett, who you can call cautious if you are being kind .City have seen enough of those kind of coaches in recent years and this is a major shift, a quantum leap if you like in mindset. I think it is 100% the right way to go, but it will not happen overnight and players might even be a little confused about what they are asked to do, with very little time on the training pitch under Jones, who is very "hands on".
City arrive with former Bee and favourite son Ryan Woods in midfield, unlike most who return, he will get a good welcome, but most returness struggle and it is certain Brentford know more about Woods than Stoke and far more than Jones. Bees do their homework (more tham the majority of clubs) and head coach Thomas Frank was on Sky last night and said he expects Jones to go with a "front-foot 4-4-2 diamond", that or a variation of it, is all I have seen from Luton with him in charge, it is very soon to try to implement that at City, after ,what, two /one and a half training sessions ! It will be fun to watch first hand and I am very excited about the game, but who wouldn't by a trip to Griffin Park ! I favour the Bees today.
The mighty, mighty Bees won 3-1 and I spoke a little about that a couple of day's later when City hosted third tier Shrewsbury in the FA Cup ......
City had one touch of the ball inside the Bees penalty area in 95 minutes of ball. They played the opening 45 with Jones' diamond and no width, not really on the front foot, although they tried.
They are now 15th, 10 points off playoff pace, 10 above the drop zone, pretty much in no man's land, they collected 34 points from 23 games pre Christmas, just 13 from 15 subsequently and it is clear that "quantum leap", if it comes at all, will not be this season, or with this group of players. Jones need time and a budget in the transfer window.
Wednesday are on fire under their own new coach Steve Bruce, his task was easier, note I didn't say "easy" and few managers have more experience of the Championship or what is required to succeed at this level and ahead of their last start, a home game with Blackburn Rovers I wrote ...............
I backed Wednesday away to Bolton in midweek .............
Wednesday arrive in 14th but only six points off the playoffs and are unbeaten in eight games since Steve Bruce took over, they have kept clean sheets in five of those , including against free scoring Brentford and highflying Sheffield United and were the better team in a 1-1 draw at 6th placed Derby County last weekend. They completely outplayed the Bees, who did not show up, but Brentford have taken 12 points and scored 11 goals in winning four games (two either side of that) and that makes the win over the West London "giants" all the more impressive and Bruce was VERY good tactically in that game. Road points need to be turned into wins for the Owls if they are to close in on top six and this is a great place to start.
They won that 2-0 and are now 11th four points off sixth place and with some real momentum and self belief. I saw Rovers at Griffin Park recently and wrote afterwards .............
A sluggish start from the Bees and they were 2 down early, before the five without reply, four of which were as good as you will see anywhere and you can view them all on this link. My personal favourite is the Maupay goal on 1:48 is it a thing of beauty and I love the way Swayers raises his arm in celebration before the ball even reaches Maupay, as he knows the diminutive striker doesn't miss ! Some of the build up play was sensational and there was also a 4-5 minute period in the second half where Rovers did not touch the ball.
Rovers supporters were bemoaning their lack of activity in the January window and whilst they did win in midweek too, beating a struggling Wigan comfortably enough, it was their first win in 8 and only two of those eight opponents are realistic promotion hopefuls and an inform Owls are a step up on most of those . Rovers have conceded 12 in four away starts, including two games versus bottom 5 teams and if Wednesday have realistic top 6 ambitions, they simply have to find a way to take all three points. Rovers showed a very soft underbelly at GP and in subsequent games and have taken just one point from a possible 33 when conceding first.
The Owls won that 4-2 , they are 10th, but only two points off the playoff spots and have given themselves a chance of finishing top 6, but need to keep winning and with teams around them having a game or two in hand, playing for a point is just not on the agenda, although a point here would not be a terrible result. Wednesday are a massive club, sold out their 3,000 ticket allocation for this game three weeks ago and are riding the crest of a momentum wave into the bet365 stadium. Stoke midfielder Sam Clucas (pictured) serves the final game of his three-match suspension, incredibly, City have not scored in the last six games in which he has played 14 minutes or less.
2 units Sheffield Wednesday level ball 2.53 asian line/Sportmarket.
Good Luck.
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