Carlos Carvalhal insists Sheffield Wednesday prefer to play on home soil.
Carlos Carvalhal insists his Sheffield Wednesday side would rather play at home than on the road.
Wednesday midfielder Ross Wallace suggested via the Sheffield Star this week that Carvalhal’s side are perhaps better suited to playing away from Hillsborough.
While Barry Bannan hit out at the home fans for booing the Owls’ 0-0 draw with Bristol City on Saturday, in quotes carried by the Sun newspaper on Monday.
Carvalhal denied any knowledge of Bannan’s comments, but when asked whether he agreed with Wallace’s assessment the Portuguese told BBC Radio Sheffield: “No. I don’t think so.
“I prefer to play at Hillsborough all the time, as I’ve said. We prefer to play here, with our fans. The support these two and a half years, was really very good.
“When we go away, I think because maybe the fans are together and usually they go to all the games – I’m not saying the love the club more than others, but they follow the club to everywhere. They have a big passion and they put the passion in their voices and we feel that when we go away.
“When we play Hillsborough maybe the (vocal) fans are a little more spread, it is a little different. But we prefer to play at home and it is not a problem.”
In league terms, Wednesday have only won twice on the road this season and have twice as many victories at Hillsborough, where they have suffered only one of their five defeats.
Last season’s fourth-placed side are currently 10th in the standings, and failed to register a shot on target against Bristol City.
They are however, only one point worse off than they were at the same stage last season – their slow start exacerbated no doubt by Sheffield United’s early success on a fraction of Wednesday’s budget.
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