Reach has become one of Sheffield Wednesday’s key players in recent months.
If five-three-two is going to be Sheffield Wednesday’s jam, then playing two attacking wing-backs is essential.
Yet while Jack Hunt and Liam Palmer both tick the box on Wednesday’s right-hand side, a dearth of options on the left is leaving the Owls imbalanced.
Daniel Pudil – suspended for Saturday’s trip to Barnsley anyway – looks shot as a full-back, while Morgan Fox may be best advised to follow the lead of his Czech teammate and reinvent himself at centre-half.
It is Fox who has occupied the left wing-back slot throughout Jos Luhukay’s short reign. However, he never looks entirely comfortable in possession and seldom tries to beat a man – which often stifles counter-attacks before they can develop. He is also worryingly susceptible to any sort of pace, as Adama Traore showed up at Middlesbrough last week.
So how can Wednesday – who failed to add to their left-side options in the January transfer window and loaned the obvious alternative, Matt Penney, to Mansfield Town instead – alleviate this issue? In this writer’s opinion, it is as simple as relocating Adam Reach.
For a while now, I have advocated Reach’s move further upfield – even though he was perfectly competent playing left-back in a four-four-two. And it is no coincidence that his best Owls form has arrived from a more advanced position. Yet even he has regressed in recent weeks, after gravitating towards a conservative central midfield role.
Even with a grotesque list of injuries, Wednesday still have enough players to do that pparticular job – any two from George Boyd, Ross Wallace, David Jones and Sean Clare could feasible join forces with Joey Pelupessy at Oakwell.
For me, though, there is only Reach who can solve their problems on the left.
Over to you, Jos.
Should Sheffield Wednesday drop Fox for Reach going forward?
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