Sheffield Wednesday are in need of added creativity to their side.
According to a recent report in the Daily Mail, Sheffield Wednesday have joined Nottingham Forest and Leeds United in the race to sign Peterborough United striker Jack Marriott.
The 23-year-old has hit an impressive 32 goals this term, making him League One’s top scorer and a likely candidate to step up to the Championship this summer – with or without Posh.
The Express claimed during the January transfer window how Peterborough were looking for a figure of around £6 million for the in-form striker – a decent fee for a natural-born goal scorer.
But Sheffield Wednesday aren’t in need of any more strikers, as they have plenty of attackers on their books who are more than capable of finding the net at Championship level.
In Gary Hooper, Jordan Rhodes, Steven Fletcher, Lucas Joao, Atdhe Nuhiu, the loaned-out Sam Winnall and Argentine ace Fernando Forestieri, the Owls boast an array of strikers each with differing attributes.
Marriott isn’t likely to offer Sheffield Wednesday anything different, and the fee which it would take to prize him away from Posh could be spent on much more pressing matters in a bid to solve the real problem – a lack of creativity.
| Chances Created | Scoring Attempts | Successful Dribbles | Appearances | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brentford | 564 | 735 | 519 | 42 |
| QPR | 426 | 601 | 379 | 42 |
| Barnsley | 433 | 570 | 388 | 41 |
| Wolves | 405 | 551 | 451 | 42 |
| Birmingham | 379 | 535 | 457 | 42 |
| Hull | 373 | 521 | 332 | 42 |
| Sheff Wed | 382 | 513 | 295 | 42 |
As shown by the above Opta table, Sheffield Wednesday are desperately short of creativity as even relegation-threatened Barnsley create more chances and have more shots on goal than their rivals.
Barry Bannan, Kieran Lee, Sam Hutchinson and on-loan midfielder Jacob Butterfield are all seemingly comfortable on the ball, but they’re generally players who sit rather than drive forward with the ball.
Only three teams – Burton Albion, Ipswich Town and Millwall – have completed less successful take-ons than Sheefield Wednesday this season, while 12 teams have recorded more efforts on goal.
Blaming the strikers for a lack of goals can only be backed up if said players are squandering presentable opportunities. Sheffield Wednesday’s problem is creating opportunities, and how predictable they have become in possession.
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