Unbeaten in 10.. but oddly out of form – How the hell are Sheffield Wednesday getting on this season?

It’s been pleasing, impressive. It’s been gritty. It’s been a leap forward. It’s been wasteful. It’s put them into a position of enormous strength; the sort of league position supporters of just about any other club in the division would consider surrendering body parts for.

In truth, one match out from the halfway mark, it’s probably one place short of truly satisfactory.

Which adjective do you plump for when it comes to describing Sheffield Wednesday’s season so far? Through the eyes of this reporter at least that’s an impossible task.

And that’s not what people want, of course. Such is the way of the world in 2022, binary arguments are the only ones worth having. It’s Meghan Sparkles or Clarkson diatribe, it’s Gammon or Snowflake. You’re in one camp or the other; it’s excellent or it’s garbage. Shades of grey fade into wallpaper.

But the question posed remains; how are Sheffield Wednesday doing this season?

On 43 points, sat in third place, four points from the top and seven ahead of fourth? Boasting the same 22-game points total that they had the last time they were promoted from this division? Unbeaten in 10 league outings and with four clean sheets in five?

On the cold, hard numbers it’s not so shabby, thanks – that’ll more than do for halfway.

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But then there’s the context.

There’s the fact it is Sheffield Wednesday, they of inflated budget and impressive squad and rampant expectation. There’s the fact that they haven’t scored twice in the league for nearly two months and that players of huge League One reputation haven’t looked much like scoring two goals in that time.

There’s the fact things all of a sudden look muddled and stressed at the time many would hope they would be just beginning to hit their stride and blitz onwards toward the top of the table. There’s three scrappy draws on the spin against sides they should be beating.

There’s the fact that, for many and regardless of whether it takes a record points total or not, anything less than automatic promotion would be a failure. Football is a results business and when a club the size of Sheffield Wednesday sits in the third tier, that brings pressure on all involved to get the job done.

The passionate few expressing their distress on social media to the extent of calling for managerial change are – through the eyes of this Wednesday writer – straining their voices extremely prematurely.

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With a sprinkling of festive faith that every team seems to hit a rough spot even in the most glorious seasons, Wednesday are still beautifully poised in their title tilt and Darren Moore’s achievements in turning around a ship that was on fire and sinking fast decrees any wild notion of change seems far, far away in the distance.

They have accrued more points in 2022 than any other team in England, after all. That’s incredible.

But this self-acknowledged form funk needs shaking soon for all sorts of reasons. A binary summation of how Sheffield Wednesday are doing this season? That’s weeks down the line and given everything the club has going for it, there’s a very good chance this wee run of frustration feels a million miles away by then.