Danny Röhl faces a whole new challenge as Sheffield Wednesday momentum slows - Alex Miller verdict

Sheffield Wednesday are 1-0 up against promotion hopefuls Cardiff City and they're controlling the game, their South Wales opponents growing in confidence but being kept at arms length for the most part. Results elsewhere are going the way of the Owls and a glance at the 'live' league table right there and right then, the night before the night before Christmas, could have stirred a whole lot more than that mouse.

It serves no purpose for Wednesdayites to get caught up in the 'would've, should've and could've' that football throws up so regularly, less so those within the camp who will no doubt still be kicking themselves for a late switch-off that allowed Cardiff to score twice and steal three points for so long destined to stay in South Yorkshire.

But we'll do it anyway. The momentum would have been monumental and the conversations over the dinner table all the more joyous. A one-time 12-point gap on those in the safe spots was for a moment cut to just three. Alas. Karlan Grant, a fumble, nul points. Three days later defeat at Coventry City and the same barren points haul. And now, after wins elsewhere for Huddersfield Town, Stoke City and Millwall, that deficit is nine.

Among other things, Danny Röhl spoke post-match in terms of no road to an end goal being direct, that there will be ups and downs along the way and of course in saying that he is bang on. Anyone who felt after their recent and impressive run of three wins in four that his side would have blitzed through the table unimpeded were perhaps indulging in the Bucks Fizz a little early. That doesn't tend to happen, especially so in this madness of a division and especially for a side with the relative frailties of Sheffield Wednesday.

But after that long wave of patience and positivity with performances dragged up from the gutter, after that burst of wins inspired by an impressive late draw against possible champions-in-waiting Leicester City, Röhl faces a new challenge both on and off the field.

Statistics show that opponents have shifted their approach against the Owls. With time having passed for them to take a close look at how Wednesday got Röhling, they're sitting deeper and not being seduced into the press that the Owls began to have success against. The Wednesday response has been tweaked in response. Championship football now feels like a perpetual game of cat and mouse crossed with chess. It's highly technical and is weighted on savvy analysis and tactical nous; of that they're in good hands by every account.

The other challenge comes in arresting the slide of optimism off the field that has come with back-to-back defeats. Four points taken from a possible 36 on the road suggests not only that home form is imperative if Wednesday are going to be in the mix for survival come Easter, but that the club's immense away support are right to expect defeat on the road. The feeling around their chances of beating the drop has taken a hit and at a club where off-field momentum has always seemed paramount, the turning of doubters to believers once more is key.

But for a few more days of 'what day of the week is it?', the January transfer window is here and Röhl will be allowed to dip into the transfer market for answers to his time-and-again questioning of those vital moments in both boxes. January has been a month of strife for the Owls for some time and it will be interesting to see with a new head of recruitment in place whether they can buck that trend.

The challenge for Röhl's Wednesday is an ever-changing beast.