Sheffield Wednesday clean slate policy made clear in discussion over Josh Windass role

There has been debate over a handful of the players who featured in the club’s promotion from League One last season, with several near ever-presents in the 2022/23 campaign having had their roles reduced in the early stages of the Spaniard’s reign at the club.

The likes of Liam Palmer and George Byers are back fit and are expected to play a big part in the coming weeks, but there is uncertainty over the roles of the likes of Marvin Johnson and Reece James, who have been left out of recent matchday squads.

Other players such as Michael Smith and Will Vaulks have seen their input stripped back as Xisco looks to impart a new way of playing on the team. The Wednesday manager spoke passionately in his pre-Cardiff City press conference to detail the need for a new football philosophy at S6.

No doors are closed on the 22/23 mainstays, Xisco has repeatedly insisted. But players new and old are operating from a clean slate in order to impress the new boss - former glories will not play a factor.

“Right now everybody has the same level and can play in the starting 11. Everybody,” he said.

“Everybody who is now in the first 11, I need to show something different so that they can stay in the first 11 for the following week. If not, this is the situation.

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“It doesn’t matter what they did in the past. It is for now, for Cardiff, for how we can do it. This is the idea.”

Owls Wembley hero Josh Windass sat out of last weekend’s defeat to Preston North End, with three attacking substitutions made while he watched on from the bench.

Windass is yet to get a sustained run in the ‘number 10’ role, a position he took up regularly in previous seasons to some success, operating mainly from the left wing in matches played under the new regime.

Describing the 29-year-old as ‘the perfect player’, Xisco suggested that despite his rare sit-out, he remains a vitally important figure in the squad.

“Josh Windass, for me, is very important,” Xisco told The Star. “He missed one game. He’s very important.

“Whoever plays number 10, I need more shots, more passes, more aggressive in the high press. That is what I need. It doesn’t matter if it is Josh Windass or Anthony Musaba. They know exactly what I want in all the positions.

“For me, Windass is a perfect player. He played all the games with me, only the last one he missed.

“I have 25 players, I do not only have a first 11. We can not operate with just an 11. We need everybody ready to start playing, this is what we need in our squad.”