Stoke City boss makes admission over Danny Rohl’s ‘different’ Sheffield Wednesday

Wednesday are a different beast under Danny Röhl in comparison to earlier in the season, and the upturn in both performances and results in recent games has been testament to that. It’s something that Neil appears wary of.

The hosts are still the favourites given their home advantage and the league position of their opponents, but Röhl’s opposite number knows that the visitors won’t be rolling over when they visit the bet365 Stadium. Stoke, though, have lost their last three games, and are in need of an upturn in fortunes.

As quoted by the Stoke Sentinel, the Potters boss said, “You want to go into every game as a fan feeling optimistic and confident that your team’s going to try to win and be the better side - we’ve got to approach it exactly like that. We’ve got to be confident in what we’re doing, believe that we’re going to be the better team and try to win the game. Equally you have to be respectful of your opponent, and know that they're not just going to rock up, roll over and get their belly tickled.

“It's going to be a tough match. They're going to come here with a game plan. It may well be to frustrate us, it may well try to be really aggressive and try to get the first goal and put us on the back foot, that’s down to them. But I think they're very different from what they have been earlier in the season. The Championship changes so often.

“The new coach has had four or five games and they’re a different style than they were before, plus they’ve got experienced players in there. It’s not going to be an easy game. We’re not going to be able to roll these over comfortably. It’s going to be a difficult match and we’re going to have to play well to make sure we win.”

The Owls haven’t won away at Stoke since back in 2007, losing three of their last four trips there, and will be desperate to change that this coming weekend.