da betway： [ad_pod ]
da leao： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Sheffield Wednesday hosted Everton in the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday night as both teams took a short break from league action.
The Premier League outfit ran out 2-0 winners at Hillsborough thanks to a brace from former Blades striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
New appointment Garry Monk made eight changes to the team that salvaged a point against Fulham on Saturday with this being just his third game in charge.
The 48-year-old evidently wanted to see the peripheral members of his squad in competitive action for the very first time, even so, that may have been his first significant error as Owls boss.
Watch Sheffield Wednesday Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
He may be unbeaten after two matches in the Championship, but it is still too soon to judge. Therefore he should be trying to get fans onside at the earliest opportunity and fielding a more competitive team against Everton may have paid dividends.
The Toffees are struggling as of late in the Premier League having recorded back-to-back losses, so they were there to be got at – even if Marco Silva named a relatively strong starting XI; he made just five changes.
That train of thought was further proved in hindsight as the home side weren’t exactly swept off their feet like Nottingham Forest were against Arsenal, they could have actually got something from this match.
Wednesday recorded more shots than their top-flight opposition by having nine attempts and they even restricted them to just three efforts on target all game – two of which ended up in the back of the net, but that’s the difference between the elite and the second tier. Teams take their chances.
Two of the Owls’ most influential players started the game on the substitutes bench in Steven Fletcher, who has scored four goals this season and Kadeem Harris, who has been an essential attacking outlet for them recording one assist while averaging 1.1 crosses per game.
Given that Everton have leaked nine goals in their last four Premier League matches, it would have made sense to play the top-scorer in the team. It certainly would have given them a better fighting chance.
If the south Yorkshire club fails to make the playoffs under Monk, they could well look back upon this match and wonder why a cup run couldn’t at least have occurred.