Danny Rohl pointed to the players having the right attitude and showing fight for the club after watching his side pull off an excellent 2-0 win at QPR yoday … just five days after he was left fuming following the Easter Monday ‘no-show’ at Middlesbrough.
He made five changes from the team that started at the Riverside, a performance that sparked angry words from the Owls boss after they went down 2-0 with hardly a whimper.
In contrast, the manager couldn’t hide his huge satisfaction at today’s display, enjoying extended celebrations with the away fans before saying: “I saw a big reaction from my team. We changed a lot of things, I wanted to see players on the pitch who showed the right attitude, playing and fighting for this club and not thinking too much about the future.
“We talk about the tactical things but first it is about having the attitude to do it and I think some players showed in the past they are not ready for this fight. Today I saw a team who is ready for the fight.
“I changed the shape and we had five different players in the starting eleven. It was clear I could not continue and just keep my fingers crossed. I wanted to see a reaction.
“Michael Smith, Josh Windass, Callum Paterson … they are men with a lot of experience and that was helpful today.”
With two home games during the next week, against Norwich and Stoke, Rohl added: “I am proud but today I will not celebrate, we have five games to go and we need to keep going, keep going now.
“We have to stay fighting and do exactly like this today.”
One disappointment on an all-round excellent day was the first-half injury that forced the impressive midfielder Ian Poveda to be substituted. Rohl said: “The only thing is Ian looks not good and could be done for the season – but we have to do it and go forward as a team and today we did it as a team.”
When asked about the absence of Marvin Johnson from the matchday squad, Rohl said: “We had some small problems with Marvin. But I won’t speak about Marvin today, I will speak about my team today because this team here fights and has the right attitude.”
Once again there was great backing from the travelling Owls fans and the manager commented: “It was great again from our massive supporters and another outstanding performance from them as we see all the time.”