Football League World
·24 October 2024
Football League World
·24 October 2024
The Owls were without one of their players in midweek for the first time this season.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl has confirmed that Anthony Musaba is back available for selection against Portsmouth after missing their game in midweek against Swansea City.
A real attacking spark was severely lacking on Tuesday night when the Owls drew 0-0 with Luke Williams' Swans. That could be at least partially attributed to the absence of Musaba.
Up until that game, the Dutch winger had featured in all of Wednesday's first 10 matches of the 2024/25 Championship campaign.
Rohl said after the stalemate against Swansea, to The Star: "[Musaba] has a small injury from the Burnley game, he had a knock.
"It would have been a risk to take him today because we know we have such a busy schedule. I am very positive he will be back on Friday, this is a good thing. Of course Anthony was in my mind to play today from the beginning but today I had to make the decision.
"I didn’t want to put him on the bench because then you have a decision to make. We had to protect him. I didn’t want to know I had Anthony and to be tempted to take the risk as manager because then he feels something and is out."
The 23-year-old will be available for this weekend, revealed Rohl in his pre-Pompey press conference. "Anthony Musaba is good, he trained today and it’s good to have him back as an option,"stated the young German coach.
Wednesday will head into Friday night's game at Fratton Park as favourites. John Mousinho's side currently sit bottom of the league having won just once in their opening 11 games, upon their return to the second tier.
"Portsmouth have shown different faces over the last two games, but, for us, we go there wanting to play our game, with our principles, we have a lot of energy.
"Sometimes you have not a good feeling after a game but we must look to the performance, for me the cup is not half empty, it’s half full and with this mindset we go into the next games."
Even though Musaba has been out with an injury, because of the short length of time he was out for, there is a chance that he could come back into the first XI.
That said, he is their top assister so far this season, albeit he only has two. Still, having another creative player available will be of use to a team that is currently lacking fluidity going forward.
Getting Ike Ugbo firing will also be key to Wednesday kickstarting themselves in attack. The £2.5 million striker is yet to get off the mark this season after rejoining the Owls on a permanent deal this summer.