Darren Moore explains eye-catching Sheffield Wednesday selection call in Plymouth win | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore says midfielder Lewis Wing was left out of his side’s 4-2 win over Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, purely for selection reasons.

Having joined the Owls on a season-long loan from Middlesbrough back in the summer transfer window, Wing had been an ever-present in the matchday squad for Moore’s side.

However, the 26-year-old didn’t even make the bench for Saturday’s win over the Pilgrims, which moves Wednesday to within three points of the play-off places.

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Dennis Adeniran

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In Wing’s absence, Barry Bannan, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Massimo Luongo were the trio to start in the centre of the park for the Owls during that win.

Now it seems as though the reason Wing did not feature in that game, was nothing to do with fitness, but simply a tactical move from Moore.

Explaining why Wing did not feature in that game, the Wednesday boss was quoted by The Sheffield Star“Lewis Wing was just not in the selection… George (Byers) had come back into training, we had Dennis (Adeniran) on the bench, and I didn’t think that we needed three midfielders on the bench.

“We wanted to have one defender and three attackers on there, because I felt that we needed to go after them today – and we did that.”

Following that win that leaves the Owls eighth in the League One standings, Moore’s side are next in action with a trip to the Kassam Stadium to face Oxford United on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

It may not be that much of a surprise that Moore took this approach with Wing on Saturday.

We have often seen this season that the Wednesday manager will move players in and out of his side, simply for the purposes of rotation.

As a result, given he had been an ever present for the Owls prior to that clash with Plymouth, it may have been the case that this was just Wing’s turn for a break from the side.

It will be interesting therefore, to see if the 26-year-old does return to contention for next week’s trip to Oxford, which could be a key game in the race for a play-off place.