Andy Giddings, BBC Radio Sheffield: Wednesday won't take cup lightly | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Röhl will not be taking Tuesday night's Carabao Cup tie against Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium lightly, stated Andy Giddings, journalist at BBC Radio Sheffield.

The Owls have defeated Hull, Grimsby and Blackpool away from home in a cup run that has aided their second season back in the Championship.

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Sheffield Wednesday are 13th in the Championship table, having avoided relegation by a three-point margin last season. What have you made of how they've got on in the league so far this term?

They got off to a spectacular start against Plymouth and, at that stage, lots of people were thinking, ‘Crikey, what is possible here?!’. Those high expectations and dreams were tempered by fairly heavy defeats to Sunderland and Leeds and, perhaps most pointedly, a real hammering at Millwall, but they have recovered superbly since then.

There was a shoulda, woulda, coulda kind of game against QPR; and they were definitely the best team against West Brom, so there is a bit more of a bounce about Sheffield Wednesday, at the moment.

They also secured three points away at Portsmouth, thanks to Michael Smith's wonderful winner.

The issues that were there at the start of the season - after the Plymouth game - are being resurrected, so we shall see in the weeks and months ahead, but it is looking pretty good at the minute.

The Owls have won all three of their Carabao Cup games in 90 minutes. How much has their success so far in this competition kept morale high when things haven't been going their way in the Championship?

It is helping, 100 per cent. When they went to Hull, it was in the midst of a run of fixtures where you were wondering what was going to happen next. There was a crazy 20-minute start to the game when all the goals were scored and not a great deal happened after that.

The victories they have had in the Carabao Cup have been a key part of the season because winning breeds confidence and, off the back of those - against fairly healthy opposition, in each case - Wednesday have looked good.

Some of the players that ordinarily would not have started did, and played well, which may have planted a seed in the mind of those who probably thought they would have an easy path to the first team.

The cup run has been excellent for Wednesday.

This is only the second occasion in 22 seasons they've reached the fourth round. With things looking rosier in the league, do you expect them to go all out in search of progression?

They have a coach in Danny Röhl that wants to set a standard for excellence so, as a result, you will never see a scenario where he and they would take the cup lightly.

It is not inconceivable to think that, against Brentford, there would be some players in the starting XI that have not played so much. It will be players who need to get up to speed, rather than those who are not first-team candidates on a week-by-week basis.

Given the fact the cup has been very good to Wednesday this season, I cannot imagine it is just going to be one of those scenarios we seem to think happen more than it actually does, that the lower league team - or even Brentford - think, 'It’s only the cup’.

I suspect, maybe for very different reasons, that Brentford - with greater ambitions, perhaps, than Wednesday - will look at the cup as a real avenue to make some positive headlines.

Which player should Brentford fans be keeping an eye out for on Tuesday night?

There is keeping an eye out for in terms of potential threat, then there is keeping an eye out for in terms of, ‘Keep your hands off!’; Wednesday have some very good players, there is no doubt about that.

The one that my slightly sarcastic response to begin with applies to most is Di’Shon Bernard, who is a technically gifted - for the level, at least - centre-back and is calmness personified. He can cover the edge of the penalty area really well and is not the worst in the air, either.

He has probably been one of the picks of the more regular starters, it just then depends on who plays. Wednesday have Anthony Musaba and Djeidi Gassama, who are two young lads that, at the start of their careers, played for massive clubs on the continent - but they are still young lads.

With that comes the reality that, one week it can look like they are destined for greater things and the next week, maybe they are not. On their day, they pose a threat to anybody.

What should Thomas Frank’s side expect in terms of shape and style?

In an ideal world, I think Danny Röhl wants to play with a back four. But, fairly or unfairly, how he wanted to play at the start of the season against Leeds and Sunderland - who are top teams - did not quite work so, more often than not, he has gone with a back five.

I would not necessarily think that would change for a cup game - and almost certainly not for a cup game against Premier League opposition.

The personnel might change a little, but I would be surprised if it was anything other than three centre-halves, wing-backs and so on. Then you have Barry Bannan in midfield as the go-to guy and it will be interesting to see how he deploys people up front.

There is Smith, who has had one of his typically solid away starts to the season, but there is also Ike Ugbo, who could probably do with some minutes as the big-money summer signing. So, one in attack with runners, which may well be the two lads from France and somebody like Josh Windass floating around.

What's your score prediction for the first meeting in over three years?

I will be surprised if Sheffield Wednesday do not give Brentford something to think about and are not a challenge and a pain.

However, I just look at some of the players that do not play week in, week out for Brentford and think they might just get them over the line. I am happy to be proven wrong, but I will go for a 2-0 Brentford win.