Key events
Half time: Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Plymouth
Wednesday lead after a dominant first-half performance against Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth™. Jamal Lowe scored the goal after fine work from the two central midfielders Barry Bannan and Svante Ingelsson. This is the first time they’ve played together in a competitive game. You wouldn’t know it; they complement each other beautifully and have totally dominated the midfield.
Plymouth have defended well, and Ibrahim Cissoko looks lively on the left wing. But overall they’ve been outplayed.
45+2 min Cissoko is booked for an absurd foul on Ingelsson (I think).
45 min Jamal Lowe is booked for flattening Galloway.
43 min At the other end, Whittaker curls over from the edge of the box after a good run from Cissoko. He’s been bright; the other Plymouth attackers have not.
42 min Musaba beats his man on the left and crosses low. The ball takes a slight touch off a defender and rolls towards Gassama, who slips in the act of shooting! That would have been a good chance had he not slipped.
40 min Here’s that goal from Jamal Lowe. The two passes to create it were terrific.
39 min Replays show it hit Forshaw’s arm, but it was down by his side so even with VAR that wouldn’t have been given.
38 min Ingelsson appeals for handball in the area after cutting back inside Forshaw. The referee, who didn’t have a great view, waves play on.
38 min Gassama runs through on goal and is denied superbly by Hazard. Turns out he was offside, but Hazard didn’t know that.
Bannan found Ingelsson in space on the right edge of the area with a penetrative pass. Ingelsson waved a beautiful low cross into the corridor of uncertainty with his left foot, and Lowe ran on to finish gleefully from six yards.
GOAL! Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Plymouth (J Lowe 35)
Jamal Lowe scores on his debut!
34 min Cissoko, who has been Plymouth’s most purposeful attacker, tries a one-two on the edge of the area but is crowded out.
31 min Bannan runs onto an inviting pass 22 yards out but slices his shot high and wide. Nothing educated about his left foot on that occasion.
30 min Wednesday are starting to apply some pressure again. Jamal Lowe’s shot is blocked, with the loose ball booted behind for a corner. Nothing comes of it.
28 min Wednesday win the ball high up the field, which is when they’ve been most dangerous. Valery’s early cross evades Jamal Lowe at the near post and is put behind for a corner by by Palsson.
26 min Free-kick to Plymouth on the left wing. Forshaw overhits it/goes for goal [delete depending on positivity accentuation levels] and Beadle makes an easy save.
24 min In fact Forshaw is fine; he just had a problem with his boots. As you were.
22 min Adam Forshaw has a problem and has walked off the field; he must have pulled something. Bad nes for Wayne Rooney, though the game has at least been more evenly contested in the last five minutes.
It’s a hot day so the referee is taking a drinks break.
18 min Plymouth are starting to get on the ball a little bit. Cissoko gets away from Valery in the area, thinks he’s won a corner and is entirely unimpressed when the referee gives a goalkick.
17 min A rare Plymouth attack leads to their first corner. It bounces around the Wednesday area for a bit before being cleared.
16 min Musaba charges infield from the left, away from Palsson, but mistimes his shot through to Hazard.
13 min A deep corner is headed back by Iorfa and hooked over on the volley by Musaba. Not much of a chance.
12 min Musaba plays a short pass to find Ingelsson in space onthe left side of the area. He pokes a fairly tame shot that is pushed round the near post by Hazard. But it is all Wednesday.
9 min Wednesday are smothering Plymouth, with almost all of the play so far taking play in one half.
7 min “Rooney’s appointment in the summer was announced the same week as Kompany’s hiring by Bayern Munich, and both appointments were widely discussed as cases of ‘failing upward’,” says Phil Podolsky. “Which I suppose tells us that everything is relative. Personally speaking, I’d rather take a nice job in the West Country than having to answer to the kind of types who sit in the executive seats at the Allianz Arena. Whenever Bayern lose, the camera always zooms in on the facial reactions of former players who you’d rather admire from afar than have as your boss.”
5 min The corner is cleared, but Wednesday come again. They’ve made a superb start.
4 min Max Lowe cuts a sharp cross back towards Windass, whose blocked shot leads to Wednesday’s first corner.
2 min Wednesday have started well. Gassama appeals unsuccessfully for a penalty after going down near the byline. Gibson was up his backside but there’s no immediate evidence of a foul.
1 min Peep peep! Plymouth kick off from left to right as we watch.
A reminder of the teams, who are about to take the field on a lovely summer’s afternoon in Sheffield.
Sheffield Wednesday (possible 4-2-3-1) Beadle; Valery, Iorfa, Bernard, M Lowe; Ingelsson, Bannan; Gassama, Windass, Musaba; J Lowe.
Substitutes: Charles, Palmer, Valentin, Diaby, Ihiekwe, Johnson, Kobacki, Smith, McNeill.
Plymouth (possible 4-2-3-1) Hazard; Palsson, Gibson, Galloway, Ogbeta; Forshaw, Gyabi; Whittaker, Bundu, Cissoko; Tijani.
Substitutes: Cooper, Mumba, Pleguezelo, Szucs, Edwards, Hardie, Wright, Randell, Issaka.
Referee Lewis Smith.
Read Matt Hughes’ preview
Team news
Both teams include five summer signings in the starting XI: four new, one returning for a second loan spell (Beadle and Gyabi).
Wednesday James Beadle, Yan Valery, Max Lowe, Jamal Lowe and Svante Ingelsson.
Plymouth Nathanael Ogbeta, Victor Palsson, Darko Gyabi, Muhamed Tijani, Ibrahim Cissoko.
🦉 Here’s how we line-up for our @SkyBetChamp opener!
XI: Beadle, Valery, Iorfa, Bernard, M. Lowe, Ingelsson, Bannan (c), Gassama, Musaba, Windass, J. Lowe
SUBS: Charles, Palmer, Valentin, Diaby, Ihiekwe, Johnson, Kobacki, Smith, McNeill@SpreadexSport | #SHWPLY pic.twitter.com/PLlxqWfo2x
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) August 11, 2024
Preamble
The big man is back in town. Wayne Rooney’s first competitive game as Plymouth manager is a trip to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday. These teams finished 20th and 21st last season, though that only tells part of the story.
Sheffield Wednesday had a brilliant second half of the season under Danny Rohl; Plymouth got most of their points before Stephen Schumacher left for Stoke in December. His replacement Ian Foster struggled and was sacked in April, which is why Rooney has a new job.
Kick off 4pm