Danny Rohl slammed Sheffield Wednesday for ‘zero performance’ vs Middlesbrough a year ago, he’s suffering déjà vu now

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Sheffield Wednesday’s season has come apart at the seams, and Danny Rohl has not held back in criticising his players, which is a rinse and repeat of this time last year.

After coming in partway through last season, Danny Rohl performed a miracle to keep Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship when all hope seemed lost.

The young German coached got the best out of the Owls, and he’s taken them even further this year. Wednesday even had an outside shot at the play-offs just a few weeks ago, but that has completely disappeared now.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
13	NorwichNorwich	43	13	14	16	66	63	3	53
14	QPRQPR	43	13	14	16	51	56	-5	53
15	Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday	43	14	11	18	56	66	-10	53
16	Stoke CityStoke City	43	12	14	17	45	54	-9	50
17	PrestonPreston	43	10	19	14	44	53	-9	49

Things have taken a real turn for the worst lately in S6, with major concerns over Dejphon Chansiri’s ownership, and Rohl’s future very much in the air.

After the dismal defeat to Stoke City on Friday, the Owls are stranded in midtable with nothing to play for, and Rohl will be fearing the worst for the final three games of the campaign.

• READ MORE: Former Sheffield Wednesday and Watford star closes in on second career promotion, 10 years after Championship triumph

What Danny Rohl said about Middlesbrough one year ago

In the next batch of upcoming fixtures, Sheffield Wednesday host high-flying Middlesbrough at Hillsborough. Michael Carrick’s men head over to Yorkshire very much in contention for the play-offs, which is an almost identical scenario to when the two teams met last April.

Boro won 2-0 at the Riverside just over a year ago, and Rohl was not happy with what he saw from his men that day.

Speaking to the press at the time (via The Yorkshire Post), Rohl said: “The players, the shape, everything – it was not good enough. It is a big, big disappointment after Friday [a 1-1 draw vs Swansea] when we invested a lot.

“It’s about doing the basics right and I said before that we needed the attitude for such a game as today. It will be hard in the next six games to take something in this league.

“Middlesbrough are a good team who are doing well. To come here and take something, we have to do more. Now [we need] to show a reaction. I always expect my team to do the basics.

“We have six games to go and it’s more of a difficult situation. There was not one player in a good moment. After the game, it was very clear with my team. It was really hard to take; a zero performance.”

Interestingly, Rohl rounded off his rant with a comment that is especially relevant this weekend, adding: “I always protect my players since I have arrived here and [don’t] speak against them. But this was hard to take.”

• READ MORE: Paulo Di Canio spills the ‘truth’ on how his Sheffield Wednesday career fell apart, he ‘loved’ the club

Danny Rohl saw exactly the same vs Stoke City, he needs a reaction

Rohl’s comments after the defeat to Stoke on Friday share startling similarities with his disappointment after the Middlesbrough game last year.

It was a very similar performance at the weekend down in Stoke, and Rohl, who admittedly is one to take criticism on the chin, has now twice thrown his players under the bus after difficult defeats.

While last year’s lambasting felt more like a genuine demand for better from his squad, this time round, some suspect it is a case of Rohl trying to protect his own reputation amid links to bigger clubs ahead of the summer.

Either way, Rohl and the Sheffield Wednesday players need to do much, much better on Monday night against Middlesbrough. Lose again, and their season will surely fade out with a whimper, and the legacy left behind by Rohl if he does leave will be one of bitterness and a lack of fight.