After leaving the warm-ups, Michael Ihiekwe was pulled from the starting lineup for Sheffield Wednesday’s loss against Stoke City.
Manager Danny Röhl told The Star that he took the last-minute decision to leave Michael Ihiekwe out of Sheffield Wednesday’s starting lineup against Stoke City due to a horrific injury. After suffering an injury during training on Thursday, the defender, who was nominated for the Championship player of the month award for his achievements in March, was doubtful going into the 2-0 loss.
Regardless, Ihiekwe flew to Staffordshire, and on Friday morning, it was decided to add him to the lineup. The 32-year-old was spotted leaving their match preparations early, despite being selected in the squad at 2:00 pm. The club said that Dominic Iorfa will take his place about 20 minutes before kickoff. It turns out that Ihiekwe has a severe cut that made it quite uncomfortable for him to wear boots.
“We knew this before, that he got a kick yesterday and he has a big cut,” Röhl said. “He tried to put on the football boots and to make the warm-up but it was not possible. It is a shame, you can count how often we have had to change our defensive line, we have no rhythm. It gives opportunities to other players and you can either use it or you can’t use it.”
Ihiekwe’s replacement Iorfa was taken off before the hour, substituted for rookie Gabriel Otegbayo who in turn had not expected to be in the squad having travelled as an ‘extra man’. Röhl, who elsewhere in his post-match press conference made the claim that a group of his players were not able to play his style of football, confirmed this was not due to injury.
“No, that was a tactical choice,” Röhl stated. “Gab was fine overall; he had a good few minutes.”
