Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal has told the Yorkshire Post that Jordan Rhodes has been left exhausted after playing five games in 15 days.
The 27-year-old striker was hailed as a marquee signing when he moved on to Sheffield Wednesday on transfer deadline day, with a £10m permanent deal being agreed for the summer. And while he certainly started off with a bang by scoring on his home debut against Birmingham City, he hasn’t scored since and missed a penalty in the 1-0 Yorkshire derby loss against Leeds United.
But Carvalhal has said that Rhodes has not been at his best since signing for the Owls as he has gone from barely playing for Middlesbrough to playing five games in 15 games, which left him exhausted in the match against Leeds. But now with a week’s rest under his belt before his match against Norwich City, Carvalhal believes you will soon see the best out of Rhodes.
He said: “He was not playing when he came and when he came he played six games on a row,”
“That is why in the last game he was completely exhausted and we decided to take him off because a player who doesn’t play, then plays five games in 15 days, it is hard to play 90 minutes.”
“We believe that after this break he has the time to breath and train and I believe if he plays on Saturday he can perform better than in the previous games.
“People can train, but playing is another matter and the reality is that he was not playing and I believe he will do better.”
“This game is different compared to previous games. We played five games in 15 games and the last game we didn’t play in the same circumstances.
“Against Leeds we played face-by-face and we were the better team, in my opinion, though we lost.”
