{"id":796318,"date":"2026-03-01T06:21:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T06:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/796318\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T06:21:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T06:21:25","slug":"tonda-eckert-calls-it-crunch-time-after-southampton-win-at-sheffield-wednesday-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/796318\/","title":{"rendered":"Tonda Eckert calls it \u2018crunch time\u2019 after Southampton win at Sheffield Wednesday \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert said it is \u201ccrunch time\u201d for his side after their 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Goals from defenders James Bree, Ryan Manning and Taylor Harwood-Bellis were enough to give the Saints all three points, with Jerry Yates\u2019 first goal for the Owls proving to be just a consolation.<\/p>\n

Eckert said: \u201cOverall I\u2019m happy with the performance and the result. It\u2019s not easy to come here but it was important we got the win today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend a lot of time in training on dead-ball situations; we know how important they are going in both directions.<\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/a>\"Ed<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey defended in a deep block so we hoped to get some set-pieces off the back of that. Our defenders being aggressive at set-pieces came in handy today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have good quality on the pitch but we can still improve in some moments of the game today. We scored from three set-pieces so it\u2019s good to know we have a variation of ways to score goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every game, every week and every month there are small margins in the Championship and we know there is still a long way to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a good few weeks for the football club in general but it\u2019s crunch time now. We have to keep going game after game, keep our heads down, keep working and be humble.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not easy for Sheffield Wednesday. We saw the support they have today and it speaks for the gravity of the club. I\u2019m sure they will come back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen said his boys gave everything they have against \u201cthe strongest squad in the league\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pedersen said: \u201cI think the boys played a strong game today against the strongest squad in the league. They have so much individual quality but I think we started the game well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was our third game in six days and the boys were tired after getting back late from Norwich in midweek but we still wanted to press high. I feel Southampton didn\u2019t create much in the first half so it\u2019s sad we conceded from the set-pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the second half, we changed some things. Our press was even higher up and more aggressive. We really gave it a go and we showed big heart and big intensity and we scored a good goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur reaction after the third goal shows the mentality in the boys. They kept on going and we created chances, we showed a lot of positive things.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it\u2019s disappointing to concede three set-pieces because I feel we competed so well in open play. Against a team like Southampton, everything has to be perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere in the stadium today was absolutely amazing. The fans did not stop supporting the players and we could feel the positivity on the pitch. It gave them all such a big lift.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we are relegated but we are still here to win games and we are here to give our fans good performances. We want to get back on to positive points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to the players, \u2018I hate losing these football games but I\u2019m so proud of you\u2019. They gave everything they have which I have said a lot this season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southampton boss Tonda Eckert said it is \u201ccrunch time\u201d for his side after their 3-1 win over Sheffield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,9030,393,4884,85834,35838,231207,1620,10031,2359,178692,16,15],"class_list":["post-796318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sheffield","tag-britain","tag-championship","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-henrik-pedersen","tag-sheff-wed","tag-sheff-wed-vs-southampton","tag-sheffield","tag-soccer","tag-southampton","tag-tonda-eckert","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116152479835136597","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}