Patience required, says Monk, as concerns for Owls continue
THE road ahead for Sheffield Wednesday is long.
They need to start again, to plan ahead, but despite what they have done on the field, they still do not know what division they will be in next season, let alone all the other uncertainties the coronavirus throws up financially.
Drained though he looked as he sat down for his postmatch Zoom conference after Wednesday’s demoralising
3-1 defeat to Preston North End, Garry Monk outlined his determination to lead the Owls back to a better place but warned it will need patience.
“It’s a heck of a job, isn’t it?” he was asked.
“It is,” he replied. “But it’s one I am determined to do. It needs a huge amount of work. It needs
Confident he is the right man to turn around the fortunes of Sheffield Wednesday.
patience but that side of it is out of your control.”
If he mentioned “fundamentals” once, he must have said it 100 times. Winning 1-0 with 12 minutes to go, his players conceded three sloppy goals to suffer a third consecutive defeat. In the previous one, at
Swansea City, poor finishing had been the focus.
“Structurally we are good but it is concentration in the critical moments,” he complained.
“Definitely defensively in that last bit we didn’t have that. (Scott Sinclair’s equalising) goal was typical of that. We had two players go for the same ball, one playing offside and it is basic fundamentals.”
The squad has been put together by so many different managers it is a mish-mash.
Before June’s departures it was the Championship’s second oldest, yet Monk put the lack of defensive concentration down to inexperience.
“I don’t think they’re particularly experienced players, apart from maybe Julian (Borner),” he said of his back three. “Dom (Iorfa)’s never played centre-back before (this season).”