It’s good to talk, urges Garry Monk as Sheffield Wednesday eye swift start

The Owls go into their first Championship game of 2020-21 12 points behind the rest because of a points deduction for breaching “profit and sustainability” rules. It is not for the faint-hearted but post-Covid cutbacks mean a less experienced squad will have to deal with it.

With the most wizened of Monk’s summer signings, centre-back Chey Dunkley, not making his debut at Cardiff City tomorrow as he is still recovering from a broken leg, others must step up.

Monk wanted a younger squad but has spoken to them about going against their nature and being more talkative.

“It allows you to do more, having mobility in your team, more dynamic allows you to demand more in terms of movement and aggression,” says Monk when asked about the revamp. “It’s not changing what you do, it’s adding to what you do.

“I thought at certain times last season we had a slower dynamic. Football’s getting quicker and quicker all the time.”

Playing behind closed doors has emphasised each team’s talkers, and some sides have very few. The ability and confidence to direct team-mates will be even more important when the technical area is once again drowned out by the noise of a crowd.

“It’s a generation thing, it’s a society thing,” reflects Monk. “It’s not fair to compare with 10 or 20 years ago – with social media and all these things, society’s just moved in a different way.

“You just have to respect where it is and lend your experience. Communication is a huge thing in life. You want to encourage it and put them in an environment where it’s okay to speak, to have arguments at times, to push each other to the edge and talk and demand. Sometimes you might have to fall out but at the end of the match we’ll be friends again.

“When you talk after games to managers and coaches we all talk about it being a quiet group because you think about your days when it was loud and everyone was communicating and demanding but it’s not fair to compare that.

“We’ve tried to open it up into an environment where we can talk and stress the importance of it, especially in matches. There still needs to be a lot more but it’s moving in the right direction.

“I felt even last season we were a very quiet team. You can’t afford that. The best teams I know of are loud and aggressive with it but do it in the right way.

“When it comes to those critical moments in a match and they haven’t got me or anyone else, the leadership must come from them. That accountability and responsibility is not just on Barry (Bannan, the captain) and Tom (Lees, the vice-captain), it’s on the whole team.”

There will also have to be a bit of a siege mentality around the points deduction.

“We’ll try to use what’s a negative into an advantage,” argues Monk. “There’s no feeling your way into it and seeing where you are. In a sense it’s a nothing-to-lose type of attitude, but within the structure and the discipline.

“Hopefully in a funny way there’s less pressure on us. We know we have to get points, we know we have to play that way right from the very off, whereas some teams are going to have a slower start and come on strong at the end, we know we’re going to have to be as full-on as we can for every single game.”

Eating away at the deficit with the transfer window still open (until October 16) might make attracting the players Monk still wants – a striker tops his list with West Bromwich Albion’s Kenneth Zohore linked – easier, although if players are scared off, it is probably a blessing in disguise.

“If players want to play for Sheffield Wednesday they want to be here, regardless of whether you’re minus 12 or plus 12,” reasons Monk. “Not everyone will but the five who’ve come in, the first thing they’ve said is that they want to come in regardless.”

Despite preferring winger Adam Reach and midfielder Izzy Brown at centre-forward in last week’s League Cup tie at Walsall, Monk says he has not written off Jordan Rhodes.

“I believe there’s a player more than capable in there,” he said. “We’ve talked about confidence and set him targets so he can get back to consistently performing.

“I wanted to use the opportunity (of last week’s game) to see other players in those positions because we might need it this season. I had to see that in a match environment.”

Former Huddersfield Town forward Elias Kachunga is ready to debut having not had time to assimilate between joining last week and the trip to Walsall.

“Kacha is (in) full training, he’ll be ready for this weekend, O (Osaze Urhoghide) will be back in full training from today and Chey is just a little bit behind that, he’s possibly seven to 10 days before returning to training,” says Monk. “We knew that with Chey when he came in. We knew as well the player we’ll get.”

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James Mitchinson