Sheffield Wednesday v Bournemouth - Under-pressure Garry Monk shutting out ‘the noise’

The Owls have lost their previous four matches, failing to score in the last three. The summer’s points deduction for financial fair play breaches puts them ten points from safety.

The defeats seem to be getting progressively worse. To lose to Brentford was no shame, and they at least showed second-half spirit. But they followed defeat to Luton Town with a second successive red card and a 3-0 collapse at derby rivals Rotherham United, then quadrupled Wycombe Wanderers’ points tally on Saturday.

The fans are restless but with games behind closed doors and the city in coronavirus tier three ahead of Thursday’s lockdown, social media and radio phone-ins are the best barometer of the mood and they are never the most reliable.

Clearly, though, it is not all sweetness and light and Monk is feeling the heat, tetchy in a post-Wycombe interview when he felt his hunger was being questioned.

If an experienced manager is feeling the pressure, can the younger members of a squad which – thanks to his summer rebuilding – has a much broader age range be expected to shrug it off?

“The noise is always there at any club but the bigger the club, the bigger the noise,” explains Monk. “It doesn’t change my perspective. I use my experience and know what I want to do.

“There’s no one more determined than me, there’s no one unhappier when we don’t win games but you always have to have that fire in you to put it right and so do the players and I do believe they’ve got that in them but we have to deliver it with actions.

“We know we’re only one game away from putting it back on track.

“This is a big club with a big, passionate – loyal – fanbase and the noises will always be bigger but I’ve got to keep focused on what we need to do.

“Probably the best example I’ll ever have was at Swansea where we had the best Premier League season we’d ever had, the highest position we’d ever finished, started the next season well and within five games the noise was there and I never understood it.

“It was the first time I’d ever experienced it but I was lucky enough to have good, experienced managers I knew who made me understand this was part of it.

“Even though you don’t want to have it, that experience is invaluable to understand what football management really is. It depends what type of character you are too as to whether those things really affect your daily work.

“You can’t just wrap the players up in cotton wool but you also have to protect and encourage them and then be hard on them. If you’re mollycoddled all your life you’re going to be in for a big shock when you go into the world so with all players, especially young ones, you have to get the balance right. They have to see the harsh reality and problem-solve themselves but also you have to guide them in the right way.”

Monk certainly appears determined to see the job through.

“I’ve had to fight my whole life for everything I’ve ever had,” he said. “I’ve been used to criticism and people not believing I can do things.

“Social media is just a world of abuse, a horrendous place. That’s why I don’t pay attention to it – it’s not the real world.

“I try to make the best decisions for the club and not for myself. There’s nothing worse than selfishness.”

The dilemma for owner Dejphon Chansiri is having backed Monk more in the summer than last season, starting again will be more expensive at a time when pennies are tighter.

When Monk joined in September, it was on his own. Only in the closed season was he able to bring in backroom lieutenants he was familiar with. In the January transfer window he made only loan signings.

This summer he signed seven players – albeit on a tight budget – and made one of those loans (Josh Windass) permanent.

Ten of last season’s squad were cleared out.

Just as it leaves Monk with fewer excuses for the all-too familiar fragility he recognises post-Brentford, so it makes replacing him more costly.

Managerial vacancies at clubs like Sheffield Wednesday will always attract interest but top-quality candidates may not be queuing around the block to take on a club on minus four points with a limited budget to change the squad in January, never mind pay his wages.

Chansiri could really do with Monk turning things around.

The prospects will be helped by the return from suspension of Tom Lees this evening, but it feels like the odds are against.

Last six games: Sheffield Wednesday LLLLWD, Bournemouth DWDDDW.

Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire)

Last time: Sheffield Wednesday 0 Bournemouth 2, November 4, 2014, Championship.

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