All the things Garry Monk has to figure out before Sheffield Wednesday return to Championship action

It’s almost upon us. After three months of absence, Sheffield Wednesday will be back in action tomorrow, and Garry Monk has some big decisions to make.
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Wednesday face a Nottingham Forest team who still have aspirations of reaching the Play-Offs, while the Owls are battling to get as many points on the board as possible in order to push for the top six, or make sure that any possible points deduction isn’t enough to relegate them.

Having been in a torrid run of form, culminating in a 5-0 hammering in their last game before the COVID-19 break hit, Monk was expected to ring the changes anyway – now, three months later, it’s even more likely.

Squad Selection

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With just Josh Windass and Sam Winnall out injured, Monk has almost a clean bill of health to pick from against Forest, making him a bit spoilt for choice with regards to some of those that were either unavailable or not fully fit before the break.

Key players such as Massimo Luongo and Adam Reach are now fully recovered and raring to go, while others such as Julian Börner have had chance to shake off their niggles.

Monk has mentioned a changing of attitudes since the return, and the chance for his players to reset and re-focus, so his first XI is likely to be based largely on who has impressed during their lockdown home sessions and the first couple of weeks back.

Fans will be interested to see, for example, whether it is Cameron Dawson – Monk’s most-used goalkeeper this season – or Joe Wildsmith who gets the nod between the sticks, and whether Luongo/Reach go straight back in now that they’re available again.

Sheffield Wednesday will play at an empty Hillsborough tomorrow. (Richard Sellers/PA Wire)Sheffield Wednesday will play at an empty Hillsborough tomorrow. (Richard Sellers/PA Wire)
Sheffield Wednesday will play at an empty Hillsborough tomorrow. (Richard Sellers/PA Wire)

Contract Situations

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There are some big players for SWFC who are out of contract at the end of this month, and so far only Kieran Lee has committed to playing beyond the two games happening this month.

With regulars such as Steven Fletcher, Morgan Fox and Atdhe Nuhiu – as things stand – not set to be available past June 30th, and loan extensions for the likes of Jacob Murphy not yet finalised, Monk will have to make a judgement call on where players are in terms of their headspace regarding this weekend’s game and the ones that follow.

On Thursday he said that all of the players in training had been offered a short-term extension until the end of the 2019/20 season, but plenty can happen between now and Saturday afternoon that could help shape his decision on who is deserving of a starting berth when action returns.

Read More
Monk on empty Hillsborough, his next XI and ‘a different focus’

Formation

Monk has chopped and changed things quite a lot this season, playing a number of different formations and using plenty of varying combinations along the way.With an intense schedule ahead, he might look to bring a bit more continuity to matters in an attempt to bring back their early season consistency, but could equally shift things around in order to rotate his squad to try and avoid overloading players.

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Pictures from their training session at Hillsborough did hint at the possibility of returning to the 3-5-2 formation that they have used before, although that being said, 4-4-2 worked well in their 4-0 thumping of tomorrow’s opponents away from home back in December.

Rotation

“It’s not just about who starts this game against Forest, it’s about the whole nine games. Everyone has to be ready, and you’ll see changes throughout games.”

That’s what Monk said in a press conference this week, and he’s very aware that he will need as many players available as possible in order to make it through the next six weeks.

Being left out of the squad against Forest certainly won’t suggest that a player has no role to play against Bristol City, for instance. And they’ll certainly be taking things one game at a time and utilising the new five-substitution regulations that have temporarily put in place.

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It could also mean that there is more space in the side for young players such as Alex Hunt, Osaze Urhoghide and Conor Grant – among others – with Monk insisting that they have been part of first team training and first team squads because they deserve to be there.

Motivation

Wednesday’s players shouldn’t be short of motivating factors when it comes to gearing themselves up for tomorrow’s game, but it would be interesting to know which aspect Monk looks to focus on when he does his team talks.

Whether it’s playing for pride, focusing on a push for the Play-Offs, aiming to secure new contracts, or trying to guarantee survival, the SWFC manager is not short of options to throw at his players, but you’d think that the chance to right the wrongs of 2020 so far would be motivation enough.

Playing at an empty Hillsborough is likely to be a strange experience for all of the players, especially given the size of it, but it could take away a bit of the pressure that a big crowd can put on players.

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Wednesday have a good record against Forest – losing just one of their last 10 games – and will be looking to add to that record come 5pm tomorrow.

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Thank you, Joe.