How Garry Monk’s teams usually start as Sheffield Wednesday’s 2020/21 draws closer
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2014/15 – Swansea City
Looking back to the 2014/15 season, which was his first full campaign in charge of Swansea City, it started brightly with three wins from three as the Swans beat Manchester United, Burnley and West Bromwich Albion, but that was followed by defeats to Chelsea and Southampton prior to a draw at Sunderland.
All in all, Monk’s side picked up 15 points from a possible 30 in his opening 10 games that season before going on to guide them to an eighth-place finish as they narrowly missed out on the Europa League.
2015/16 – Swansea City
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Hide AdThe following year they started their Premier League campaign on a four-game unbeaten streak as they beat Newcastle United and Manchester United, drawing with Chelsea and Sunderland. There was then just one win in the six that followed. They picked up 13 points from 30 in their opening 10 matches
Monk went on to leave his post after 15 games that season following a defeat to Leicester City – they went on to finish 12th.
2016/17 – Leeds United
After arriving at Leeds, Monk’s new club got off to a rough start with defeats to Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City, but then went on to beat the likes of Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town as they lost just three of the eight that followed.
The Whites picked up 13 points from 30 in those opening 10 games that season on the way to finishing seventh, five points outside of the Play-Off places behind Fulham.
2017/18 – Middlesbrough
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Hide AdMonk had a relatively short spell with Boro, joining in June 2017 before leaving in December – not long after his side had just beaten the Owls 2-1.
The start of the campaign was solid though, with the club losing just three of their opening 10 games – winning four of them – as they saw off Sheffield United, Burton Albion, Bolton Wanderers and Queens Park Rangers. After 10 games, they’d gotten 15 points from 30.
2019/20 – Birmingham City
At Birmingham, after starting the season under transfer restrictions and dealing with a long-lasting case against the EFL, Monk had a hot and cold start to the campaign.
While the Blues lost just two of their opening 10 games, they won just one of them, drawing seven games to pick up 10 points from a possible 30.
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Hide AdDespite the EFL case and the nine-points that were eventually docked from Birmingham’s tally, Monk still guided them to a 17th-place finish with 14 wins, 19 draws and 13 defeats in total.
On average, Monk’s sides earn 13.2 points from their opening 10 games in the Premier League and Championship, and Owls fans will be hoping for the same – or better, of course – as they seek to get out of minus points as soon as possible.