"I've never had that before": Garry Monk on who will play in goal for Sheffield Wednesday at Cardiff
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Cameron Dawson was given the nod in the 0-0 Carabao Cup draw at Walsall, which Wednesday won thanks in part to the 25-year-old’s save in the penalty shootout after he recorded a hassle-free clean sheet.
Dawson is battling it out with Joe Wildsmith for the gloves at Wednesday and asked whether the fact he was selected was any indication of his plans going forward, Monk said: “Out of all the positions, I literally didn’t make my mind up until five minutes before we started to name the team.
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Hide Ad“It’s not set in stone just because of that decision today, I had to make a decision and it’s been so close.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a situation like this. If there’s no excuse and there’s no clear decision to be made, normally I go on my gut, but I didn’t even have a gut instinct with it.
“It was very much just a flippant decision. They’ve both done so well, so competitive. Last season Cameron had his period and I always planned for Joe to have his period and I said to them coming back, it’s game on, it’s a clean slate and a fresh start.
“They’ve both been so good in pre-season, but I had to make a decision. It’s not set in stone. Daws has had his first crack at it today, his job is to perform and Joe’s on the hunt for that, but there’s nothing set in stone yet over first choice or second choice or anything like that.
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Hide Ad“They’re both exactly where they need to be, Daws played because I had to make a decision, otherwise we’d have played with no keepers!”
New goalkeeping coach Darryl Flahavan has allowed for Monk to have a fresh and trusted pair of eyes on the goalkeeping situation since his arrival last month.
But having worked with the pair for the last three weeks, Flahavan was unable to split the two keepers.
“I discuss a lot of things with the staff and in the goalkeeping area that’s the same, but he [Flahavan] wasn’t helping me in that situation,” he said.
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Hide Ad“We discussed it, they both have different strengths, but they are also very close in those strengths as well.
“Normally it is quite clear in positions, who should be playing and who not, and if I can’t quite work that out I go on gut instinct, but I didnt have one for this one. It’s strange, I’ve never had that before.
“They’re two great lads, they’re going to be fantastic goalkeepers and they’re improving. If you ask them they’ve already improved in the three weeks that we’ve been back in.
“It’s going to be interesting and either of them could play anytime, so they have to be ready. It’s not set in stone because Daws played today, I made that very clear to the both of them.”