What does the future hold for Tom Lees at Sheffield Wednesday after 'difficult' few months?

Hooked at half-time with his side 3-0 down, a Lees mistake had allowed the Rams’ second goal in what felt like a big moment in a drowning season.

Wednesday had gone into the match at Hillsborough off the back of encouraging performances against Birmingham and Charlton and there was a sense that the wheels were slowly starting to turn again. Tom Lawrence’s 24th minute effort goal sucked any semblance of positivity out of an expectant Hillsborough and spat the club back to square one.

“His performance wasn’t good enough,” Monk said coldly. “Yes he made the mistake but then afterwards he didn’t respond to that, which I expect.”

In a few weeks that had been littered with talk of lack of leadership, commitment and changing room culture, Monk’s words about his club captain felt like a deliberately public dressing down. Seven days later Lees played 90 minutes in a hapless 5-0 defeat at Brentford, prompting more talk of a lack of leadership.

And then came the break. That long, winding break. Lees sat on the bench for the first two matches back, watching on as the departing Morgan Fox played out his last 45 minutes for the club after injury to Julian Börner.

Dominic Iorfa and Liam Palmer received praise for their successful adaptation to the side’s 3-5-2 switch-up and a hamstring injury followed, ruling him out of three weeks. Six years into life at S6 Tom Lees, all of a sudden, was the forgotten man.

So it’s not been a particularly happy 2020 for the 29-year-old, who all things considered looked to be edging closer to the departure board as Monk spoke of changing room revolution. That is, perhaps, until now.

“Tom's come in in the last two games and you can see that bit of leadership, can't you?,” Monk said after a classy Lees performance in the 0-0 draw with Huddersfield, the second match in a return to the side that has delivered two clean sheets.

“There’s a concentration and focus to those guys around him. It’s there and we look solid. That was a question mark over us and we've looked solid in the last two games.

“I'm very pleased with him, he's come back in and you can see he's had that affect. I'm pleased for him and I'm pleased for the squad in terms of the last two games.”

It’s been something close to vintage Lees. Not the most chest-beating captain you’re likely to see in the football league, his leadership rather radiates from assured, confident performances at the back and parachuted into the centre of the defensive trio in the past few days, he’s looked every bit the club captain again as the Owls have climbed up from a run of three defeats on the spin.

The statistics from the Huddersfield match speak for themself. Whether Lees feels he has something to prove or not, he certainly played like it.

On an evening in which both sides looked leggy and inconsistent, he won 100 per cent of his tackles and completed each of his nine clearances – the rest of his Wednesday teammates completed only eight put together.

He made 17 recoveries, a season-high, and swaggered into an incredible 12 interceptions, a career-high since a 2-2 draw with Rotherham United in December 2018.

All this while completing 80 per cent of his passes and conceding only one foul. If a point needed proving, it was proven.

“I'm pleased and it's nice to be back playing,” Lees said in an honest post-match interview. “It's difficult when you're not playing but when you've got the chance, whoever it is, you've just got to try to take it and that's no different to anybody else in that situation.

“I've got a chance through injuries and that sort of thing so I'm just trying to take it and do my best.

"I found Saturday tough [against QPR] because I haven't really trained or anything. I did 15 minutes on the Friday and then played, but tonight I felt loads better, sharper and more with it. Hopefully I can keep playing now and build that fitness and get on a roll with it.”

With Liam Palmer edging closer to fitness it will be interesting to see how Monk handles his last-line trio heading into the final two matches. Börner looked to be struggling in the later moments of the Huddersfield draw and Dominic Iorfa, a tower of strength though he now is in this Wednesday team, has played every minute of their seven matches back so far.

But Lees, back involved and performing like the sort of leader Monk has so often said is missing from this Wednesday squad, should have no reservations over keeping his spot.

“In terms of profile that we are looking for, they are young, hungry and determined,” Monk said on his recruitment plans this summer.

"And then you supplement that with some good senior pros that can guide them. We have a few of them here right now."

Lees has another year left on his contract and where cold post-County conversations may have hinted towards an early exit just a few months ago, it could be that he is one of the senior pros chosen to oversee a new dawn ahead at the club.

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