This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Sheffield Wednesday boss Garry Monk has downplayed his team’s lack of goals during his time at the helm so far, which comes as a concern on their long-term ambitions.
What’s he said?
The 40-year-old has been in charge of the Owls since the start of September and has currently guided them to fifth in the Championship table after picking up 15 points from a possible 24.
In that spell, Wednesday have recorded just one defeat, meaning Monk is well on track to surpass his previous incumbents, most notably Carlos Carvalhal, who was the last man to guide the south Yorkshire club to the playoffs.
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If the current boss can keep this level of form going, then it could well correlate into their first post-season venture in over two years.
Although that will be hard to achieve if Monk’s attitude towards their struggles in front of goal is genuine – speaking to The Star, he said:
“We’re taking points and we’re doing well.
“You want to be clinical, but I can’t pin that on anyone. We’ve been unlucky I think.
“If we keep performing like that and pushing that standard as we have been doing then we will win games and dominate games.
“We’ve been taking points while we’ve been growing.”
Deflecting the pressure
The Owls manager could well be diverting some of the pressure off his misfiring team, which would be fair and easy to understand.
But his remarks are still somewhat concerning as come May, much of the Hillsborough faithful will not want to be rueing them missing out on an automatic promotion spot or even the playoffs by just a few points, which would have no doubt been helped if they scored more goals.
The 0-0 stalemate with Leeds United is a case in point.
If Wednesday were able to find a way through on Saturday, they would have gained two extra points, which would have them just one point behind league leaders West Brom, who they face in a couple of weeks.
Football FanCast have previously outlined the reliance Monk has on Steven Fletcher for goals, this is something that needs to change, and with January coming up, there are no excuses not to act.
