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Sheffield Wednesday have been out of action for the best part of two weeks due to the international break, but this Saturday, they final return as they face a trip south.
Garry Monk’s men are tasked with the tough test of Championship leaders West Brom at the Hawthorns even if the home team are without key duo, Romaine Sawyers and Jake Livermore.
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The Owls will need to bounce back amidst adversity as a worrying trend of letting points slip from their grasp has seemingly taken over as in three of their last five games, late goals have either denied them a win or seen them lose.
Earlier this week, the 40-year-old chief spoke about how they were preparing in training this week. He said: “We need to make sure the team is competitive while we try to change a few things and the international break is so important for things like that.
“You try a mix of both offensive and defensive aspects during the week, we’ve brushed over pretty much all of them so far. We’re not at the level that I expect, but that’s to be expected at this stage.
“There are a few more defensive structural things that we need to get better at, there are certain scenarios that happen with certain teams and then there are offensive aspects that we need to get better at.”As a centre-half during his playing days, Monk has quite clearly improved Wednesday defensively – they have managed four clean sheets since he took charge at the start of September while they have only conceded eight goals, four of which in the last two matches, per WhoScored.However, his hint towards there being ‘a few more’ defensive issues than in attack is a little worrying, and it couldn’t be any further from the truth as Steven Fletcher enters this weekend’s match on the back of a six-game run without a goal.It suggests that Monk is in dire need of some coaching support, and at the start of the month, those links to former coach James Beattie resurfaced after the club appointed another member of his old staff, Ryan Needs.The former Blades striker has had an incredible strike rate with forwards while paired with Monk as the manager at their previous clubs – Chris Wood at Leeds, Britt Assombalonga at Middlesbrough, and Che Adams at Birmingham, as outlined here.Beattie couldn’t be any more of need right now, the Owls chief should be getting on the phone.