This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.
Sheffield Wednesday got back to winning ways this weekend after a 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic moved them to within a point of playoff contention.
Massimo Luongo was handed his first start of the season, having joined the club in the summer, and he repaid his manager’s faith by scoring the only goal of the game in the 57th minute.
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The 27-year-old directed home Adam Reach’s cut-back pass from just inside the area in what was otherwise a rather dismal game with neither side managing more than three attempts on goal, per WhoScored.
Wigan could have scored themselves when Kieffer Moore’s header was directed onto the crossbar by Owls goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, and Wednesday also had a Steven Fletcher strike ruled out for offside.
It means Monk has started life in south Yorkshire with ten points from a possible 15, and with them on the cusp of entering a playoff spot, that should be more than suffice.
Snapshot
One factor that makes it just a little more impressive is the fact that he’s had to do it with a squad built by someone else.
Steve Bruce then caretaker boss Lee Bullen assembled this team and Monk’s adapted to what he’s been dealt with – which can have an adverse effect sometimes as seen against Wigan on Saturday.
The 40-year-old turned to his bench to spark something late on so that they could find a second goal to put the game out of the visitor’s reach.
Off the Bench
In terms of adding further attacking threat, Monk had the choice of two strikers or a winger – and he went for the latter in Jacob Murphy with ten minutes left in the game.
And not for the first time this season, the Newcastle United loanee failed to provide what was demanded of him.
Murphy has managed just one goal in nine appearances so far this Championship campaign with him being dispossessed an average of 1.1 times per game on top of 1.3 unsuccessful touches per match, via WhoScored.
This ten-minute cameo was no different – he managed just one successful dribble in three attempts and zero shots at all. That showed exactly why he isn’t starting.
The 24-year-old also lost possession six times. That’s a staggering rate at just over once every minute and a half – had he been on the pitch for the full 90 minutes, at that rate, he would have recorded a turnover in possession over 50 times.
If anything, he’s only proved exactly why he’s warming the bench each game, but then again, there’s not much Monk can do until January as he’s one of the only other wide options at the club.
He’s quickly becoming a huge flop, something that’s relatively unsurprising given he scored just twice on loan at West Brom last term.
