Sheffield Wednesday have been affected by a number of factors recently which have led results to decline significantly and fan animosity to increase.
From off the field issues such as an EFL investigation hanging over the club to key senior players being dropped from the first-team, Wednesday haven’t been short of problems. Interestingly, however, fans don’t point to any of those factors as the reason why the Owls are now 12th in the table after being third at Christmas, having won just one of their last ten league games.
Instead, they think the injury to Steven Fletcher has impacted the team the most, as Garry Monk had built his style with him as the focal point of the attack, and his 12 goals have made him the Owls’ top goalscorer by a significant margin, with Jacob Murphy the next highest on four.
The Scot has been missing for much of the recent poor run, playing just 45 minutes against Hull in the previous ten games, with his last appearances before that being the 4-0 win over Forest, which shows how important he is.
Here is what some fans have been saying about the striker and why the team has missed him so much.
the main reason for me is Fletcher getting injured, we have nobody similar, 12 goals & Monk built a team round him, everything built around him. Then in more recent times we've seen BIG drops in form to Bannan, Borner, Dawson Iorfa, Reach & Harris.
— Mark (@mark42swfc) February 19, 2020
Fletcher was papering over the cracks. He’s been exceptional this season and gave others the platform to exceed as well. We’ve had no natural replacement for him at all. Off the field chairman has created an absolute mess. Very bloated squad, ridiculous ticket prices and FFP 🤦♂️
— Jon Fittall (@fittall1987) February 19, 2020
3rd was a false position. So slightly misleading anyway. But missing Fletcher and Luongo certainly. Huge chunk of the squad out of contract soon and probably know they aren’t getting a new one. Monk changing system and players more than his underpants.
— Tom Scott (@TomScott1) February 19, 2020
Fletcher’s been a massive miss. However, there’s no explaining or justifying the complete capitulation. The statistics were very deceptive about our defence when we doing well as it’s always been our weak point & now that we’ve stopped scoring we look a real mess. Very worrying.
— Sharpey (@THEsharpey) February 19, 2020
I think when we were 3rd we were massively overachieving & had a goal scorer getting us out of trouble (Fletcher)
Few more individual mistakes too, as well as a disorganised midfield
— TF (@TheTF27) February 20, 2020
I never thought we were top 3 quality but I’d like to think the lack of Luongo and Fletcher have made a big difference from being one of the chasing pack to relegation form but I get the impression you guys think it might be more Monk related.
— Andy Gill (@MrAGill) February 19, 2020
How important is Fletcher to the current Wednesday side? Is it unacceptable that Monk has been unable top cope without him? Let us know your thoughts!
