New faces in the squad, fresh impetus and a strong desire to bounce back onto the right path – all big factors covered by Garry Monk ahead of the trip to Barnsley.
Wednesday’s week on the training ground has been shaken up by the deadline day arrivals of Connor Wickham and Josh Windass, both of whom are available for selection at Oakwell.
With added competition in the squad and a determination to rise from the recent spell of results, the Owls boss is looking forward to Saturday’s South Yorkshire derby.
With plenty on the line for both sides, Monk stressed the importance of focusing on the motivations ahead of the game and explained:
“We respect it’s a derby, that will give us more motivation and we have a lot of fans travelling to it – that’s another motivation for us.
“You have to think of your own motivations and not what the opposition’s are. You make sure your motivations are stronger than theirs and show that on the pitch.
“We want to finish this week strong and from what I’ve seen in training I can sense we will do that.
“We’ve spoken about it, we’ve been through it but action is all that matters.”
The Reds are seven points adrift of safety but have fared better on home soil. Throw in the derby nature of the fixture and Monk is expecting nothing other than a tough afternoon.
“We’ve had a bad period results-wise in the league and we need to come out of it and come out of it strong,” he added.
“They seem to be a lot stronger with their performances at home and it will be tough, it’s a derby as well and with all of those ingredients I’m looking forward to it.
“Our focus is on us, it’s not about the opposition, it’s about us putting our levels on the pitch.
“The new players have given impetus to the squad and hopefully we can come out of it, starting this weekend and get back on a run.
“We’ve done it before and we can do it again so we go into this game with confidence.”