Both Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough managers are under pressure ahead of this weekend’s clash.
Jed Wallace of Millwall scores his sides first goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Millwall and Middlesbrough at The Den on December 16, 2017 in London, England.
Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough’s season haven’t gone as well as they would have hoped – both sides would have expected to be closer to the automatic promotion places after much optimism in the summer.
Garry Monk’s Middlesbrough are 10th in the Championship, five points adrift of the play-offs and 15 points behind the automatic promotion spots – which is poor considering no club spent more than Middlesbrough back in the summer.
A run of four defeats in six games has seen fans lose patience with Monk. The Sun report that a fan has started a GoFundMe page to help raise cash to get a plane to fly over the Riverside Stadium with a “Monk Out” banner. Middlesbrough, however, are likely to stick with Monk – at least until the end of the season.
Garry Monk, manager of Middlesbrough looks on prior to the Sky Bet Championship match between Millwall and Middlesbrough at The Den on December 16, 2017 in London, England.
Defeat at Hillsborough, however, could see Middlesbrough eight points behind the top six, which is simply unacceptable given the money they spent and the squad they have.
Carlos Carvalhal is under similar pressure at Sheffield Wednesday. He’s arguably been a victim of his own success, after guiding the South Yorkshire club to two top six finishes in the last two seasons.
Wednesday are currently 15th, ten points behind the play-offs and 20 behind Cardiff City in second. After finishing fourth last term, fans were hoping they’d challenge for the top two.
After spending big in the 2015 and 2016 windows, Carvalhal struggled to attain all his transfer targets in a frustrating summer window. The club have won just six of their 22 games, are struggling to score goals and they also lost 4-2 to bitter rivals Sheffield United back in September.
Carlos Carvalhal manager of Sheffield Wednesday looks on during the Sky Bet Championship match between Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield Wednesday at Macron Stadium on October 14, 2017 in…
Should Wednesday lose to Boro, they could be just seven points clear of the relegation places and – 13 points behind the play-offs. The one thing the former Besiktas manager has on his side is that he does have a horribly long injury list to contend with, and that may buy him some time. Stringing a few wins together can also see a team rapidly rise up the Championship.
No-one would be shocked, however, if one of these managers is sacked after the weekend.
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