Lee Gregory delivers honest assessment of mood at Sheffield Wednesday - takes responsibility

The experienced Owls striker described what has been a tough task in the opening weeks of the campaign, with a whirlwind summer of change ushering in a new style of play under new manager Xisco.

Asked of the mood in camp after six matches without a win at the outset, Gregory spoke honestly.

“It’s a little bit low for obvious reasons,” he said. “We know the gameplan and what we have to do - it was never going to be easy.

“A new manager coming in, new players coming in, we’re just getting down to it, trying to stick to the gameplan and we know we’ll come good.

“We’ve been building. We deserved a point on Saturday, everybody can see that. If you can see it and we can feel it, we know the results are coming soon.”

A Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat to Mansfield Town was the latest gut-punch in a fiercely difficult start to their return to the Championship.

It presents a much-changed squad with a fresh challenge after the highs of promotion last season.

Gregory’s fellow forward Josh Windass spoke passionately in the week to encourage the squad to take more responsibility over the direction of the season. It’s a sentiment Gregory agrees with.

“It’s a case of getting on with it, listening to the manager and what he wants and trying to put that into practice,” he said. “It was never going to be easy, it was never going to be a quick turnaround but I do feel the lads are getting somewhere.

“You need to give a bit of time. It is a big change and we need time to adapt to it. We’re all building on something and I can see it’s going to come good, we just need it to come sooner rather than later.

“The gaffer gives us a way of playing but once we cross the white line it’s over to us. If we’re not doing what is asked, it’s not going to work. It’s down to us.”

The former Millwall, Derby County and Stoke City forward is one of several experienced Championship players in the Owls ranks and is 13 outings short of a 200-match tally of appearances in the second tier.

The time for excuses is over, he said, with onus on senior figures to step up and help those less experienced through a brutally difficult opening month of the season.

“We need to pull the young lads through,” he said. “We can’t keep using excuses, we can’t keep saying ‘It’s a long season, there are lots of games’. At what point do you turn around and go ‘Oh crap, we’ve only got 15 games left and we’re miles behind’?

“We need to start listening better and learning better and do it on the pitch. Hopefully by that time we’re not too far behind and we’ve cracked on.”