How the additions of January transfer trio can change Sheffield Wednesday’s style of play in the coming weeks

All three were named as started in the Owls’ frustrating 1-1 derby draw with relegation-threatened Barnsley on Saturday as the manager seemed to switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with long-term absentee Fernando Forestieri also recalled to action in an attacking line-up.

Windass scored with his first shot in an Owls shirt and there were glimpses of brightness in the match for Da Cruz and Wickham, who Monk admitted requires more pitch time in order to get to full match sharpness.

Monk, who took over the job six matches into the season and has made clear it will take time for his methods to truly bed-in at the club, said that the three new faces add different tools to his armoury and that, given time in the coming weeks, he may be able to set up differently than in previous weeks.

“We’ll see initially and it’s about you progress it from there,” he said.

“You don’t want to over-complicate things [too soon], if we play within our structure at our highest level of determination, attitude and quality, we win games.

“When we don’t do it like that, we come unstuck. It’s very simple.

“We need to do what we do but do it at the highest level and if you do that with quality, and with the added quality we’ve now got, hopefully that can help us with what we all want to achieve, which is winning games.”

The 40-year-old has made clear his determination to turn around a run of one win in Wednesday’s last eight matches but maintains his focus on his long-term goal – one he believes will be felt in months to come.

Monk said: “The bigger picture is to develop the team in a certain way as we go forward, but you need transition and change for all of that, not just one January window, you need a few situations to happen. But of course the key is to win games.”