Leeds United mirror the inconsistency at Wolves
A manager takes charge in the Championship for the first time and has to blood around a dozen new signings in a young squad while under the scrutiny of success-thirsty supporters...
Sound familiar? For Walter Zenga at Wolves, read Garry Monk at Leeds United.
The former Swansea boss, like Zenga, has experienced mixed results in the opening couple of months of the season.
And like Wolves, Leeds find themselves searching for some elusive consistency as they plot a course for the top six.
Leeds, who signed 11 players in the summer, are just one point and two places above Wolves.
They're also a team experiencing plenty of teething problems, something Zenga knows all about too.
It's perhaps a surprise that Monk is still in post on October 21, given he is the seventh permanent manager at the club since Massimo Cellino became owner in 2014.
There were strong rumours last month that he was on the verge of the sack, but the man who led Swansea to eighth place in the Premier League in 2015 says his new team needs 'time to grow'.
Monk said this week: "What are we into the season? Two months I've had with this group. I know we had pre-season as well but the expectation – I want it to be now, I want it all now and I don't want to waste time but I understand and realise what it takes for a squad to develop, for a way of playing to develop and for an understanding of how to win games in a better way.
"This group are getting there. They're going to make mistakes along the way but we have to allow them to do that and grow. We have to.
"It doesn't happen overnight and they have to come through these experiences to come out the other side. We have to understand that, which I do – as long as we learn from these mistakes."
Those mistakes included conceding an injury-time equaliser at home to Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night in a 1-1 draw.
That made it one point from two games for Monk's team, after a great run of five wins in six games.
Leeds, who have scored three goals on each of their last two visits to Molineux (a 4-3 defeat 2015 and a 3-2 win last season) will travel south without winger Stuart Dallas who is injured with a thigh strain.
Captain Liam Bridcutt is also sidelined and Monk admitted they were missing him.
He added: "Liam's progressing but he's not going to be ready before the international break.
"Influence-wise, we miss him for sure. He's a very good player but you can't dwell on that.
"You could say the same about many teams and many players. You always miss good players but the other lads in midfield have been doing very well."
