Blades top-up, Burnley Parker bus, and Matt puts Lamps under the spotlight...
2 December 2024 | Weekend Notes brings you the biggest stories, stats and insights from the EFL weekend
● BIG STORIES ● CHEAT SHEET ● 5IVELIGHTS ● THE VIEW FROM ● FANTASY FOOTBALL ● WATCHING BRIEF ●
“Great advert” stuff…
You can enjoy 007 as a romping spy thriller… or, in my case, as a funny comedy about advertising; product placement as dreamlike transcendence, sometimes opulent, other times banal. Recall Bond tapping away on his Sony Vaio or pouring a 330ml bottle of Heineken into a Heineken glass. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Britain’s beacon of spydom rented his car from Avis, whilst in Casino Royale he drove a Ford Mondeo, one hand on the wheel and the other checking his Sony Ericsson.
I raise all this because… SWEET, SWEET, NTT20 MERCH HAS ARRIVED. This intro is an attempt at product placement as product placement should be: relevant, attainable and located at the top of the page so you can choose to move past it (although there’s no getting away from today's theme of classic advertising). I won’t overdo the details, but it’s good stuff. High quality. Affordable. Especially the hats…
They’re one for the true heads…
🚨 Big Stories
A selection of decisive moments from across the EFL.
🥣 Friday: Snap! Crackle! Pop! — Sheffield United 1-0 Sunderland — ‘Twas 0-0 and 10 v 10 as the half-time whistle blew at Bramall Lane. Sunderland had attacked fluently, with Blades needing a penalty save from Michael Cooper (slightly off his line) to stay in it. Chris Wilder’s bench options turned things in the second half. Sunderland still threatened but the Blades found opportunities as Messrs Watson, Roberts, Isidor and Rigg (technically still a Master, not a Mister) became leggier. In the end, a special moment separated the sides: Tom Davies — remember him? — has been injured for the best part of two years, but twisted, turned and squeezed a winner beyond Anthony Patterson. Blades go top; Sunderland, smarting, nevertheless looked good.
🔰 NCFC: Finger-lickin’ good — Norwich 4-2 Luton — A horror show gifted Luton an opener before the game ping-ponged into 2-2, via quality, mistakes, quality mistakes and set-piece goals. Canaries were deserving winners after that and one man stood out: Ante Crnac, hot wrap and gravy all in one. His first goal was a lovely thing – a dinked touch, volleyed home – while his second was simpler but no less compelling, and his assist for Norwich’s third was pitch-perfect.
Luton gaffer Rob Edwards was angry about his side’s collapse and, post-match, he made one thing clear: No More Mr Nice Guy.
“I didn’t go over there and apologise today, because that’s not on me today – individual errors have cost us four goals. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m raging about it. Supporters should be as well. People have got to fix it quickly, otherwise they won’t play. Too many times it’s happened, but today it was so, so evident.”
🍾 Once you pop, you can’t stop — Blackburn 1-0 Leeds — John Eustace’s side beat Middlesbrough and Leeds in the same week to complete three wins on the spin. Todd Cantwell’s crisp finish from the penalty spot was the difference and, yes, there was some clinging-on involved – Leeds dominated possession in the second period. But in the round, the bigger and better chances fell to Blackburn, who move up to 8th.
🔋 Keeps going and going — Stoke 0-2 Burnley — More durable than duracell, Scott Parker’s Burnley beat Stoke and kept their 12th clean sheet – the joint-most, with Sheffield United. Stoke had 12 shots inside the box here and will feel aggrieved that James Trafford scuppered a strong first-half performance with crucial saves to deny Ben Wilmot and Tom Cannon. Burnley Burnleyed in the second period, creating the easiest chance of the season for James Rodriguez (0.98 xG and 0.99 xGOT) before Josh Brownhill killed the game with a penalty. Burnley climb to 2nd with their bendy, Parker Bus approach — them wheels are turning.
🧪 The appliance of science – Carlisle 1-1 Crewe; Fleetwood 0-0 Colchester — All binary in League Two, where two matches happened. A brief shout-out for Carlisle, who made it out of the relegation spot with a draw. They’ll be gutted to have conceded a late and slightly contentious penalty, but Crewe – unbeaten in nine now – probably deserved their equaliser, if not the manner of it.
🛋️ How hard? — Lampard’s first fixture with Cov ended in a draw. Fittingly, Matt Watts is putting Lamps under the lights (which, btw, returns to your inbox on Wednesday this week) in today’s View From…
🚨 FA Cup Stories
The Cup almost took us for mugs — less David vs Goliath and more Itchy vs Scratchy. Still, there were a couple of noteworthy games.
There was a solitary top-drawer classic in East London, replete with ‘David’ hitting a deserved lead, ‘Goliath’ scoring a late goalkeeper goal, extra time and penalties (well, one for Dan Agyei of Leyton Orient), that penalty saved by Matthew Hudson of Oldham Athletic, and an extra-time-in-extra-time winner for… no, surely not the bloke that just missed the pen?! Yep, Agyei nicked it at the death of the death. Gutting for Oldham, who played so, so well inside normal time and deserved the replay they would previously have got. No replay for seventh-tier Harborough Town, either, who travelled to Reading and took their hosts to extra time with a 3-3 draw, only to lose in extra time to a Chem Campbell double.
Elsewhere, Charlton swatted away Walsall, bringing Mat Sadler’s Saddlers’ 10-game unbeaten run to an end. It finished 4-0. Louie Barry was omitted from the Stockport line-up amidst much chattering about a January recall (official reason: illness), which made not a jot of difference for the Hatters, who beat Brackley Town of the National League North 3-1. A bit further west, Accrington Stanley scored a last-minute equaliser against 10-man Swindon Town to make it 2-2 in normal time before winning it on pens.
A rare shock, of sorts, saw Derek Adams cock a snook at his former side as Morecambe overcame Bradford 1-0, in what could be a valuable win pending tonight’s Third Round draw. There were two, just two, proper division-defying cup upsets. The non-league pair of Dagenham & Redbridge and Tamworth, cheek by jowl in the National League’s mid-table, won respectively at Wimbledon (2-1) and Burton Albion (on penalties). It’s really not the Brewers’ season, is it?
📊 Monday Morning Cheat Sheet
From the WhatsApp group to the watercooler: stats to keep you ahead of the game.
👖 That’s Azazda price — Finn Azaz, with a beauty, made it five goals in three games, bringing his goals + assists tally to 13 for the season. Only the next guy has more.
🫘 Beanz Meanz Sainz – Borja wasn’t the starman, but his latest strike means he’s scored 15 goals from 63 shots, which is a goal every 4.2 shots.
💳 The World’s Local Blank — Sheffield United have now won 8 home games in a row without conceding, and every travelling side so far this season has conceded more goals than Michael Cooper has at Bramall Lane.
🏴 Made in Scotland from girders — With five assists in five league games in November, Ben Doak has provided goals than any other player in England’s top four tiers this month.
💸 Argyle: unreassuringly expensive — A 4-0 thumping at Bristol City was Argyle’s fourth league defeat by at least 4+ goals this season, and they have now conceded 27 goals in 10 away league games, losing 8 and drawing two. But…
📈 Go compare! — Despite their ludicrously poor away form and solid return of 15 points from 8 games at Home Park, Argyle don’t have the biggest difference in points-per-game when comparing home and away. No, that award goes to Watford who have 2.56 ppg at home and 0.78 away, making theirs the biggest gap of 1.78.
🧽 Bang! And the Grime is… still here — Swansea’s Matt Grimes played his 75th consecutive Championship 90 on Saturday, which surprisingly is not a personal best – he’s got another dozen more games to go to beat the PB. Since the start of the 2019/20 season, Grimes has played 98% of Swansea’s total league minutes.
🍞 Not quite best of both — Bristol City have scored 7 goals in the first half of Championship games, with 71% of their strikes (17) coming in the second half.
🥅 A shot-stopping goalkeeper on matchday helps you work, rest and play — Michael Cooper vs James Trafford is a battle happening in the galaxy of goalkeeping data, in terms of save percentage (84.6% vs 83.8%), clean sheets (11 vs 11), clean sheet percentage (68.8% vs 64.7%) and goals conceded per 90 (0.44 vs 0.38).
🏎️ The ultimate driving machine — No player has completed more progressive carries than Watford’s Giorgi Chakvetadze (98).
🗓️ Holidays are (not) coming — Let’s invent an adage: “You can’t get points if you don’t play matches”. Postponements for Portsmouth meant they played their first game since November 9th over the weekend, giving up a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Swansea. They have two games in hand over every team with 18 points or fewer.
🎦 5ivelights
In no particular order, a collection of our favourite goals or clips from across the 72
Vorsprung Doak Technik: Boro’s Ben Doak put a cross on Tommy Conway’s head, and I (Sam) could watch it on repeat until the world explodes.
Send him up for the corner? Just do it. THAT Goalkeeper goal.
Goodrham things come to those who wait: Tyler Goodrham’s late strike was the shamrock on this weekend’s Guinness.
Someone ate their Weetabix. Alternative angle of Mehmeti stunner.
Does what it says on the tin: Barry’s Bannaning again.
The View From…
You’ve all seen them…
The posts from those incredibly generic, engagement-obsessed football accounts mocking Coventry City’s decision to appoint Frank Lampard. When did it become so ‘hip’ or ‘happening’ to write him off?
Is it because he went to private school? Is it because we love the idea of successful people failing? Or is it because he didn’t start his coaching journey in League Two like Eddie Howe or the fourth tier of Swedish football like Graham Potter?
Lampard’s managerial career to date isn’t the unmitigated disaster that some would make it out to be. In his first season in management, Lampard reached the Championship play-off final with Derby County. His detractors would argue that, even though his contacts within the game allowed him to sign the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount and Harry Wilson on loan, he still wasn’t able to get Derby promoted. Playing devil’s advocate, I would argue that he used his contacts wisely to sign and develop some very talented young players, taking them to within 90 minutes of the Premier League.
Was that Derby side any stronger than a Teemu Pukki-inspired Norwich City, Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United 1.0, Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds or Dean Smith’s star-studded Aston Villa? No. They also finished 10 points above Thomas Frank’s Brentford who had Rico Henry, Ethan Pinnock and Ezri Konsa at the back and the BMW (Benrahma, Maupay and Watkins) up front.
That summer, Lampard was given the opportunity to manage Chelsea. Was it too soon? Of course it was, but what would people have said if Lampard hadn’t taken the Chelsea job? ‘He doesn’t believe in himself’, ‘The job’s too big for him’, ‘He doesn’t love the club as much as he says he does’, etc.
In his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge, Lampard led his young side to 4th place and an FA Cup Final. Operating under a transfer embargo (and without the recently departed Eden Hazard), Lampard gave the likes of Tomori, Mount, Reece James and Tammy Abraham the opportunity to establish themselves in the Chelsea first team. After a summer of big spending, Lampard was sacked in January with Chelsea sitting 9th in the Premier League, only five points behind Liverpool in 4th. Crucially, they were also still in the Champions League, which of course they went on to win under Thomas Tuchel.
On 31st January 2022, Lampard took the reins at Everton. The Toffees were 16th and four points above the drop when Lampard arrived on Merseyside. After struggling early on, Lampard adapted his style of play and Everton won four of their final eight games to finish where he found them: 16th and four points above the drop. He was sacked in January 2023 with the Toffees down in 19th. Off the pitch, Everton were a bit of a basket case. Managers and head coaches far more experienced than Lampard would have, and have, struggled under those circumstances.
That brings us to Lampard’s spell as the interim boss at Chelsea, where he lost eight of his 11 games in charge. Let’s be clear: this was a hospital pass, akin to asking a supply teacher to take an unruly Year 6 class for the final weeks of term. There were far too many players; half of them knew they would be leaving in the summer and the other half knew Lampard would be leaving in the summer. This may be Lampard’s most recent job, but it’s clearly not the one to judge him on.
Is Frank Lampard the second coming of Pep Guardiola? You would have to say most probably not but, in his relatively short managerial career to date, he has shown that he’s prepared to give young players a chance, he’s able to use the loan market effectively, and he’s capable of getting ‘buy-in’, from youngsters such as Mason Mount and Harry Wilson to seasoned pros like Seamus Coleman and Conor Coady – all of which will have appealed to Doug King. Most importantly, Lampard has shown that he still has the desire to be in the hot seat. Unlike most in his position, the former Chelsea man doesn’t need this job. He could have a nice easy life going between his luxury home, the golf course and the Sky Sports studio; however, he’s desperate to crack the management code.
After seven years of Mark Robins, the Lampardian transition will not be straightforward. It’s never easy being the man who follows the man and, let’s be clear, Mark Robins was THE man. Nevertheless, once the decision had been taken to part ways with Robins, someone had to replace him. Why shouldn’t that someone be Frank Lampard?
🏆 Fantasy Football
Go head-to-head against team NTT20 in our EFL Fantasy Football league
Huw Davies on Friday:
That player was Zac Williams of Crewe Alexandra, who picked up three points, but we registered 39 more thanks to a captain pick of Anis Mehmeti. Elsewhere in the team, there was a clean sheet for David Harrington, an assist for Jack Stacey and two assists for Ben Doak.
And would-ya-believe-it?! NTT20.COM finally cracked the nut, with the 3rd-best score of the week. We’ll be cracking open the beers with our new bottle opener. Shout out to Mačak, who tops the overall table by fewer than 10 points, and congrats this week to The Muggintons and Minus 24 who beat us to top spot (although we do have a couple of double-gameweekers in hand).
📺 Watching Brief
Upcoming live EFL games
Tuesday 3 December
20:00 Huddersfield vs Wigan (Plus all games on SkySports+)
Wednesday 4 December
20:00 All on SkySports+ (Birmingham vs Stockport, Peterborough vs Burton, Shrewsbury vs Blackpool, Bromley vs Gillingham, Fleetwood vs Doncaster)
Saturday 7 December
12:30 Leeds vs Derby
Plus SkySports+ (Sheff Wed vs Preston, Sunderland vs Stoke, Wigan vs Leyton Orient, Lincoln vs Charlton, Crewe vs Bradford, Port Vale vs Walsall)
Sunday 8 December
15:00 West Brom vs Sheff Utd
Johnny English reborn beautifully lampoons the product placement in the bond films by having the whole MI7 service sponsored by Toshiba 🤣