Huddersfield hit their straps, Argyle leave it late, plus the Dons derby and a deep dive on Leeds
16 September 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 ●
Derbies, rivalries – the EFL is back in full…
Goodbye, the reductive forces of the International Break. Hello, the cleansing powers of the full slate. If there was a twang of Yorkshire rivalry between Doncaster Rovers and Harrogate on Thursday night, then the palate took a thwack of wasabi-heat when Sheffield United played Hull on Friday, before descending into pure naga ghost chilli in AFC Wimbledon v MK Dons.
Geography and history both unite and divide us. But something else does that, too: the stakes! They feel high already and we’re only a handful of games in. Birmingham v Wrexham tonight as well? The EFL is back in full.
🚨 Big Stories
A selection of decisive moments from across the EFL.
⚡ Hudd and thunder — There’s something rotten in the state of Bolton, and the Terriers thrived in the compost. Ian Evatt’s side were off it, registering a single shot on target, but the ease with which Huddersfield dismantled their defensive effort really was rotten — 15 shots in the box and four goals scored, the last of them farcical. A statement win for Michael Duff but Bolton, winless since opening day, need to regroup quickly.
💣 Don, don, donnnnnnn — Alfred Hitchcock distinguished between surprise – a bomb exploding under the dining table – and suspense: watching a ticking bomb that doesn’t go off. In this derby, we had both. After AFC Wimbledon scored early, MK Dons controlled possession (74%), setting up suspense for the comeback. They didn’t do nearly enough with it. Cue a surprise, explosive ending and a Callum Maycock star performance to bring two late goals, 3-0, and a huge win for the Plough Lane faithful.
❌ Biting the Bulut — Winless Cardiff were pretty hapless in a 1-0 defeat at Derby that could and really should have been more (see #2 in 5iveLights, below). Erol Bulut didn’t do the post-match press conference but did make six changes going into this. Yet little changed: same old stale possession, same old lack of attacking threat. With his side having registered one point and one goal across their first five fixtures, the pressure is mounting (unlike when Cardiff have the ball). Paul Warne won’t care. Derby have won 9 home games on the spin, keeping clean sheets in 7 of them.
🥇 Superb first for Swindon — Ahead of Swindon 4-0 Newport, the Exiles had the best shot-to-goal ratio of any side in League Two. If that feat appeared unsustainable, the task of facing Swindon was made harder by a slew of absentees, and it told in a torrid first-half where good finishing and a slice of fortune put the game to bed inside 45. A first, heavy and much-needed win for Mark Kennedy’s side, who more than doubled their goal tally for the season in a single half.
🥈 Superlative second for Argyle — Going 1-0 down in the first half, Rooney and Plymouth went toe-to-toe with table-topping Sunderland in the second period and registered a late knock-out. They completed more passes, created more big chances and, having appeared to have let a 2-1 lead slip late on, managed to go again and nab a winner on 90+3 for their first win – and an impressive win at that.
✅ Os get a W as Hemmings earns Reademption — Leyton Orient’s first three performances were decent with poor results, but a 3-0 defeat to Shrewsbury was indecent and a poor result. In one of those defeats (2-1 to Birmingham), keeper Zach Hemming made a horrible mistake for 1-0. But he redeemed himself against Reading on Saturday, making four important saves to earn his side a clean sheet and their first victory.
🐯 The Tiger that came to tea and brought two gifts — On Friday, Hull’s possession-heavy style looked good-to-soft in places. They had 625 passes to Sheffield United’s 305. They won the xG battle. They had 16 corners… and Sheffield United scored from two of them. Tim Walter’s ‘heart attack’ football is yet to coax a win, but the heart monitor is blipping — Hull’s possession needs to become more penetrative.
🐵 “Monkey off the Luton back” — That’s how Rob Edwards summed up affairs after his Luton side battled to earn their first win of the season. Their goal in the first-half was a lovely Teden Mengi strike, unsighting the goalkeeper. Millwall came on strong, whipping in crosses, pinning Luton back and creating more and better chances. Luton have played better and lost; they’ll be delighted to have played worse and won.
🐍 Shrews suffocated by Charlton — It was arguably one of Shrewsbury’s better performances of the season, but Nathan Jones’ Charlton Athletic have the preternatural ability to strangle games, choke off opposition chances, and find wins in the margins. They did it again here: a solitary scrappy effort from a corner to take the lead, then slowly squeezing the life out of the opposition. The Addicks are second…
📊 Monday Morning Cheat Sheet
From the WhatsApp group to the watercooler: stats to keep you ahead of the game.
👕 Got the T-shirt — Burton Albion are winless in their five league games (D4 L1) for the third season in a row.
🪄 Two is the magic number — Not matter where the points ended up, Wycombe have scored exactly twice in every league game this season: LLWDW.
🫲 Give with one hand — Morecambe became the final side to score an EFL goal this season, at the fifth time of asking; in fact, they scored three… unfortunately, they have also failed to win the last three games in which they’ve scored three or more goals.
📈 Keeping up with the Joneses — Since losing back-to-back games in February, Nathan Jones’ Charlton have suffered only two defeats in their last 21 League One matches (W8 D11).
📜 History-making start — Beating Stoke 1-0 means Oxford have won their opening three home games in the Championship – the last time they did that in the top two tiers was in 1972.
🛑 Stevenage put a full stop on Barnsley’s wonder run — Alex Revell’s Stevenage won 3-0 against Barnsley, ending a run of 17 consecutive away games where the Tykes had scored.
🧙 Fleetwood break United curse — Before their 3-2 victory over Carlisle, Fleetwood Town had been winless in their last nine league games against sides with United in their name… hoodoo broken.
⚽🅰️ JJGA — Jodi Jones has the most goal involvements in League Two (7), following last season’s effort of 28.
🔇 Mumble it quietly — Romaine Mundle has now scored in three successive Sunderland games, having previously only scored once in 13 – that must be softening the Jack Clarke blow.
🔚 Finally — Plymouth, Luton, Leyton Orient and Swindon all won for the first time this season.
🔜 Still waiting — Portsmouth, Hull, Cardiff, Cambridge, Burton, Accrington and Morecambe are all yet to win in the EFL.
🔞 He’s just a boy — Blackburn Rovers gave first professional minutes to a 16-year-old forward in the latter stages of their 3-0 win over Bristol City; when he was born, in May 2008, the Ting Tings topped the charts with That’s Not My Name — Igor Tyjon is his, and it might be worth remembering it.
🪜 Quirks of the ladder — Darren Moore and Paul Cook had their third EFL meeting in six years, and this one – a 1-0 victory for Moore and Port Vale – made it a single encounter in each division: the Championship in 2018, League One in 2021 and League Two in 2024.
🎦 5ivelights
In no particular order, a collection of our favourite goals or clips from across the 72.
OK Google: Define goal mouth scramble.
Hey Siri: Show me the miss of the season.
Who enjoyed themselves this weekend? ChatGPT: Wayne Mark Rooney.
How to send Blackburn fans home happy? Yuki Ohashi: Postage Stamp.
The View From…
Languid Leeds look down but absolutely not out
Off the back of two wins against local rivals, Leeds United had seemingly wiped away the nasty messages on the once-dusty van. Gone were “bottle jobs” and “honk if you're dirty”, replaced with a shinier sheen for the journey ahead.
No team has had more possession than Leeds this season (60%, and a whole 10% higher than Burnley). They’ve taken the third-most shots and scored 7 times. Their opponents on Saturday have taken the fifth-fewest shots but have scored 10 and outperformed their xG by more than a goal. Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but it’s within that other 10% where Leeds are vulnerable and Burnley are strong.
Leeds started the better and attacked with fluency and confidence. Brenden Aaronson was a whirling dervish of flicks, tricks and incisive passes. Daniel Farke’s side were impressive at nicking the ball, getting into shape and controlling the game. But Burnley were there to counter, and they countered extremely effectively.
That’s how the opener came: a fast break finished by Luca Koleosho, celebrating his final day as a teenager, making it the first time Leeds had conceded first all season. The home side pressed ahead, though, fashioning an opening for Willy Gnonto that should’ve been taken. It wasn’t. And, with that chance spurned, Burnley immediately broke forwards. That was the pattern: Leeds dangerous in possession, looking capable of creating opportunities; Burnley fast and flowing on the counter.
Daniel Farke cut a brooding figure as the half-time whistle blew — the missed opportunities, the cheap errors, the offsides and awful finishing. Arguably, they had been the better side. Arguably, they should have had a penalty. Inarguably, they were losing, and in the second period, Burnley found it easier to sit in, defend and eventually see it out.
There were a few errant boos as the full-time whistle sounded. Boos of frustration, surely, not real anger. Leeds are tricky to pin down. They have the quality to dominate, and do dominate. However, in this game, their star quality waned when it needed to shine. Although fans may be down after an irritating defeat, Leeds aren’t out, and for my money they look the best team in the league. Like all teams, when you come up against the top sides in the division, your individuals need to hit the mark.
🏆 Fantasy Football
Go head-to-head against team NTT20 in our EFL Fantasy Football league
After Ali Maxwell got us on track with a 59-point haul, it fell to Matt Watts to pick up the slack. Up the Fantasy League We Go… or not.
The starting seven looked strong. The team picks looked like winners. But this game isn’t played on paper—well, it is, sort of—and it just goes to show the wonderous unpredictability of the EFL that we registered just 28 points. Ah well.
Well done to Ivory Toast for their leading 76-point haul this week, and to Harchester United for taking the top spot overall with their dream team.
📺 Watching Brief
Upcoming live EFL games
Friday 20 September 2024
20:00 Stoke vs Hull
Saturday 21 September 2024
12:30 Sunderland vs Middlesbrough
12:30 QPR vs Millwall
12:30 Norwich vs Watford
12:30 Exeter vs Stevenage
12:30 Lincoln vs Wigan
12:30 Accrington vs Port Vale
12:30 Chesterfield vs Cheltenham
Sunday 22 September 2024
12:00 Preston vs Blackburn
Monday 23 September 2024
20:00 Fleetwood vs Morecambe
Apologies for the pedantry, but it's Zach Hemming not Zak Hemmings.