Leeds light it up, PNE and Heckoffbottom, MK Won, Sunderland slick, plus Matt Watts on luckless Luton...
Leeds light it up, PNE and Heckoffbottom, MK Won, Sunderland slick, plus Matt Watts on luckless Luton...
26 August 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 ●
One window closes…
We’ve got until 11pm on Friday for clubs across the EFL to shake the abacus, do the maths and make those final additions. This will be a busy week on NTT20.COM, too, with a special feature on agents, our latest transfer bulletin, a mystery column (ooooh) and our unparalleled Deadline Day live blog, back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
The open window has flooded the EFL with new talents, new stories and a slew of players making instant impacts at their new clubs. Abraham Odoh at Peterborough leaps out, as does Jack Diamond at Stockport, Bobby Kamwa at Newport, Lasse Sorensen at Huddersfield…
There are too many to list here. That’s why we’re covering all transfers all summer long in our transfer specials — so make sure you’re locked in for the biggest week yet.
🚨 Big Stories
A selection of decisive moments from across the EFL.
🏳️ Leeds aren’t falling apart — How quickly the needle moves. Last time out, Leeds struggled to conjure opportunities, having just six touches in the opposition box and one shot on target. Against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night, they managed 19 touches in the box, five shots on target and two brilliant goals. Brenden Aaronson twisted and turned for a wonderful individual opener, Dan James dinked a delightful chip over James Beadle, and Mateo Joseph proved instrumental – not only did he assist both of those goals, but he showed impressive movement and proved he can be a reliable custodian of the football. It stuck. He used it well. Leeds are unbeaten in their first three.
😮💨 PNEeeded that — Put aside the 17 shots, 32 touches in the box, big chances, corners and possession they conceded to Luton: all that matters is that Preston, and new boss Paul Heckingbottom, have secured a win. They’d lost seven Championship games in a row without scoring a single goal, but Will Keane struck to smash and grab all three points. PNE were the early free-fallers; it’s time to shake off that narrative.
⏩ Barrow wheel away with it — Tight in the first half, obliteration in the second, Barrow’s finishing turned a would-be-even game against Port Vale into a 4-0 rout. Four goals from nine shots after the break gave Stephen Clemence’s side a second win from three games, and also represented one-seventh of Barrow’s total goals tally at home last season.
🟥 Charlton’s statement win — There wasn’t much in it. Big chances did not flow. But Charlton again proved the pleasure of crisp, white linen. With another clean sheet in another low-margin game – all solid setup rather than big blocks and tough tackles – Nathan Jones’ Addicks have three wins from three, and a 2-0 victory over a well-fancied Bolton represents an early statement of intent.
📣 County, Grimsby, Noisy — You could argue that a 4-1 scoreline was harsh on Grimsby; that Alassana Jatta’s opener was offside; that Dan Crowley’s first goal was a handball; that his second was a deflection; and that Jodi Jones’ goal was a cross. You could. But you shouldn’t. This was arguably Notts County’s best performance since Stuart Maynard took over, and Dan Crowley was electric.
🌍 The M turned upside down — Missed opportunities, mild disappointment and maximum frustration for Mike Williamson after MK Dons’ opening two games – but now they’ve got that W, and in relatively comfortable fashion. Carlisle couldn’t cope with MK’s midfield dominance, as the hosts enjoyed (and boy, did they enjoy it) two-thirds of possession and created eight chances inside the box, converting three.
🛫 Sunderland soar — The Black Cats fended off a Burnley side who are undergoing a Wall Street-esque firesale, having already used the most players in this year’s Championship (22). Some are leaving, some have left, some will be left behind, but the XI on Saturday could do nothing about Sunderland’s opener. Romaine Mundle was selected due to Jack Clarke’s imminent departure and he cosplayed Clarke to perfection, cutting back inside and shooting to secure three points and a perfect Sunderland start. We’ll talk about the league table after five fixtures.
🥊 Swansea miss knockout blow — For their first one and a half South Wales derbies under Luke Williams – three halves of football that they won 1-0, 1-0 and 1-0 – Swansea correctly played the occasion, not the game. Here, as in March, they started with intensity and snapped into early (and late) tackles, welcoming their visitors with hostility. So, what was that second half about? As Cardiff faced a third consecutive defeat without scoring, Swansea let Erol Bulut’s beleaguered Bluebirds up off the canvas and back into the fight. The result: just a second draw in this fixture in its past 17 renewals, and Cardiff’s first point of the season. The Swans can still smile, having maintained their excellent recent derby record while their rivals remain bottom, but they could perhaps have done some real, lasting damage instead.
📊 Monday Morning Cheat Sheet
From the WhatsApp group to the watercooler: stats to keep you ahead of the game.
Teams:
🖋️ Scribble that on the CV — Stockport have become the fourth side in footballing history to win their opening three matches to nil as a promoted side, following Huddersfield (1920-21), Carlisle (1974-75) and Lincoln (2019-20).
🛐 6-yard sanctuary — Plymouth Argyle, Morecambe and Salford are the only teams in the EFL who have failed to take a shot from inside the six-yard box.
🏡 Homeliest of home comforts — Wrexham have scored more league goals on home soil than any other team in the pyramid since the start of last season (68 in 25 games), with a 3-0 win over Reading taking them to 20 in their last six – all wins.
📦 Outside the box — Oliver Arblaster’s second goal of the season means that no team in the Championship has scored more goals from outside the box than Sheffield United, with 4 of their 5 goals coming from range.
✨ 3 is not the magic number — Following a 3-1 defeat to Newport, Accrington Stanley have won just one of their last seven league matches (W1 D1 L5), conceding 21 goals – an average of 3 per game.
🧮 Who’s counting? — Rotherham United have lost their last 11 away games by an aggregate score of 30-4. The last time that the Millers won a competitive away fixture, Gareth Bale was still a professional footballer.
⛔ Stopped — Bristol Rovers have only scored in 3 of their last 15 matches in all competitions. They’d failed to score in only 3 of their previous 39 games before then.
🔰 Twenty’s plenty — Following the 1-1 draw with Sheffield United, Norwich haven’t tasted defeat at home in 20 games across all competitions (W12 D8).
🔟 Perfect 10 — It’s now 10 straight home league wins in a row for Doncaster if you don’t include play-offs (and they’d rather you didn’t).
🔟 Imperfect 10 — No such luck for Shrewsbury, who are winless in their last 10 league games (D4 L6).
Players:
🎤 Creative Karaoke — No player has created more chances in the Championship than QPR’s Karamoko Dembélé, despite him playing less than 60% of available minutes. In a virtuoso performance at the weekend, he created 9 in a single game, and now has 2 assists in 2 matches.
🦅 Not so hawkish — Mark Harris became the first player since 2019/20 (Lyle Taylor for Charlton) to net for a promoted side in three consecutive Championship games.
💵 Thanks a million — Following an assist at the weekend, Million Manhoef has been directly involved in seven goals across his six home league starts for Stoke (4 goals, 3 assists).
⚽ Barry the hatchet — Louie Barry is the first Stockport player to start an EFL season by scoring in three games in a row since Luke Beckett in 2004… when Louie was one year old (sorry, Luke).
🅰️ is for Abraham and Assists — Abraham Odoh has been tasked with filling a Mason-Clark-shaped hole on Peterbrough’s left flank, and with 3 assists in 3 games – the most in League One – he isn’t doing too badly, is he?
💎 Dribbling is forever — Stockport’s Jack Diamond has attempted the most dribbles (21) and completed the most successful dribbles (11) in League One this season. The other players to attempt more than 20 dribbles include… erm, nobody.
🎯 Shoot on sight — Last season, Notts County’s Dan Crowley scored 15 goals from 51 shots and 25 on target (0.6 goals per shot on target). This season, he has taken 13 shots already (25% of his entire shot output from last season), including 6 shots and 2 goals on Thursday night. He’s got the message.
🎦 5ivelights
In no particular order, a collection of our favourite goals or clips from across the 72.
Three weekends in succession. JM Barrie couldn’t write it. Louie Barry has.
Mark Harris. First-time Volley. Yes please.
Danny Andrew: the freekick to spark a comeback
Big fun on the Bayo — scissorish volley from Vakoun Bayo.
Tanner tans it for Bristol City.
The View From…
Luckless Luton?
It’s early days, but it’s fair to say that Luton have endured a difficult start to the new season. With one point from their opening three league games, are Rob Edwards’ Hatters enduring a relegation hangover, or something more?
Despite their slow start, the numbers suggest Luton have been a touch luckless. On opening night, Burnley’s ruthless finishing put a gloss on a game where both the shot count (10 v 11) and the expected goals metric (1.43 v 1.46) were incredibly even. The trip to Portsmouth was also as even as the 0-0 scoreline suggested, in spite of Thomas Kaminski’s first-half red card. And against Preston, Luton dominated all of the key metrics – possession, shots, shots on target, expected goals, corners and so on – barring the all-important one in the top left-hand corner. In fact, Opta have Luton on 5.13 expected points after three games: the fourth-most in the Championship.
Still, there is a feeling that Luton have lost some of their ‘Luton-ness’. An element of this can probably be put down to a shift in expectations. In 2022/23, Luton were, rightly or wrongly, perceived as being underdogs in the race for promotion. In 2023/24, Luton were, quite understandably, perceived as being underdogs in the battle to stay in the Premier League. This season, however, Luton are among the favourites for promotion. A mixture of those increased expectations, having a bit more quality in their squad than most at the level, and a season of pitting his wits against the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta has seen Rob Edwards continue to evolve Luton’s style of play.
The sample size is very small but, compared to their promotion season, Luton are having a lot more possession, they are playing more short passes, their attacks are far slower and they aren’t regaining possession as often in the final third. Throw in a bit of wastefulness from set pieces and this all feels very un-Luton-like. At present, a section of Hatters fans believe that it’s ‘style over substance’, which is a far cry from the incredibly effective football that saw them win promotion two seasons ago.
Of course, any discontent won’t be helped by Watford’s fast start, but the Championship is a marathon, not a sprint. Under Rob Edwards, Luton are trying to grow and, to grow, sometimes you have to experience growing pains. Personally, I think we’ll know a lot more about this new iteration of Luton Town after their next five league games: QPR (H), Millwall (A), Sheffield Wednesday (H), Plymouth (A) and Oxford (H).
🏆 Fantasy Football
Go head-to-head against team NTT20 in our EFL Fantasy Football league
I (Sam) went for a League Two special this week. It felt right, it looked right, and it still looks OK on paper — 39 points from player selections alone… but zero, zilch, nada for picking Port Vale and Walsall to win away from home.
Congratulations to Washington Rovers for most points this week, and to AC Gills for being top of the pile. So, it’s 39 to beat for the next NTT20 manager. Who’s going to step up?
📺 Watching Brief
Upcoming live EFL games
Fri 30 Aug 2024
20:00 Luton vs QPR
Sat 31 Aug 2024
12:30 Cardiff vs Middlesbrough
12:30 Coventry vs Norwich
12:30 Blackpool vs Wycombe
12:30 Rotherham vs Huddersfield
12:30 Gillingham vs Chesterfield
12:30 Port Vale vs Doncaster
Sun 1 Sep 2024
15:00 Sheffield United vs Watford
Monday 2 Sep 2024
20:00 Salford vs MK Dons