Walsall go top, QPR get the job Dunne, and Monk gets Cambridge back in the habit
09 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 ●
Out of office…
I’m out of the office* until Tuesday 10 December with no email access**. Please get in touch with Huw Davies and Matt Watts for all matters EFL.
*Drinking in Dublin
**Except to share photos of drinking in Dublin
Welcome to Weekend Notes, by Huw and Matt.
🚨 Big Stories
A selection of decisive moments from across the EFL.
🌬️ Gone With The Wind — While Storm Darragh visited itself on the FA’s inboxes, another Storm Darragh wrought destruction on English football's fixture list, as dangerously high winds caused the postponement of eight EFL matches as well as something called the Mer-Seaside Derby (never heard of it). But there was plenty of action and intrigue elsewhere, starting with...
✅ Job Dunne — QPR 3-0 Norwich — QPR’s first home win of the season was a memorable one: the R’s saw off a sub-par Norwich thanks to a fantastically scrappy goal from Jimmy Dunne and a brace from 19-year-old substitute Rayan Kolli, notching his first and second career goals. Dunne played, scored and excelled after losing his father during the week. He thanked his manager and team-mates for their support, giving a special shout-out to Nicolas Madsen, who stayed at Dunne’s house for several hours while his plumbing was fixed. Eight points in their last four games has taken Martí Cifuentes & Co. out of the bottom three.
🤓 E=mc² — Millwall 0-1 Coventry — Mass-energy equivalence? Or Ephron Mason-Clark scoring in each of Frank Lampard’s first two games as Coventry boss? The ex-Peterborough man scored the winner at The Den, and you’d imagine that Lampard (formerly of West Ham) and his assistant, Joe Edwards (sacked by the Lions in February), were delighted with the location of their first win. As for Neil Harris, the Millwall gaffer’s gaffe in his post-match interview inspired lively debate among fans and a View From us… scroll down to find out why.
🦸♂️ The darkest day comes before the dawn? — Hull 0-1 Blackburn — Jumping out of Reading’s off-field frying pan and into Hull’s on-field tyre fire, Ruben Selles had a watching brief as the Tigers fell to a sixth straight defeat. It would be a touch dramatic to suggest Hull have hit rock bottom, but they are now bottom of the Championship, as Sean McLoughlin’s own goal gave Blackburn all three points. On the flip side, four wins in a row has moved John Eustace’s Rovers into the play-off places.
📺 The chase is on — Wycombe 1-1 Reading — ”If only it was lonely at the top…” Wycombe Wanderers have been anything but ordinary boys this season, but they were the only team in League One’s top five not to win on Saturday. While Matt Bloomfield’s table-toppers were held by Noel Hunt’s Reading, victories for Wrexham (1-0 at Burton, scoring directly from a wind-assisted corner), Birmingham (2-1 from behind at Barnsley), Huddersfield (2-1 at Mansfield) and Stockport (2-0 while limiting Exeter to three shots all game) has us wondering if this could be an automatic promotion race for the ages…
🙏 Monk’s U’s tame Wild Thing’s Shrews — Cambridge 4-1 Shrewsbury — Cambridge ended six games without a win by putting Shrewsbury to the sword at The Abbey. The home side were 4-0 up after 53 minutes, with Shayne Lavery (formerly known as ‘The Truffle Pig’) helping himself to a first-half brace. Salop could’ve overtaken the U’s in 22nd; instead, they’re bottom and eight points from salvation.
🐎 Saddle up? — Port Vale 0-1 Walsall — In League Two, 1st v 2nd became 2nd v 1st as Walsall usurped their opponents at the top of the table. Jamille Matt’s winner sent the away end into raptures, although something tells me that Connor Ripley may want this one back. The Saddlers have won three of their last four league games – against AFC Wimbledon, Notts County and Port Vale, no less – and are now two points clear of Vale with a game in hand.
🎥 Master and Apprentice — Swindon 3-1 Fleetwood — Once upon a time, Charlie Adam was the talisman of Ian Holloway’s famous Blackpool team. Unfortunately for Adam, his Fleetwood side just became the first team that Ollie’s Swindon have beaten in the league since his old boss arrived at the County Ground in October. A perfect hat-trick from Harry Smith, who has scored eight goals in his last eight games, put Swindon 3-0 up and lifted them out of the relegation zone, despite Matty ‘patience is a’ Virtue pulling one back for Fleetwood in the second half.
📊 Monday Morning Cheat Sheet
From the WhatsApp group to the watercooler: stats to keep you ahead of the game.
🤝 Not stale, but mate?! — West Bromwich Albion have drawn 10 of their last 11 games (beating Hull in the other), and have drawn five home league games in a row for the first time since December 2003.
🪹 Home birds — Leeds have won their last eight league games at Elland Road and scored 2+ goals in each one – they last achieved that feat in the 1990/91 season.
⌚ Wait and watch — Joe Rodon’s goal for Leeds was the 27-year-old centre-back’s first in English football, and only his second in 240 career appearances.
❄️ Into a winter of some content — A fourth consecutive win to nil means Wrexham have kept more clean sheets in League One this season (12) than they have conceded goals (11).
🐀 Shrews getting ratty — Shrewsbury, meanwhile, have conceded in each of their last 14 league matches, last keeping a clean sheet in August.
🕯️ Wick at one end — Wycombe are unbeaten in 16 matches, their longest run since 2008 (19 games).
🧀 Stonking Bishop — Portsmouth have scored 8 goals in 144 Championship minutes with Colby Bishop on the pitch, or once every 18 minutes; without him, they’ve scored 13 in 1,386 minutes.
🎭 It’s behind you! — Sheffield United are the only team in the Championship to have been behind in games for less than 90 minutes (just 76 minutes in total, across 19 matches).
🤯 Comfy spot, but trouble at home — Doncaster, 3rd in League Two, haven’t won a home game since October 1st (D4 L1).
🔣 Pluses and minuses — Grimsby are 5th in League Two with a negative goal difference… despite winning 3-0 at Morecambe on Saturday.
🛣️ Road men — AFC Wimbledon’s 3-0 victory away at Harrogate represented the first time they’ve won three consecutive league matches on the road since October 2016.
👿 A Hulluva Run — Hull are winless in 11, losing their last 6 – they haven’t gone 12 league matches without winning since the early months of 2020.
🥉 First treble — Harry Smith’s hat-trick was his first in the Football League, in his 201st appearance.
🎦 5ivelights
In no particular order, a collection of our favourite goals or clips from across the 72.
“It’s an absolute gem from Jay!” Stansfield strikes again.
Don’t tap it, whack it! Harry Smith seals his perfect hat-trick.
Post and in. Perfect placement from Donny’s George Broadbent.
Kieran Green’s making great assists again (the second one isn’t bad, either)
The View From…
The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck…
Never let it be said that Neil Harris wants the easy life.
Having returned to his beloved Millwall in February, then taken them from 21st to 13th with the second-best record in the league, Harris was leading the Lions into the Christmas schedule with an eye on the play-offs, following some head-turning displays this season. Everyone was happy, ‘twas the season of goodwill… and then:
Ah. You could argue that Harris misspoke when he implied that without their three best players, “this is Millwall Football Club” – i.e. this is all there is – but it is slightly harder to defend that reference to ‘thickos’. Having nominated him for Championship manager of the mid-season only a few days ago, I’m as disappointed as anyone. Can I have another go, please? That Daniel Farke fella seems all right?
Look, emotions always run high after a defeat, and sometimes a manager is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Moving north for a moment, geographically and divisionally, Ange Postecoglou was criticised on Thursday night for confronting Tottenham fans in the away end at Bournemouth who were telling him to f…orget about winning anything this season. In that scenario, you’ll alienate some people either way, whether you react to the boos or ignore them.
This wasn’t that. There was no real provocation. And, while there’s never a good time to call your club’s supporters ‘thickos’, it came on a day when they paid tribute to the recently deceased John Docherty, the only manager ever to have taken Millwall into the top flight of English football.
However, Harris is also a Lions legend, as their all-time top goalscorer, mostly successful manager and long-standing Club Man. This fracas will likely blow over in time. That Millwall Podcast ran a poll asking, “Can you see a way forward for Neil at the football club after yesterday’s comments about the fans?” and at the time of writing, the results are 50-50 with a slight leaning towards ‘Yes’. Very few EFL bosses would come out on the right side of that poll. Plenty of fans are defending Harris.
Even so, many others are upset, including one supporter apparently channelling the spirit of e. e. cummings. Maybe this moment will be forgotten, or maybe it’ll linger as part of a broader discontent. We’ll see. For now: play us out, Neil.
🏆 Fantasy Football
Go head-to-head against team NTT20 in our EFL Fantasy Football league
With the Championship the only league to have a double gameweek, Sam had no option but to pick an all-Champ XI. While he was in the air, bound for Dublin, one pick was changed due to the inclement weather: Ruben Colwill out and Josh Windass in. Windass duly missed a penalty. Whoops…
Flossie's foxes lead the way overall, with Leeds From Desire picking up the most points so far this gameweek. We’ve collected 37 with another set of midweek fixtures to come.
📺 Watching Brief
Upcoming live EFL games
Monday 9 December
20:00 Northampton vs Peterborough
Tuesday 10 December
20:00 Leeds vs Middlesbrough
Wednesday 11 December
West Brom vs Coventry
Friday 13 December
20:00 Derby vs Portsmouth
Saturday 14 December
12:30 Bristol City vs QPR, Coventry vs Hull & Preston vs Leeds, Bolton vs Wigan & Leyton Orient vs Burton, Salford vs Notts County & Tranmere vs Harrogate
Sunday 15 December
15:00 Norwich vs Burnley
Genuinely don’t see what’s wrong with what Neil Harris said , it would be a real shame if that did contribute to his departure