West Brom waltz, Simpson leaves Carlisle, Crewe come back and Millwall push forward...
West Brom waltz, Simpson leaves Carlisle, Crewe come back and Millwall push forward...
02 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 ●
Were we knackered after an 18-hour deadline day stint, covering everything happening in the EFL transfer window between 06:30 - 00:30? No. We were fizzing with energy for what came next. And what did come next?
We saw league debut goals from Leo Castledine (Shrewsbury), Gavin Kilkenny (Swindon), Nathan Lowe (Walsall), Joe Hodge (Huddersfield) and Josh Coburn (Millwall). We saw another managerial departure. And we also saw fit to board the rattler to South London, taking in the sights, sounds or lack of sounds (see The View From…) of Bromley Football Club.
🚨 Big Stories
A selection of decisive moments from across the EFL.
🕺 West Brom waltz away after sublime first-half — With 1.66 xG, 3 big chances, 11 shots, 63% possession and 100 more passes than their usually-ball-hogging opponents, Carlos Corberán’s side swept away Swansea in the first half and should have increased the 1-0 scoreline. Swans manager Luke Williams admitted as much:
“We were blown away in the first half. The opposition were incredible. We couldn’t cope with them at all. The onslaught was tough.”
Alex Palmer didn’t have a save to make in the Albion goal. While there is room for improvement in the finishing department, the West Brom waltz looks full of momentum.
🚫 Simpson says goodbye — Paul Simpson has “left” Carlisle following a 2-1 defeat at home to Tranmere Rovers, where his now-former side mustered 15 shots to Rovers’ four – but only two on target to Rovers’ three. It’s been a familiar pattern: Carlisle can dominate the ball without doing enough with it, and frankly, the vibes had gone south.
If the vibes were bad, the results were worse. It was a rare thing to keep hold of a manager who has overseen a relegation. But Simpson has three promotions with Carlisle on his CV and giving him the opportunity to Hokey Cokey back into League One was not without merit. The new owners have been in place for a while, shaking up budgets, transfers and now the gaffer — it will be interesting and informative to see what profile of manager they turn to next.
👔 Mill & Co. — Millwall and Josh Coburn enjoyed their Saturday, with a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday and a debut goal respectively easing early-season angst. Neil Harris has cut the figure of an angry chef in recent interviews, but here, his side were cooking and Wednesday were cooked. Millwall reduced Danny’s Röhl’s side to four trifling efforts while creating plenty themselves and finishing well.
🐟 Mariners flow — It’s two wins from two for Grimsby at home. Bradford were second-best while Dave Artell’s hosts were, well, first-best – they snapped into tackles and fizzed the ball around in pockets of fast, flowing, attacking football. If Grimsby’s first came with scraps (a follow-up volley from a set piece), then their second came with the good stuff: an incisive breakaway down the right, fed to Jason Daði Svanþórsson, who cut in, finished, and was mobbed his teammates. Mustard – and all gravy. Ali Maxwell picked the Icelandic forward as his favourite signing of the summer; he’s easy to pick out on the pitch, too, when his brilliant blond mop drifts in off the right and gets into the box. Bradford’s consolation will not have consoled.
🧿 Crewe off the mark — Lee Bell’s side hadn’t scored in League Two going into this game, and going 1-0 down to Bromley after a couple of minutes smelled like a bad omen. You can score too early, though. For all that Bromley looked comfortable defending their lead in the first half, the tidy-but-toothless Crewe side developed some fangs, equalising from a set-piece, spurning gilt-edge chances and finally nicking a late winner. For Bromley, every day’s a school day.
🏛️ A Grecian Odyssey — Last season, Bolton beat Exeter 7-0. That did not happen this time. Exeter continue to impress, beating a well-fancied Bolton 2-0 having seen off Rotherham by the same scoreline on opening day. Someone get Gary Caldwell a Twix, because he’s putting up two fingers to the pre-season naysayers.
📊 Monday Morning Cheat Sheet
From the WhatsApp group to the watercooler: stats to keep you ahead of the game.
🧨 Can’t start a fire without a spark — Oxford are dancing in the Championship if not the dark, with Mark ‘Sparky’ Harris taking his tally to 4 goals from 4 games and, in doing so, drawing level with Lyle Taylor’s record for consecutive goalscoring appearances in a newly promoted side.
🎳 Yfective start — Picked out as Craig Bradley’s signing of the summer, Exeter’s Johnly Yfeko has racked up 1 assist, 5 chances created, 7 tackles won, 9 interceptions and 90% of his aerial duels won — that’s some start by the centre-half.
⛽ Unleaded — Six EFL teams have failed to take the lead in any of their opening four matches; Hull, Cardiff, Cambridge, Leyton Orient, Morecambe and Salford (3 games) seem to be running on the wrong fuel.
👀 Luke at me — Doncaster’s Luke Molyneux nabbed two goals and an assist on Saturday, which was the second time he’s registered three goal involvements in a league game this season. He had never achieved that in 133 prior EFL appearances.
🪵 Good work by the woodwork — Chesterfield succumbed 1-0 to Gillingham but had 15 shots, 10 in the box, 3 on target and 3 hitting the woodwork.
🦐 Binary Shrimps not fried yet — Morecambe have lost all four of their games 1-0 and sit bottom of League Two with only four goals conceded; however, those defeats have come against teams currently in 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th.
😂 No funny business — Lee ‘not that one’ Evans put in an all-timer of an all-action midfield display in Blackpool’s 2-2 draw with Wycombe: the Welshman assisted both of his team’s goals, created the most chances in the match (5), completed the most passes (63), won the most duels (11) and won the most fouls (6).
🔟 Double Figures — The list of EFL teams with 10+ points from a possible 12 looks like this: Sunderland, WBA, Stockport, Wrexham, Birmingham, Gillingham… list ends!
🎮 Régis Player One — Régis Le Bris’ Sunderland are showing real control, with a perfect record of 4 wins from 4 (for the first time in the post-war era) backed up by the best goal difference (+9) across all three leagues – the only goal they’ve conceded came over the weekend, and even that was a stoppage-time own goal.
↖️ The pointy end — Northampton drew 0-0 with Burton, and although they failed to muster a goal, they did at least leave behind directions to help them find it next time.
🎦 5ivelights
In no particular order, a collection of our favourite goals or clips from across the 72.
Didzy my head is spinning — Not Vic Reeves but McGoldrick with the Wonder Stuff
Weimann, live-on-Skyman, unleashes a rocket on derby day
No blocking Bloxham’s beauty
Chris Rigg, born in 2007, makes a 1970s tackle to start the move for a goal
More than limbs, more than scenes: affray in the QPR away end
The View From… Bromley
Ali, Huw and Sam spent a Saturday afternoon soaking up the offerings of the newest EFL club, Bromley. And was the highlight a great white horse, the balmy beer concourse, watching Bromley on course for victory only for a last-gasp turnaround by Crewe? All superb, but none the winner…
Because, stood in the East Stand, we spied one of the greatest japes in footballing history. One bloke, phone in hand, pressing play on a voice note and holding the device to his ear. On the rung above him, his mate found the perfect angle to hit pause just as the audio began to roll. Bloke baffled; hits play again. Mate above; hits pause again. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. This is the EFL: we’re still laughing.
🏆 Fantasy Football
Go head-to-head against team NTT20 in our EFL Fantasy Football league
Huw Davies took the reins with a tally of 39 points (Sam/George) to beat. The opportunity was there. This was the result:
We’ll let Huw explain himself.
“Look, I took a punt. We always pick one player with 0% ownership elsewhere, so I supercharged it and picked four of them, with the other three players’ ownerships of 0.6%, 0.3% and 0.1% resulting in a sub-1% total. And with the exception of Lukas Engel – an objectively terrible selection – I’d do it again. How was I to know Ryan Johnson would go off injured and Will Collar would miss from two yards?
Well done Bensons Plan for most points this gameweek, and to Red Bull Molivia for topping the table after GW4.
📺 Watching Brief
Upcoming live EFL games
Monday 2 Sep 2024
20:00 Salford vs MK Dons
Saturday 7 Sep 2024
12:30 Burton vs Crawley