EFL Extra: Why is the Championship so free scoring?

0:28Hello and welcome to the Game Football Podcast. going to miss the chance to talk about three hat-tricks last weekend across the division. One for Wrexham, one for Stoke, one for Derby. Tell us a little bit more and then we'll get stuck into a bit of analysis of all three from, I'd say, three very different strikers. Yes, Kiefer Moores was the first one Friday night. Huge win for Wrexham against Coventry City League leaders and it was your classic right foot, left foot header, perfect hat-trick, although not in that order I must say. Yeah, that was a huge moment and all assisted by Windass as well so that was kind of really big night I think Phil Parkinson described it as like a proper wrecks in performance it was like the kind of really up and at them and direct and very very difficult to play against big one for Kiefer Moore as well great header first goal was again a poacher's instinct and also got the left footer as well great finish low into the corner Divine Obama was the next he got a hard trick against Bristol City first was a real poacher's finish the second was an absolute howler by the goalkeeper and the third was a great finish as well kind of moving the ball away from the defender after ferocious pressing by Stoke and Stoker a rich vein of form at the moment and that was big from Obama as well he'd gone a few games without a goal and he's got five and actually if you look at Stoke's front four now they've got 19 goals between them so really really in good shape going forward and then Carlton Morris header and then second right at the start of the second half this is against Sheffield United right at the start of the second half they were still singing the Gracie Chip Butty song he was played in by a mistake by I think it was Sidney Peck went through and finished off and then got a penalty so yeah it's really you know it's not often that you get three hat-tricks in one match day weekend I think it was the first time since 2012 so yeah big big performances by centre forwards all for different reasons.

2:29Derby County, of course, Carl Morris' team have made a real resurgence in recent weeks. Yeah, definitely. And really big wins, as you say, for different reasons for all three of those teams. Just proof for listeners that I can be positive about Wrexham where wanting to start with them as well. But also to score three goals against this Coventry side, as we've said all season, is no mean feat. So not just for Kiefer Moore, but for the side in general, as you say, Phil Parkinson and rightly praising his team. They followed that up with a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth on Wednesday, which leaves them in 14th, five points off the playoffs, five points above the relegation places.

3:04You couldn't sum up the championship any better than a tie with Wrexham's ability and financial might being in that position in the championship. But I wanted to come back to Stoke just very quickly, Gregor, because as well as Mbama's hat-trick, there was also an absolutely brilliant goal by Junior Chamedu, 21 years old. He'd been in Charlton's Youth Academy, then to Colchester. kind of right back, right wing back, now playing regularly in the Championship. And it's interesting to think of us talking about this goal on the EFL Extra show because we obviously quite rightly gave Mickey van der Ven loads of praise on the regular Thursday show.

3:37We talked about our favourite goals of long runs by one player and then getting a finish. This was an absolute barnstaller and to be honest, miles better than van der Ven's, if you ask me. That's controversial opinion, Tom, but it was a fantastic run. I mean, there was a little moment where he kind of, I think he poked it through the defender's legs real moment of composure but mostly it was just characterised by blistering pace and he's having a fantastic season you have to remember as well, this Stoke team he's part of a back four that were all really part of a team that were in the relegation battle last season, conceded 62 goals last season, you know you've got Boca, Wilmer, Ashley Phillips and Chimadu as you say and this season they've conceded nine goals, that's the best they've got the best defence in the league so it's a remarkable sort of change in fortunes defensively and that points to some really good coaching by Mark Robbins and a bit more more of a sort of cohesive shape and defensive foundation I think so yeah they're in fantastic form and as I said the front four are in a rich way in a form Manhoof has got four goals in assist Baker's got four goals, scored an absolute beauty against Oxford during the week as well.

4:54And Sorba Thomas is fast becoming like the, one of the most effective or dangerous winters in the league. He's got four goals and four assists in Mbama and he's kind of first full season, he'll hope, in first team football and the championship. He's got five goals as well. So motoring along very nicely, Stoke City. Yeah, I do enjoy the fact that you dug me out for saying that that Chumado goal was a bit toppy to say it's better than Van der Ven's and then promptly explained to listeners that there was a nutmeg in there as well. van der Ven just stormed straight through this guy actually beat some players miles better goal listeners get in touch with me tom.clark at the time.co.uk go and check out these stoke goals get in touch with me just because i know that you're all going to agree that Chimaydu's goal is way better than van der Ven's anyway just very quickly on Mbama as well this very interesting you know these days we talk so much about football fandom and you know social media and things after the Mbama hat trick i don't know if you spotted the amount of West Ham fans who were online going, just adding to their woes.

5:54He's only 21, brilliant striker, quick, powerful, and as you say, scoring three brilliant poachers goals. He was in their youth academy for a long time and then was pinched by Manchester City for what was reported to be around£2 million in compensation. So it's one for West Ham where they're looking and going, hang on a minute, we're desperately in need of people who can score goals, people who've got some pace. You're telling me we trained this guy and had him on our books for all this time? and now he's at Manchester City he does look like a real, real talent, doesn't he? Absolutely, yeah. And he got some game time in the Conference League kind of the run up to the final and he came very close I think, if I remember rightly he came really close to scoring a goal that was, I think it got a deflection and it was a judge to being going wide so he wasn't giving the goal it was really heartbreaking for him it was a game when, a very rare occasion when David Moyes gave a lot of the young players, I think they already qualified from the group, a lot of young players, a chance in the Coventry League.

6:57But you're right, game time was really limited there. And it was a strange move to Man City. He's not going to go there and play, you wouldn't imagine, immediately. But he's gone out on loan and he started really, really impressively in the Championship. And we've got a huge game coming up this weekend against Coventry, so he'll hope to be in the goals in that one too. Yeah, massive. As you say, huge game against Coventry. It's first against second because of Stoke, as you mentioned there, following up that 5-1 win against Bristol City with a 3-0 victory against Oxford. They are in blistering form at the moment.

7:30Just very quickly on Derby, you mentioned Carlton Morris' hat-trick there in a 3-1 win at Sheffield United on Saturday. They followed that up with a 2-1 win against Hull and they're all of a sudden up to 11th a side that on recent shows we suggested might need to improve things and they certainly have done. let's look at two other sides in the playoff picture at the moment because in this season of surprise candidates for promotion we've got two others Preston in fourth and Charlton in sixth yes very much surprise packages and we've spoken sort of fleetingly about Preston but they're maintaining this form and they're not looking like falling away it's three wins in a row their recruitment in the summer looks better and better with every passing week they've got a really brilliant blend of some experienced players who've been there for a while like Ben Whiteman, Lindsay Hughes at the back and then they've utilized the loan market brilliantly and if you look at the way Harrison Armstrong has emerged in the last, I think he's played the last six or seven games in a 18-year-old midfielder on loan from Everton.

8:32It's been the second half of last season on loan at Derby County about 15 times to help them avoid relegation and he was quite in demand I think in the summer but David Moyes helped out his old club by sending him to Preston and he's being he's really really classy midfielder and I heard Stuart McCall talking effusively about him the other day he's just one of three or four Alfie Devine along from Spurs Lewis Dobbin along from Aston Villa and Daniel Jebbison along from Bournemouth and all of them in their own way are contributing and adding a bit more use and energy and dynamism to the Preston team this season and then you have to say Terry Small as well has been a brilliant sign-in from Charlton.

9:17A bit of a surprise why he scored an absolute screamer in the midweek win. So, yeah, they're going along really well and Paul Heckenbottom creates a bit of a siege mentality saying it's not all about money because they're punching well above their weight. Their budget will be probably, I would say, in the bottom quarter of the league. He's found a chemistry between, as I say, a bit of experience and a bit of youth and a really smart loan sign-in. which has served them well so far. Yeah, Preston on a run of three wins on the spin. Another team on a brilliant run that I mentioned just a second ago, Charlton up into six.

9:54I mean, we keep talking about these surprise packages this season. You could argue that the top eight in the championship currently could all be surprise packages. I know we've talked about Coventry, but the top eight, Coventry, Stoke, Middlesbrough, Preston, Millwall, Charlton, Bristol City and Hull before you get down to big spending Birmingham and Ipswich, who are obviously lots of people's favourites to go straight back up. It really does show that this season has been quite unexpected with 14 games gone, but Charlton we're picking out partly because of that great run and partly because they embody that surprise element this season, but also partly because another one of the things that we like to recommend is listeners going and checking things out in the championship.

10:32Go and look at Charlton's celebrations after their 95th minute winner against West Brom. Gregor, Nathan Jones is a bit of a Marmite character in football. He's had some successes. he's had some huge failures he's getting it right at Charlton and in the celebrations he was right in the mix of it Luke we've seen this before from from from Dayton Jones his celebrations are a sight to behold often I mean if anyone remembers his celebrations after the playoff playoff semi-final victory and and in the last season he was on his knees he was pointing to the guard he's obviously a devout Christian pointing to the sky sorry he's obviously a devout Christian this time he heared over to the to the advertising hordons after Sonny Carey's 96 minute winner and he was up there punching there in the light he's you're right in saying he's a marmite figure but he's when he gets the kind of I don't know a bit of force a bit of kind of he's a force of nature basically when he gets the energy going at a club whatever club he's at and it's been looting it's only been looting in the past that's the thing this is what makes it really interesting at Charlton he was such a success at looting over two spells went to Stoke City and I think he was you know people appreciated how much he was he was invested in his attempts to try and turn Stoke City around not the first or last manager who struggled to do that it didn't work for him and then the Southampton was an absolute disaster and he wasn't he said in an interview he realised that he wasn't wanted there from very early on so he struggled to sort of convey that same sort of force of nature sort of any personality and stuff so but you're seeing it very much now and the Valley is an absolute fortress they've lost 1 in 24 games since December last year at the Valley 6 queen sheets in 14 games this year this is a very much a sort of it sort of journey is interesting too in the way as Luton teams played back in the day were really expansive and we had a diamond midfield and were you know all out attacking lots of goals this is a big change, a big pivot.

12:40They've got 43 % possession on average, which is 23rd in the league. They're quite direct, quite in your face and all about high intensity. But it's working for them. They've claimed, you know, go to Wrexham this weekend and the last visit in April they still had a chance of making automatic promotion places in League One. They lost 3-0 that day. Wrexham secure promotion that day and they had to go up through the playoffs but they've you know by a long distance acclimatised best out of all the promoted teams from League One so the only question mark for me would be kind of forward areas the goals it's quite low a lot of low margin victories Kelman got his first of the season sort of belatedly the other week but not certain they've got the firepower to sustain this but the defence has been excellent so but it's whatever you say is box office with Nathan Jones at the helm.

13:40Yeah, a bit of box office. And as you said, Charlton coming up through the League One playoffs, I don't think any Charlton fan would be particularly upset if they had a bit of a crack towards the playoffs at the start of the season and ended up finishing in mid-table as long as they had some great fun along the way, as they definitely did against West Brom in that win. I'm telling you, go and check out the celebrations of Nathan Jones making himself centre stage on an advertising hoarding. It's well worth a look. You mentioned Southampton there, one of Nathan Jones' former sides, a very brief spell there, and it's been a very brief spell as well for Will Still, manager who came in at Southampton in the summer, sacked after a 2-0 home defeat against Preston on Saturday.

14:17That left the club just outside the relegation zone with 12 points from 13 games. Obviously, then what happens is that a team without a manager go and win 2-1 at QPR. But Gregor, this felt like, and I do remember us discussing this in the preview show, a manager with huge kind of admiration for what he'd done in France, but without a lot of uncertainty this felt like one that was either going to fly or sink quite quickly and so it proved the latter in this case Yeah, it's a shame it was one of the most interesting appointments of the summer I think and I think there's actually a bit of sympathy for them among the Southampton fan base too I think they feel that there are broader issues at play at the club Sport Republic, the owners have had a remarkably mixed sort of record and failed miserably to any time they've been in the Premier League and they've managed to scoop promotions a couple of seasons back.

15:10The player trading model is another bone of contention. They've left a massive hole up front this season. They've got the third highest XG in the league, 23.7 goals XG, and they've scored 15. It's a massive differential. And when Ross Stewart was injured, it felt like a nail in the coffin. They've served such a reliance on Adam Armstrong up front. so they've also made a lot of defensive errors but you look at his team and you look at some of the signings you know they've signed from his eyes they've signed Tom Fellows still got Flynn Downs in midfield still got people like Taylor Arwood-Bellis who was playing for England not long ago and what they could have really done with what he could have really done with was a pair of goals like Jay Robinson and Leonardo Sienza scored at Loftus Road the other night just kind of two goals in the space of 10 or 15 minutes in the second half that gave him a cushion and sort of you know they came from nowhere really so that's the way he's lacked I think there is a bit of sympathy, a bit of bad luck but he also perhaps didn't do quite enough to ingratiate himself with the fans he was really punchy in his interviews kind of perceived to become quite negative as well the smart guy, really intelligent but he's maybe a little bit too honest sometimes so I'm sure he'll learn from this and you know he's had a very very promising managerial career up to this point I'm sure he'll he'll be back soon.

16:35Yeah very interesting just a very quick word on Norwich ending a run of six defeats with a one-all draw against bottom of the table Sheffield Wednesday I mean good for Liam Manning in the sense of ending that run but a one-all draw against beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday is not necessarily what you'd be expecting for a kind of big positive for Norwich to be sticking with Gregor as I say they aren't the only big club down the bottom and we've got Sheffield Wednesday at the bottom and then Sheffield United on a run of three games, three defeats on the spin. Then Norwich, you've also got Southampton down there, West Brom are on a terrible run as well as are Leicester.

17:09But just on Norwich, as we're heading into an international break, do you start to worry that Liam Manning has got a massive game on Saturday at home against Leicester, who, as I say, are struggling themselves? Well, the owner, Mark Atanasio, came out last week and backed him pretty strongly when he was over visiting from America Like, you know, he said that he left a very good job in the summer at Bristol City to come to Norwich. He's got a good kind of body of work that should not be forgotten. But when you've lost all six home games in the league, seven including a loss to Southampton in the EFL Cup, like, the atmosphere has gone beyond toxic already.

17:48And it's really, really hard to come back from that. So, like, I kind of admire and hope that there's going to be merit in time in the owner backing the manager like this, but it's going to take something pretty special for him to turn it around. Like I said, because the atmosphere at Carrow Road has become so toxic. I think that's another club where there's a case of a bigger picture. And the blame is not all focused on Liam Manning. He's a smart young coach, but the club's just changed hands. The new diet to the football, relatively new anyway. and Ben Napper and like some of the decisions that they've made in the recruitment in particular are big question marks over so I'd be amazed if Lee Manning does manage to turn this round now though Yeah a big game on Saturday as I say at home against Leicester we'll see if that Carrow Road crowd will eventually get behind him and maybe a win would be a big help loads still to come on the show we're going to take a little break speaking of people on bad runs Gregor Robson is absolutely on a stinker when it comes to quiz questions So I'm going to let him off this week, but I am just going to give you listeners a reminder to check out our sister podcast, The Rook.

19:01They bring you the best rugby analysis during these autumn internationals in November. So make sure you check them out. That's The Rook. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts. As I say, plenty more still to come, including some managerial changes in League One. We'll be back after this.

19:26Welcome back to the Game Football Podcast from The Times. This is our EFL Extra show with me, Tom Clark, and the former Football League defender, Gregor Robertson. Gregor, as I say, some League One managerial changes to get into in this part of the show. The FA Cup meant that there was no action in League One and League Two with the clubs involved in the cup competitions last weekend. Let's start with bottom of the table, Peterborough. They've got a new boss. Yes, Darren Ferguson's fourth spell, I think it is, his manager is over and Darren McAntony, they're basically very close friends now at this point in time, so it must be very difficult for him to par company with Ferguson once again.

20:06but he's moved quickly to hire Luke Williams who was most recently Swansea City manager also two knots county up from the National League to League 2 managed London Town in the past also assisted Russell Martin at NK Donnes in Swansea so he's a manager who's had sort of big ups and pretty sizable downs as well he likes to play really expansive football it's not really kind of tying in that well with the zeitgeist to things we've discussed recently about how many teams at the top end of each division have got less than 50 % possession and are playing quite direct, a bit of a pivot focus on set pieces and direct football.

20:51He's not going to do that. He wants the ball playing out from the back and expansive, totally dominant. It'll be really interesting to see. That's kind of what Peter Reunited have done for a long, long time and they've always wanted to tell him what Anthony said and he's sort of unveiling you know I want us to challenge for promotion I want to score 100 goals every season I want to try and win the AFL trophy again so like all of that may be quite ambitious this year but that's the kind of demands that he always places on his manager one really interesting thing about Luke Williams is that he's in his time out of work he spent time as a customer care assistant at Bristol Airport he just he was photographed actually by by a couple of fans thinking what's going on here and he just sort of said he wanted to spend some time while he was out of work rather than just sitting on his bum at home you know doing some good helping people out it's not something you see every day but he's obviously a thoughtful individual and somebody who kind of try and he's always tried to create a really positive culture at all the clubs he's worked at so that was that's one interesting little story from when he's been out of work and he's also very glad to be back in work I hear.

22:08Yeah, certainly make some of the neutrals listening to this show perhaps wish him all the best at Peterborough. He's got a big job on his hands to get them off the bottom of the table, not where they would be expecting to be in League One. Another team making a change in manager is also a big side at this level. Again, not expecting to be where they are. Reading in 20th, changing their manager. Noel Hunt, who got the kind of job in a caretaker fashion and was then given it permanently. not a great start to the season despite Muppets like me suggesting they'd be in contention for promotion they've changed manager as well Gregor tell us who's got the job Yes Liam Richardson he won League One with Wigan a few years ago more difficult time at Rotherham United recently I mean who other than Paul Warren hasn't and he was also a long time assistant of Paul Cook at Portsmouth Chesterfield back in Stanley all of which were really successful periods for those clubs but his work at Wigan was the kind of his most impressive body of work in winning League One and with a really really exciting team I think this is quite a smart appointment he said as I say the Rodham United time in the championship was difficult but Rodham have really struggled to to make that that step up in the past but he's another number who plays really exciting football be interesting to see if he kind of continues in that vein of form or whether there's a bit more of a streak of pragmatism now because you have to look at the players at Reading's disposal and they have some really exciting talents.

23:40We've got Lewis Wing, Savage. They've got a very young team though and I think their biggest issue is finding a way to have a solid foundation in games because you could see the 19 goals this season and we've not really had much firepower as well up front. so it's a difficult task got you know a club that's had a really really challenging a few years that goes without saying Rob Kuhig has bought the club recently and obviously got a lot of ambition but didn't have a great deal of time to sort of improve the squad in the summer I'm sure there'll be some improvements in January and the club should be looking up I think this probably will turn out to be a season of consolidation after all the turmoil that that club's been embroiled in recent years.

24:31Yeah, I mentioned my terrible prediction for Reading, a club that definitely got a lot of people's tips for promotion and potentially even winning the league was Stockport. And they have kind of, after a stuttering start, put a run together that's seen them go to the top of the table. Four wins on the spin just ahead of Bradford and Cardiff and Stevenage. That's the top four. This is where Stockport and Dave Chaloner would expect to be, isn't it, Gregor, after last season when they just missed out in that kind of playoff campaign that was very, very tight in that match against Leighton Orient.

25:01They'd have wanted and expected to be at the top of this table. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. Their goal will be challenging for automatic promotion and avoiding the lottery of the playoffs. I mean, Dave Chalmers' teams always are challenging for the playoffs as a bare minimum. That's like a track record that goes back, I think it's about 15 years now at various clubs. Remarkable record he has as a manager. And I think that they look really, really well placed and some really smart recruits. I mean, Lowe, who obviously had a really fruitful time in the first half of the season at Walsall last season, Nathan Lowe, before being recalled by Stoke City, was kind of signed just before the end of the transfer window and that kind of transformed the whole outlook in terms of getting goals.

25:49Although, having said that, Kyle Wooten has been really, really good this season. He's got six goals already. But the star man has been Jack Diamond. I don't know if you saw his goal against Trammeu in the FA Cup but it's kind of there was a trademark last season of Louis Barry getting the ball on the left and cutting inside and being unstoppable and picking out the corner and he's kind of taken up that mantle a bit and his goal was in the Barry mould and he also had played a big hand in the 3-0 win against Port Vale before that again making those runs inside and he set up Kyle Wooten for a great finish on the turn kind of driving in from the left as I say and he scored I think he's got three goals and three assists in the league as well so he's been outstanding for him and then there's other smart pickups like Ben Osborne who's had a really good career he's playing a kind of left really kind of he's playing in that left wing back role and Ollie Norwood as well who's like scoring and setting up goals at a fantastic rate scored a direct free kick against Tram Mir.

26:57It's kind of, everyone thought he was going to cross and he whipped in at the near post. Such a classy, classy footballer. So they look really well placed, but it's not that much of a surprise, to be honest. It's kind of whether they can just get over the finishing line and finish in that top two this season. Yeah, high expectations indeed at Stockport. Finally, Gregor, we started with some hat-tricks. So I just thought I'd finish with a mention of a hat-trick from a player at a team in League Two. Michael Mellon, the old and forward son of manager Mickey. I mentioned there that it was the FA Cup last weekend.

27:29He scored a hat-trick as the League Two side beat League One Northampton in the FA Cup last weekend, including opening the scoring with a brilliant overhead kick. Make sure you go and check it out. A lovely story there of him scoring a hat-trick for his dad's size to get them through. The League Two pitcher, just at the moment, as we talk before the weekend, Walsall still top despite a bad couple of games. Swindon just behind them. Salford have put a couple of wins together and are in third at the moment. MK Dons, Notts County, Grimsby and Chesterfield making up the playoff places. We'll be back with an EFL show very soon to talk about more of it.

28:04But that's all we've got time for for now. Gregor, thank you very much, as always, for joining me. Thank you too for listening. If you're off to a game this weekend, make sure you enjoy it or hope you enjoy it, whether you get some points or not. And we'll be back very soon with another EFL Extra show. We'll see you then.

28:22Thank you.