The EFL returned to action after a three-week international break, and Final Score pundit Sam Parkin picked out his takeaways from across the Championship, League One and League Two.
The headline act came at the King Power Stadium, where Robbie Savage marked his debut as an EFL manager with a 3-1 win for Peterborough United over Leicester City, piling further pressure on Russell Martin. Savage was returning to the club he is probably most synonymous with, and Parkin admitted he was open-minded about the appointment given how little is known about Savage as a manager from his journey through non-league football. He had heard that Savage wants his side to play with real intensity and to press aggressively from the front, and against a Leicester team with a unique style that takes risks with the ball, the game plan worked out perfectly.
Parkin stressed it is only a start, but noted that Savage has inherited a brilliant scorer in Harry Leonard, meaning he does not have to worry about who will convert chances. The squad is young and could probably use some experience in the upcoming window, yet Parkin believes there are better players at the club than their current league position suggests, making it a great opportunity. The challenge will be handling the heavier scrutiny Savage will face compared with his previous roles, and Parkin acknowledged he will naturally carry a target on his back because of who he is. Peterborough have been a genuinely attacking, free-scoring side over the past 10 to 15 years, a reputation Parkin associates with the club, so an aggressive approach should be met with open arms.
Middlesbrough celebrated their ‘150 Fixture’ with a narrow win over Wolves that took them into the Championship’s top two, going some way to putting the emotional events of May behind them in the same week that Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert learned his punishment for his part in the Spygate affair. Parkin sees clear parallels with Coventry, who were promoted last season after a brilliant finish to the previous campaign, including the timescales that both managers had been in charge.
Boro came very close last season, and Parkin identified the gaping hole in their squad as the lack of an out-and-out goalscorer: they created plenty of chances and were excellent in both boxes, but could not convert. Bringing in Will Lankshear, who has scored eight goals since his summer move from Tottenham, could prove pivotal in their push for promotion. Parkin also highlighted Kim Hellberg getting his best back four on the pitch as a real stand-out moment of the season, keeping a clean sheet against a good Wolves team after a spell of conceding too many goals, and he expects Middlesbrough to kick on from here.
Birmingham City won the lunchtime derby away at West Bromwich Albion by a single goal, a third away win of the season that lifted them into the expanded play-off places in seventh, as an ambitious club looks to get into the promotion mix after a slightly disappointing 10th-place finish last term. Birmingham have lost only one of their past 14 Championship games going back to April.
Parkin sees a deliberate change in approach behind that form. In League One, Birmingham were promoted playing stylish football and trying to play out from the back at all costs; this season they are a more direct team, with a better balance and more force from set-pieces. The shift has arrived at almost the perfect moment for Chris Davies, who was under enormous pressure and simply had to start winning given the club’s ambition and the size and demands of its support. Davies rolled the dice and it has paid off in a big way so far. The next step is winning at St Andrew’s, where four draws have been recorded, and Parkin believes that if they manage it they can be a force to be reckoned with in the Championship.
Graham Alexander has swapped a possible League One promotion push with Bradford City for a battle at the lower end of the Championship with Preston North End, and his homecoming to Deepdale began inauspiciously as defeat by Millwall sent the club bottom. Parkin does not expect a huge improvement overnight, though he understands the appointment given Alexander is a club legend. Alexander’s strength has always been organisation rather than managing free-flowing, attack-minded sides, and while Parkin has no doubt his team will start keeping clean sheets, the question mark is whether Preston have the attacking players in the building or whether Alexander can free them up to score more. He deserves the opportunity after incredible work at Bradford, but Parkin does not feel it is a brilliant Preston squad that he has inherited: given the start they have made, survival would be deemed a success this season, followed by consolidation with the aid of a few transfer windows and an effort to improve the squad.
In League Two, Salford City sit top after a sixth win in seven matches, a 2-0 success at Cheltenham Town, but Parkin is not yet ready to call them promotion certainties. Karl Robinson fell at the final hurdle last season and Parkin felt his sacking was quite harsh, as he was probably the one manager who looked like achieving the target of promotion. Peter Cklamovski has inherited a good squad with the players to go one better than last year, and in Macaulay Langstaff, who scored freely for Notts County, and Luke Molyneux, a stand-out performer for Doncaster, the Ammies have notable attacking quality. It is still early days, though: Barnet are very free-scoring and deserve credit for remaining unbeaten, Crewe also won and have had a terrific start after tasting the play-offs, and Parkin would throw York and Bristol Rovers into the mix as well, so he will withhold judgement on Salford until he has seen a little more football.