Leeds Reverse Means The Worst For Hurst

The last seven days have proved that the Championship is anything but predictable.

Now we’re at the end of what our German friends call an ‘English Week’, the form book has been turned on its’ head and another manager has lost his job.

Middlesbrough got off to a good start last Friday evening in last week’s game of the week…

However, I don’t think anyone would have predicted that Rotherham would have travelled to the Riverside on Tuesday evening and earned a point after  a goalless draw. Sheffield Wednesday also lost at QPR and have gone from the top six to the bottom half of the table in a week; after some impressive recent performances, WBA were spanked 4-1 at home by Derby on Wednesday evening.

There were originally three matches that I’d considered for Game of the Week, but I ruled out Middlesbrough v Derby for being too obvious and neither Millwall v Ipswich nor Preston v Rotherham looked like headline grabbers – even though they’re both important games at the bottom  of the table.

As it’s the end of  October I thought I’d take a quick look at the teams who have either noticeably improved or deteriorated from last season.

The most improved teams so far this season are Birmingham, Leeds and Nottingham Forest.  I thought Garry Monk should have been in the conversation for the September manager of the month award and he should be the obvious choice for the October award – the Blues are undefeated in ten games and have won for of their last six games and so far this season they’ve only lost once in seven games against the teams that are currently above them in the table.

The clubs that have taken at least one step back since last season are Aston Villa, Millwall, Preston, Ipswich and Hull. We all know about Dean Smith replacing Steve Bruce at Villa, but until yesterday afternoon my money would have been on Hull’s Nigel Adkins being the next manager to receive his marching orders.

That’s when Ipswich Town decided that – having dropped to bottom of the table after losing at Leeds – the Paul Hurst era was over after just fifteen games. The Tractor Boys haven’t won at home since April, have lost seven of their last ten away games and wouldn’t have escaped the bottom three this weekend even if they’d won. It’s a similar situation with Adkins: the Tigers have gone seven games without a win and conceded late goals in their last two games that effectively cost them four points.

I think it’s fair to say that there are some signs that Millwall and Preston may have just taken a while to get going rather than showing any damaging long term signs of regression, but now’s the time for Neil Harris and Alex Neil to make their moves.

This weekend’s televised games are as follows – shown on either on Sky Sports Football and/or Main Event unless stated: QPR v Aston Villa (this evening, 7:45pm), Middlesbrough v Derby (tomorrow, 12:30pm) and Leeds v Nottingham Forest (tomorrow, 5:30pm). The Saturday games looks most tempting and it won’t come as a huge surprise that QPR have been chosen again, whilst Leeds/Forest is always televised – although this season it’s actually relevant for a change.

I’ll back in a fortnight as I’m off to France for half term.