Now that we are in the second international break, it seems like a good time to review the Championship and assess what we have seen. My old club, Derby, started very positively and encouragingly, and their end to the transfer window strengthened them significantly.
I previously discussed that, as a manager, you always want those extra couple of signings that can add depth, quality, and strength. Their spirit, energy, and, at times, good quality have meant their start to the season has been incredibly positive because you’re never quite sure when you are promoted from the division below
Ipswich have tainted everybody’s expectations to a certain degree because everybody thinks, ‘well, why can’t we just do an Ipswich?’. Being promoted from League One into the Championship and then going up into the Premier League is a once-in-a-blue-moon. Of course, you still want to achieve something great, but if you’re Derby, Portsmouth, or Oxford, you want to solidify this season.
It’s a massive asset when you’ve got a bit of both sides to your game. Sometimes, you wonder whether a player will have the same composure level or be slightly inconsistent, given his age, but I think he’s been excellent. What you tend to find from many Premier League lads coming out of those clubs, which is why I think Ozoh has been impressive, is he’s obviously got the physical elements, but he’s got that extra bit technically.
Last year at Millwall, we took Charlie Cresswell from Leeds and Dan Ballard from Arsenal, and they both did very well, but I’ve also had Premier League loans that have not quite had the same level of impact. I think back to when we signed Troy Parrott from Tottenham, where he was so highly regarded, but that step was just a little bit too quick for him. Then you’ve got a Premier League club wondering why their player isn’t playing every week. You’ve got a Premier League player who thinks he’s dropping to play regular football and then wonders why he isn’t playing. That can also be very difficult to manage when it doesn’t work.
But aside from Ozoh, Kenzo Goudmijn is always improving, and he’s been excellent, too. I would also say someone like Kayden Jackson given his impact in the final third. Derby under Paul Warne will always be a team that, yes, they’ve got individuals, but there’s always that team spirit, that feeling of togetherness, and that’s shone for me in the bits that I’ve seen. They are very competitive and together, and even when they lose, they don’t lose by much.
There’s always a feeling that they might get something out of the game, which is an excellent trait. And what Derby’s start will do as January creeps into view is that it will open up a larger pool of players for them to sign. At the start of the season, people might look at Derby and think, ‘well, they’ve just come up, so how will they do?’. Players then look at a mid-table to upper-table club because they fancy the challenge of a promotion push.
But in Derby’s position now, and they’re 12th, you’re getting 30,000 fans in, the facilities are amazing, then all of a sudden you’re going to be into that next batch of players who were waiting to see how they would get on. A lot of loan managers will visit the clubs and let’s say you’re Arsenal’s loans manager. You’ll visit a few, see what they’re doing, and Derby can sell what they’re trying to do.
It does snowball, and if you’re successful at the start, it always opens up more avenues, but then, in saying that, money is also an obvious attraction. As far as Stoke City are concerned, I suppose everybody hoped for a bit more stability this year in terms of performance and environment. I felt as though this year would be a year when I could see them challenging at the right end of the table.
Many people were surprised when the manager change was made, but it’s very easy to judge on the outside. When you’re on the inside, you have your reasons. You have your strategy around where you see the club going, and I’m sure Jon Walters and John Coates have spoken about that in great detail. You never want to see any manager, let alone a young British manager, lose their job.
However, they must also do their job and consider the best long-term strategy. At the moment, there’s still that little bit of inconsistency. But it’s a new manager, it’s a new head coach and probably a slightly different style. Time will tell how they do, but there have been more encouraging results lately. The fans will hope that continues. I’ve seen Stoke win a game by a big score, which makes you think they could kick on, but they lacked consistency.
That’s the key for them: start stringing some results together to climb the table steadily. When I was there, you could feel the expectation because the club had been in the Premier League for, I think, about 10 years. They’d signed some brilliant players like Arnautovic and paid big transfer fees.
Nobody wanted to see them relegated to the Championship, but there was a feeling of expectation. I knew that when I joined, but there was that feeling, internally and externally, even before the season started, that we had to get promoted.
As a manager, I probably could have handled that expectation differently. I think what that creates is pressure. When there’s pressure week in and week out, sometimes you don’t make good decisions, as perhaps you would be able to if you could step back a little bit and not be in the heat of it.
But I think Stoke’s expectations have changed. Now, it’s just about performing to get where they want to get to. But Tom Cannon has stood out. Everybody hoped he was that number nine who would go and get you 20-plus goals. I think he will, which gives you a great opportunity and a chance. I liked the look of Million Manhoef, just cutting in on the right-hand side with his left foot. He has a lovely range of passing. He has a lovely feel for the ball and a goal threat also.
Everyone thinks there are some good players there. It’s just probably piecing it all together and aiming towards the top half of the table. Coventry have made a similar start to what they have done in the last few years, which, after a while, is probably still frustrating for the fans and Mark Robins, but you’d expect them to get out of it.
It’s easy to say that and not quite so easy to do. I don’t think the division’s quite as strong this year. There’s a similarity in quality, certainly from the top six down and I don’t think the top teams are quite as good as they were when you had Leicester, Ipswich, Leeds and Southampton.
Norwich are certainly coming good now. Luton have surprised me, but in the same way, I always felt it was a difficult one for them. When they went up two seasons ago, they were still an underdog and no one expected them to do it. They kind of loved that and used it to their advantage.
When you’ve been in the Premier League, and you’ve played different players, such as Ross Barkley, you know, those types of players, and you come back down again, it feels like Luton had to play a little bit more.
It feels like they’ve had to change their style a tiny bit, which I think is a natural process, but maybe they’re just caught in between a little bit at the moment. But I would still expect them to kick on.
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