Gab Sutton's EFL Winners & Losers - December 13-14
Our EFL pundit here at Free Bets, Gab Sutton, runs the rule over another hectic weekend of action across the EFL, highlighting the key winners and losers as the festive period rapidly approaches.
Winners
Philippe Clement
Philippe Clement has had a transformative impact at Norwich City.
When the Belgian first took charge, 15 games in, the Canaries had a paltry nine points to their name, as many locals felt poor summer recruitment, and a head coach appointment in Liam Manning that hasn’t worked out, had the club staring down the barrel at League One.
Within six games, the entire picture has changed.
Eight points was as good a return as supporters could have expected, given the no-shows that had been served up previously, and the demanding fixture list.
Primarily, the shift has been both physical and mental. The players already look much fitter under Clement, while the former Rangers boss has brought an aura, an authority to the building – he doesn’t ask, he demands.
The levels have shot up across the squad, and all of a sudden the summer recruitment doesn’t look like quite as big of a total waste as it once did.
After a 2-1 victory over Southampton, Norwich are now hopeful of climbing out of the bottom three, and looking forwards once again.
Tom Cleverley
The Plymouth Argyle board opted to back head coach Tom Cleverley in January, and offer him a more experienced support network, rather than sack him midway through a campaign in which the team has vastly underachieved.
The impact of the two or three additions Argyle might be able to afford next month will be seen but, since former manager Derek Adams returned to Home Park as Director of Football to provide some subtle guidance, the team has won three in five.
The club believe Cleverley to be a talented coach, and he’s the most hardworking number one they’ve had, somebody who will leave no stone unturned to find solutions.
The evidence is that those answers are starting to be found, especially in defensive areas, with 1-0 victories over Port Vale, Wycombe and Rotherham.
Lee Bell
Crewe boss Lee Bell faced some dissenting voices from the stands in midweek, after his side dropped two points by conceding a late equaliser to 10-man, bottom-of-the-league Newport.
There’s a section of Alex fans that feel the team should be in the top seven, given the presence of four or five top-end players for the level: Mickey Demetriou, Reece Hutchinson, Max Sanders, Tommi O’Reilly and Emre Tezgel.
On the other hand, there’s a lot of players in that squad who are much more of a work-in-progress, so it’s natural that there would be inconsistencies.
Nonetheless, the Railwaymen have been in the conversation ever since Bell’s first full season at the helm, 2023-24 – so for two-and-a-half seasons, barring a two-month drop-off in form at the end of last season, which meant a sustained Play-Off challenge led to a bottom half finish that didn’t quite reflect the reality of their campaign.
So, Bell continues to overachieve – not drastically overachieve, but overachieve nonetheless – somewhat continuously, as a 4-1 victory at in-form Tranmere hauled the Cheshire outfit up to 8th, one point outside the top seven.
Losers
Oxford
Oxford’s relegation fears were magnified in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, with a 2-1 home defeat to Preston North End.
The Yellows won the xG battle in that particular contest, which would suggest they were unlucky in some ways to fall to defeat, but game state was a factor.
And, whereas North End had few attacks but that were high on quality, the U’s had lots of attacks, but tended to come through Will Vaulks’ long throws or Brian de Keersmaecker’s set pieces, with the latter scoring the goal with an excellent strike from outside the box.
Oxford peppered the opposition but, when they’re so reliant on one or two routes to goal, they probably need to be tighter, and harder to score against, in isolated moments.
For now, defeat plunges them into the bottom three, and they would be classed as second-favourites for relegation behind Sheffield Wednesday.
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient recovered from a slow start last season, with a strong dart for the Play-Offs through good form from October onwards, and that’s something they’re hoping to replicate.
After all, even with Saturday’s 3-2 loss at Barnsley, Richie Wellens’ side have accrued a respectable 14 points from their last 10 games, suggesting steady progress.
While the O’s have shown serious potential going forward, however, especially with the attacking combination of Aaron Connolly and Dom Ballard, spinal issues and defensive inconsistencies – in terms of both performance and personnel – has compromised progress.
It’s one thing scoring as many goals as anyone other than Cardiff, but the East Londoners have shipped the most in the division, and they simply can’t launch a serious top six bid on those foundations.
Darrell Clarke
After Bristol Rovers beat Salford 2-1 at the end of September to move into the top seven, things were looking up for Darrell Clarke, who was hoping to win a third promotion at the club at which he’s revered from his first spell.
The happy reunion story was short-lived, though, and if anything, it was proof of the loyalty of Gasheads that it lasted another 10 weeks before he was sacked.
What followed was 10 successive league defeats, including most recently a 4-0 drubbing at Barnet, and a 3-0 home defeat to rivals Swindon, leaving Clarke looking drained by the whole ordeal by the end.
Clarke won’t have to buy a beer this side of the Severn, and remains a Gas legend, but sometimes the expression ‘never go back’ exists for a reason.
As for Rovers, they’re looking for an appointment to take this supposedly gifted squad on paper out of the bottom two, while question marks over the Al-Saeeds ownership regime remain.
EFL Betting at Free Bets
Gab Sutton provides weekly football betting tips for Free Bets, featuring a thoroughly researched longshot acca alongside sharp analysis of the key talking points and standout moments from the weekend's action at the start of each new week.
