Gab Sutton's EFL Winners & Losers - February 10
We have new leaders at the top of the Championship after a huge result for Middlesbrough, but who else came out of the weekend's matches better or worse off?
Our EFL pundit here at Free Bets, Gab Sutton, takes a look at another busy weekend of EFL action across the three leagues.
Winners
Tomi Horvat
Bristol City fans were disappointed at the loss of Anis Mehmeti, for a lower fee to Ipswich than they might otherwise have received, with the Albanian’s Ashton Gate contract having been set to expire in the summer.
That disappointment, though, may soon subside if Tomi Horvat can deliver more sparkling performances like the one on his first start for the club at Hull, in a 3-2 victory.
The Slovenia international assisted Rob Atkinson’s equaliser with a pinpoint corner, and while not everything he tried came off, it never quelled his hunger to make things happen.
The 26-year-old showed bags of energy, played some nice touches, and looked a graceful carrier of a ball at the KCom. One to watch.
Kyrell Lisbie
Peterborough United have loved their non-league recruits in the last 20 years, especially of attacking players, and they’ve found another gem in Kyrell Lisbie.
The quick, versatile forward had a slow start, but since head coach Luke Williams took charge in October, the 22-year-old has scored nine league goals, including a hat-trick in Saturday’s 6-1 thumping of Wigan.
Linking up superbly with the equally talented Jimmy-Jay Morgan, Lisbie is fast establishing himself as one of League One’s hottest prospects.
Barnet
Having suffered just five defeats in their last 27 league games, Barnet have established impeccable consistency since the early weeks of the season.
Dean Brennan’s side enjoyed one of their best performances of the season, in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Walsall, in which they managed 778 passes – 337 more than Chesterfield’s per game average, which is the highest in the league.
With Anthony Hartigan dictating play at the base, and wide forward Idris Kanu enjoying the best form he’s had all season, the Bees are playing opponents off the park and look a serious threat in the Play-Off scramble.
Losers
Wrexham's rotation policy
Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson often likes to deploy two destructive #10s, in Oli Rathbone and Lewis O’Brien, in his 3-4-2-1 system.
The experienced, six-time promotion-winning manager would argue that there’s a strength to adapting to the different needs of different opponents, and having specific individual game plans to stop certain teams can be a strength.
At the same time, sometimes there’s a cost to not starting one of the attacking midfielders who have more quality than those two; granted, Nathan Broadhead was injured for Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Millwall, but second-top goalscorer Josh Windass and January recruit Davis Keillor-Dunn were left on the bench.
It’s possible the Red Dragons have good enough players to be slightly bolder with selection.
Rotherham
Rotherham had shown signs of revival, with back-to-back wins over Northampton and Exeter, with Leeds loanee Harry Gray making an instant contribution.
Their momentum, though, has been curbed by a 3-0 home defeat to Cardiff, despite Matt Hamshaw’s side playing 69 minutes of the game with a numerical advantage, due to Ryan Wintle’s sending off with the scores level.
The defeat came against the leaders, and the Millers are still only two points off safety with a game in hand, but it was a missed opportunity to climb out of the bottom four for Hamshaw’s young team.
Shrewsbury
After Shrewsbury steadied the ship with a point and clean sheet against an in-form Barnet side last week, Gavin Cowan was hoping to build on a solid enough first game in charge.
The Shrews created nothing against the Bees, though, and they rarely threatened in a 2-0 defeat at Colchester which, with unexpected one-point and three-point gains from bottom two incumbents Newport and Harrogate, lands them in a tight spot.
Establishing some defensive foundations is great, but Salop have to start creating a bit more to ensure they pull clear.
EFL Betting at Free Bets
Gab Sutton provides weekly football 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.
