Gab Sutton's EFL Winners & Losers - January 26
Our EFL pundit here at Free Bets, Gab Sutton, takes a look at another busy weekend of EFL action.
Winners
Matt Bloomfield & Mike Dodds
Matt Bloomfield got his first win as Oxford boss, a 2-1 victory at Leicester, on Saturday, to secure a positive opening return of five points from three games in charge.
Bloomfield is a passionate, charismatic leader, with the aura to motivate a group, having run the dressing room for the latter half of his lengthy playing tenure at Wycombe, inspiring one of the best cultures in the Football League – while he’s had success with the Chairboys as a manager, leading them into League One promotion contention.
Mike Dodds doesn’t have the same leadership skills as his number one, evidenced by his much trickier stint in the Adams Park dugout, but he’s good at motivating people on a one-to-one basis, encouraging individuals to revel in being different and let their talent shine.
So, when you have a manager who’s very good at leading a group, and an assistant who’s extremely tactically and technically astute, with great one-to-one people skills, you’re onto a winner – it remains an uphill task, but with those two, Oxford have hope.
Derek Adams & Tom Cleverley
When former manager Derek Adams returned to Plymouth Argyle in a Director of Football capacity, some were sceptical that he wanted Tom Cleverley’s job – but that’s never been the case.
Adams has warmed to the idea of moving upstairs in his time out of work, and at Home Park, he’s brought excellent support and guidance through his experience.
Cleverley is regarded by owner Simon Hallett and the hierarchy to be an extremely talented coach, and one of the hardest working they’ve encountered – but after 13 points from the first 15 games left Argyle bottom of the league, it was clear he required a more experienced support network.
Since Adams came in, the team have looked much better organised – the Devonians have taken a whopping 23 points from the subsequent 12 games, keeping six clean sheets, where previously they’d had the division’s worst defensive record.
Some of that can be credited to the Scot, who may have imparted his wisdom, but also to the former Manchester United midfielder for taking it on board.
Jackson Smith
Talk about impact.
Five league games, five clean sheets for Jackson Smith, who was poached from Barnsley in late December on an emergency loan, which was promptly extended in the January window.
The Mariners drew with Oldham in his first game, before he helped them to valuable victories over Shrewsbury, Fleetwood, Barnet and Cheltenham, halving the gap to the Play-Offs from 10 points.
In Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Cheltenham, Smith wasn’t tested too frequently, due to solid defending from Sam Lavelle and Cameron McJannet, but he made a couple of big stops when called upon.
Losers
Marti Cifuentes
After putting himself in a difficult situation at QPR due to his courting of jobs, Cifuentes was willing to overlook some of the structural issues at Leicester in the summer, due to the perceived quality of the squad.
Valid as that was, with many of the 2023-24 title-winning group still in situ, along with Caleb Okoli and some talented youngsters, the gamble has backfired as years of poor recruitment and operational neglect seem to be catching up with the Foxes.
Director of Football Jon Rudkin is widely criticised by supporters, but he’s retained his job because the owner, ‘Top’, doesn’t have great football knowledge, and has been keen to put faith in one of the few people he knows and trusts – so standards have slid without challenge.
Cifuentes has been the scapegoat for those issues to some extent, after being sacked following the 2-1 home defeat to Oxford, even if the squad should probably be performing better than 14th, pre-deduction.
Northampton's Attack
Northampton Town’s 2-0 loss at Blackpool means Kevin Nolan’s side are now inside the bottom four of League One, winless in six, with two goals scored in that run.
The Cobblers hold the second-worst goalscoring record in the division, and have failed to score as many as 11 times in the league this season.
Teyn’s attacking options probably aren’t of the level, especially with wide man Sam Hoskins unable to rack up the big numbers as he has done in previous years, and they look to be gambling on 17-year-old forward Jake Evans on loan from Leicester to solve their problems.
Shrewsbury
With relegation rivals Newport and Crawley winning, Shrewsbury’s weekend could hardly have gone much worse, following a 5-1 defeat to MK Dons.
The loss puts Michael Appleton’s side just two points above the drop zone, with five defeats in their last six league games, along with a 6-1 FA Cup humiliation at neighbours Wolves.
Appleton has contacts in management circles, and a reputation for being a good developer of young players, so the Mancunian will be hoping his January loan recruits – Iwan Morgan, Trey Samuel-Ogunsuyi, Matthew Cox and Temple Ojinnaka – can be good enough to save Salop’s season.
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.
