Gab Sutton's EFL Winners & Losers - September 13-14
Gab Sutton 
Domestic action returned with a bang after the international break, with storylines across the Championship, League One and League Two.
There were more sports betting site upsets and plenty of drama, so Free Bets EFL pundit Gab Sutton breaks down his winners and losers from the weekend.
Winners
Stoke
Stoke continued their excellent start to the season with a 1-0 victory over Birmingham.
There’s a refreshing simplicity to the Potters under Mark Robins, something they’ve needed off the back of seven years of underperformance: a clear structure, some solid defensive foundations, a threat on the turnovers, and a blend of youth and experience.
On the one hand, they have up-and-coming players like Junior Tchamadeu, Bosun Lawal, Million Manhoef and Divin Mubama, who are all tremendous athletes.
On the other, Ben Pearson is showing signs of reclaiming his status as one of the best ball-winners in the Championship, while Aaron Cresswell is bringing valuable know-how at left-back.
A first top half finish in a decade could be on the cards.
Bradford
Bradford have enjoyed a dream start to life in League One, accruing a whopping 17 points from their first eight games, thanks to their 3-1 West Yorkshire Derby victory over Huddersfield.
The Bantams have assembled an excellent squad for their low budget, thanks to smart recruitment since David Sharp came in as Head of Football Operations, supporting boss Graham Alexander.
With flying wing-backs in Josh Neufville and Tyreik Wright, and energetic attacking midfielders in Antoni Sarcevic and Bobby Pointon supporting a willing runner up top in Will Swan, City have legs across the park.
With Max Power looking a fine addition in midfield to complement box-to-box man Alex Pattison.
Barnet
Lady luck smiled on Barnet in their 2-1 victory at Crewe, with Lee Ndlovu and Ryan Glover taking two of their small handful of chances, and the hosts missing a plethora of their own – including two penalties that were saved by the heroic Ciaran Slicker.
As much as the Bees won’t win every week playing like this, we also saw a steeliness to Dean Brennan’s side that we’ve not yet seen, with the likes of Nik Tavares and Danny Collinge being imperious at the back.
Idris Kanu looked bright in Cheshire, too, while Mark Shelton had some nice attacking moments – plenty to work on, but the kind of break that could kick-start their season.
Losers
Watford
Watford boss Paulo Pezzolano deployed a 4-4-2 for Saturday’s hosting of Blackburn, but it may not be a formation that quite maximizes the strengths of their squad, specifically Nestory Irankunda, Rocco Vata, and Georgi Chakvetadze when he’s back.
The strongest area of this Hornets squad is arguably the attacking midfield and wide areas, which may point to a 4-2-3-1, so it’s back to the drawing board for Pezzolano.
The Hertfordshire outfit, though, will be glad to welcome the assured presence of Imran Louza back in midfield – the Moroccan was missed sorely at the weekend.
Wycombe
Wycombe’s 2-1 loss at fellow slow starters Peterborough means it’s just five points from the opening eight games for Mike Dodds’ side, who have been defeated five times.
One of the explanations often offered for the Chairboys’ drop in form in the second half of last season, was that Dodds does his best work on the coaching field, and needed a pre-season to get his ideas across in a longer format.
There may have been truth to that – Dodds is a great coach, and he could go to the backroom staff at any club in world football and make a contribution, evidenced by what Jude Bellingham thinks of his work – but that doesn’t mean he has all the ingredients to be a good League One manager.
Dodds and Wycombe needed a positive start, and that’s not what they’ve had.
Cheltenham
After starting the season with five straight defeats, Cheltenham showed brief signs of resurgence, earning a valuable point at Salford, before beating relegation rivals Accrington Stanley last weekend.
In Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Crawley, however, it was back to another defeat, with the Robins going down in a poor second half performance.
Arkell Jude-Boyd looked bright for Michael Flynn’s men, but they were ultimately undone by a Harry McKirdy brace, leaving locals to ask all the big questions as former Burnley chief Mike Garlick begins his ownership regime.
