Middlesbrough, Moore lauded; Sheffield Wednesday shambolic – F365’s Championship Spotlight
Middlesbrough and Darren Moore get some love, while Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United are slated in the inaugural F365 Championship Spotlight column…
CARRICK KICKSTARTS BORO TURNAROUND
Middlesbrough have been pretty topsy-turvy over the past year, but novice manager Michael Carrick transformed them into promotion contenders last term when they were relegation candidates upon his arrival.
Boro ended up running out of steam and lost to Coventry in the play-off semi-finals. While they would have been hoping to put that right this time around, their season has got off to an awful start.
They were not helped in the summer with last season’s star forwards – Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer – leaving to join Ajax and Sheffield United respectively.
Akpom and Archer contributed with 47 direct Championship goal involvements between them last season and Boro initially found life without them difficult, as they failed to win any of their opening seven league games.
This was the first rough spell Carrick has been made to endure as a manager after he was the darling of the Football League last season.
Premature calls for him to be sacked last month prove how quickly things can change for bosses in the cut-throat management business but he now looks to have Middlesbrough moving in the right direction.
Middlesbrough earned a statement home 2-1 win over Southampton before they overcame an inspired Watford comeback to beat Valerien Ismael’s side 3-2 at Vicarage Road over the weekend.
These results saw Boro edge out of the relegation zone and they *shouldn’t* be back in the bottom three for the rest of this season if all goes to plan. Promotion feels unrealistic with Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Leeds United among the pace-setters, but Carrick is on track to pass a significant managerial test to ease the pressure on his squad and now a gradual rise up the table is on the cards.
DARREN MOORE ENJOYS SOLID START AT HUDDERSFIELD
A few eyebrows were raised when Championship specialist Neil Warnock mutually parted ways with Huddersfield just seven games into the new season.
The 74-year-old got the maximum out of a pretty limited Terriers squad and the early signs indicated that he had them on track for Championship safety once again.
But the club’s new American owners opted to throw a spanner in the works by appointing Moore as his successor, who has been chosen to lead the Yorkshire outfit into a new era.
Moore is one of football’s nice guys but he is also a bloody good manager who was harshly treated by Sheffield Wednesday prior to his baffling exit ahead of the new season.
The former West Brom boss coped with the Wednesday circus to get the Owls back into the Championship and it was refreshing that Huddersfield’s new owners went down the sensible route of making him their first post-takeover manager.
A natural drop-off in form following Warnock’s exit was expected, but Moore has admirably been able to steady the ship and earn valuable draws against Coventry City and Ipswich Town in his first two games in charge.
Championship safety must be the sole aim for Huddersfield this season before they can widen their aspirations and Moore is a manager capable of making them solid enough to get them over the line without too much stress.
READ MORE: Sheff Utd, QPR… Saudi? Six potential destinations for Neil Warnock *when* he returns to management
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY SHAMBLES
Nine games. Two draws. Seven losses. The joint-worst start by any team in a Championship season.
Sheffield Wednesday are a laughing stock at the moment and that is largely down to their petulant owner Dejphon Chansiri, who remarkably threatened to pull his funding in the Championship club a mere few hours before Friday night’s 3-0 loss at home to Sunderland.
Chansiri – who daftly expected a play-off push before this season without any meaningful transfer investment – has made the bold choice of laying into the club’s “selfish” fans who have (rightly, by the way) been calling for him to sell up.
The sooner Chansiri goes the better as the longer he sticks around, the longer Sheffield Wednesday will be dragged through the mud and this mismanagement has impacted matters on the pitch.
Wednesday earned promotion last term with an ageing squad that was reaching the end of its tether and they have arguably had the worst summer transfer window out of anyone in the Championship as club chiefs failed to strengthen the side.
The disarray at Wednesday is not being helped by their managerial situation, with Moore’s replacement – former Watford boss Xisco Munoz – already on borrowed time.
The recent events at Hillsborough feel like a perfect sh*tstorm which has been brewing for a while and it will ultimately result in them suffering relegation with a whimper. And that should not be the case just five months after their jubilant day at Wembley in the League One play-off final.
ROTHERHAM DON’T LOVE PLAYING AWAY
All’s not rosy in South Yorkshire…
While Sheffield Wednesday are in a desperate situation, Rotherham United are not faring too much better.
The Millers are always going to be up against it at this level and they have already been seriously hampered by injuries, with Tyler Blackett the only fully-fit centre-back available for their weekend defeat at Cardiff City.
Rotherham have shown during their latest stint in the Championship that they can give any second-tier side a tough game on their day, but this is largely the case when they are playing on home turf at the New York Stadium.
Last season, Matt Taylor’s side picked up 33 of their 50 overall points in home games as they managed to bin their yo-yo and *finally* avoid relegation from the Championship.
At this stage, the Millers have been performing pretty well at home and should have more to show from their efforts than just four points in five outings at the New York Stadium.
Yet away from home, it’s been a whole different story. Five games have resulted in five defeats and they have conceded 13 goals (and scored just twice) in the process.
These Jekyll and Hyde tendencies far precede Taylor’s arrival as Paul Warne’s successor last season but the ex-Exeter City head coach has so far been unable to alter Rotherham’s fortunes in Championship away games.
The Millers’ confidence in away games is depleted as they have barely troubled their opponents on the road. So as good as their home form has been, it will not be enough on its own to keep them in the Championship this time around.
