Latest / Minnows Football / Matchweek 1 of the Championship, plus underdog storylines as the EPL kicks off

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Matchweek 1 of the Championship, plus underdog storylines as the EPL kicks off · Minnows Football

• Sam: Welcome along to the Minnows Football Podcast. I'm your host, Sam Martin. It is Thursday, August 20, match week one of the championship in the books over the weekend. And so we're going to go through some of the results last weekend, look ahead to this week's games. Also, EPL kicking off this weekend. We posed the question: can an underdog win the EPL Question not only that we're posing, but there's a lot of different podcasts and articles have been listening to and reading out there that are asking the same question, one of the most open EPL Premier League seasons in recent memory. But let's start with the championship and what happened this week. And maybe to frame it, we first think about how important is one week in the overall scheme of things, in the scheme of a long season. how important is the first week? Let's the main thing here is let's not get carried away. Let's not get carried away with these results. But they're also not meaningless in that there are some nuggets that we could pull out. And if you look back to other seasons, often the way we start can be the way we finish and the way we go through the whole season. So with that, I wanted to pull apart some positives, some negatives, and maybe some in-betweens. If you go and check out MinnowsFootball dot com, you'll see the belief index updated on Monday. With changes to belief scores. Some of the scores, changes were pretty significant. We are just plumbing in the first bit of performance data for the first four or five weeks. Those changes will be some slightly larger swings than further on throughout the season. That's kind of how the the index is built. But go check that out and see how your club or other clubs moved over the course of the weekend based on the performances that came in. And let's dive in here. Let's start with some of the positives. the headline, first headline for me was. How strong a couple of clubs that were really strong last season looked. And those two clubs were Middlesbrough and Millwall. We talked in the preview last week about these are two clubs with some question marks coming into the season. For Middlesbrough, the big question mark was they finished last season in such a clunky kind of way, you know, getting kicked out of the playoffs, then getting put back into the playoffs with Spygate, and then losing in the playoffs to Hull, a team they probably thought they could have, should have beaten. And so how were they going to come out and start this week? And the first half was honestly not that great. Up against Lincoln City, the imps really took it to them in the first half and kind of outplayed them in the first half, first 55, 60 minutes. looked more coherent, had a strategy, were up on the scoreboard. but towards this in the second half and especially towards the last 30, 35 minutes of the game, really started to see a much more organized and buttoned up Middlesbrough. And by the end of the game, they looked, I thought, just kind of inevitably like they were going to score the winner. And they did score the winner. Will Lankshire scored the winner in stoppage time. And the things that looked a little unsettled across the game did start to settle down that second half. And you saw the role of people like Bearhalter coming in. He's going to play a huge role in kind of a central defensive role for them this year. and But started to see some of their class across the pitch. And Will Lankshire looks like a really quality finisher up front. I know it's still early, but looks like he can be a really quality finisher for them the same way they had guys like Latte La a few seasons ago. So really strong start from Middlesbrough in the end. they were really organized and and disciplined. the one club I felt was was better and did it across the whole game was was Millwall. You know, Millwall played against Bristol City. I, among others, were really excited about Bristol City this year to think about what they could do with Michael Scubala in charge, this really coherent strategy across the whole organization. It feels like that coherence hasn't quite hit yet. We'll get to Bristol City in a second. But Millwall, on the other hand, looked just just super organized and confident. They looked like the entire game they were going to win that game. They got a little bit fortunate, not by anything they did, but the fact there was a red card 30, 35 minutes in, getting Bristol City down to ten men. But they just played with such confidence. They really know who they are. that when Coburn scored in the 40th minute, it it it felt like that goal had been coming all game and they just never really foot took their foot off the gas and and pushed on for a a really solid win. So they looked really good coming out. So they were two of the big ones that I I wanted to hit off the top. Clubs that have very high hopes and expectations this season, slightly challenging way to they b the way they both ended last season falling out of the playoffs, but have come out really strong in the first week. A few clubs surprised us, or surprised me at least. Bolton, Swansea, QPR, three clubs that we're a little uncertain about. Coming into the season, they all had really good, strong victories this week. maybe we start with Bolton there. They they beat Preston 2-1 and were just a genuine kind of delight, especially in the first half to watch. And one of their goals, probably the goal of the week, their counter-attacking goal, running the length of the field early on in that game. It just showed this was a club, and I think you can say this about all of the promoted clubs this week, but they were clubs that that showed no fear in at this level, which was great. Bolton fans should feel really good about about getting that win against Preston, which we'll get to get to Preston in a second. QPR had a different kind of win coming from one-nil down a win three one against Portsmouth. And they might be coming into a position here where they are really starting to feel like they know They might know who they are. Now, let's not overread this. Actually, let's not overread either of these wins because you go against Portsmouth and Preston. We'll get to those two clubs in a minute, but they're two clubs in maybe a little bit of disarray to start the season. And it is just week one. But QPR, you know, kind of surprised as coming out and and getting such a big win in that first week. They're kind of knocking on the door of positive belief on the belief index. And so if we can string together a couple more wins to start this season, You could start to see as w as one club which is really starting to believe in itself. Another club I wanted to call out were West Brom. If you watched the West Brom Norwich game, I'm sorry for for you spending that time watching that. It was a really sloppy game. And there were quite a few kind of sloppy moments and sloppy games across this first week. But West Brom Norwich was super sloppy. they did not look like scoring the entire game. They did not look like they were going to win. Norwich were just missing attempt after attempt. Norwich had all the ball. West Brom were just giving it up, left, right, and center. Then all of a sudden, West Brom got a bit lucky, scored a goal for clear handball. That happens, especially with no VAR. But scored that goal. And then all of a sudden, after they scored that goal, it they just looked organized and better than Norwich. And looks all of a sudden it looked like Norwich was going to score for the first. 60 minutes or so, then all of a sudden it looked like Norwich were never gonna score and West Brom were gonna score again. And sure enough, they did. Their next shot on target went in and and they ended up winning 2 0. it it was f at first it looked fortunate, but then all of a sudden after that it looked kind of composed. So it'll be interesting to keep watching them and see how much of that was luck, how much of that is just kind of nerves and then and then some composure. Another positive I've gotten here w Blackburn Rovers, you could have put this down as a negative because they were leading until the ninety-fourth minute, but they finished two two against Wolves. Wolves looked really flat. Blackburn looked really up for it. I don't know if you saw the Tony Mowbray chocolate ranking video out there. I don't know if that's what got Rovers really focused and fired up. For this week, but they were there to play and were not overawed by the situation of going to Wolves and and coming up against a team that had just been relegated from the Premier League. and they only drew they only gave away the win here through the late Jimenez penalty, which came from one of the crazier handballs that you'll see if you if you watch that again. I I think it's a reflex, but also it's not, he's not. really on top of the ball in a way that you would think is kind of a reflex, but that ball's moving fast. But anyway, he handballs the rovers defender, handballs the ball. It's just inside the box, probably. And it's just it was just really unlucky at the end. But up until that moment, up until the 93rd, 94th minute, Blackman looked really strong, quality, organized, and and not intimidated in any way. And so if Tony Mowbray can keep getting that out of the squad. week after week, a huge ask. I know it's only week one. Huge ask. But if he can get that kind of performance out of his players, that will be massive for for Blackburn, who we all thought and bookmakers thought were going to have a really challenging season. the other question there is like, you know, it's it it it is two points dropped. And and when you get to the end of the season, You do think back to these big opportunities for just a few points here, a few points there. And often that especially if you're around that relegation zone, you're kind of on a knife's edge. So, you know, are there two points going to come back to hurt Blackman? We're not sure. But it was a positive start with intent for Blackman Rovers. another positive performance, Watford's win over Southampton. Crazy. Crazy. two clubs who had really unsettled summers for different reasons. Excuse me, Southampton we'll get into soon. But but Watford with an unsettled summer for all the reasons we went over in the preview show. Fans are furious at ownership. They want Gino Pozzo to sell the team. they don't feel confident about this season at all. Add to that the fact that their star player is r in rumors, loses left out because he's he's in rumors all week that he's about to get transferred and that's those rumors are still going on. So they're they're down their their best player. They come out against the Southampton team at home, or the W Watford's at home, against Southampton. And Southampton had the sort of start first forty five, sixty minutes as some of these other big teams had, like Middlesbrough, where they just didn't look really ready to play. But Southampton looked really, really, really not ready to play. To get super technical about it. And Watford just hit him twice with a couple of of really simple goals. and so if you're a Watford fan, you're feeling really good about that in a way that you didn't necessarily expect to be starting the season with a win against Southampton that, you know, had finished the season so strongly last week, last year until, of course, Spargate. We'll get to Southampton in a minute. Burnley West Ham, Why was that a positive? Well, it was two strong teams. Like you finish watching that game and you think both these games sh both these teams should be pretty good. I they're kind of as advertised going into the season. We were a little lower on Burnley. We think that Burnley's got a few structural issues that obviously they have to work through. But the performance on the pitch was was strong, resilient coming back from two nil down. It was an entertaining game. West Ham might feel like they threw a couple of points away, but also there was nothing in the West Ham performance that really felt like it was going to be there's something cataclysmic for them to deal with. the penalty that Burnley got was was potentially a bit dodgy, but they hung tough. and they're two clubs that you think should be feeling pretty positive coming out of the week. Another club that didn't win, but I feel should feel good about their performance. Maybe, maybe it's both clubs here as well. But I I want to start with Cardiff City. Cardiff after a dreadful start, a start that like imagine imagine you're a fan of Cardiff City, and this game, you're walking into the game, and it's on a Monday night, it's like a special game. It's the capstone, Keystone game, whatever of the la first week of of championship games. You're walking in, you go to the pub first, and you're walking into the game and you get a beer and you sit down, and it's the first game of the season. You've got this great Up and coming new manager, you've been promoted. And as we talked about in the previous show, you've still got these scars of the recent past, in Cardiff and and you don't have a lot of trust in ownership. And so you're feeling vulnerable. but good, you 'cause it's the first game of the year. You sit down and they kick off and three minutes in, they muck around at the back, don't clear the ball, Kiefer Moore just kind of slices in. puts it in the back of the net and you're down one nil three minutes in to your new season at home. It's a that's a kick in the guts. but to their credit, almost immediately those they turned around and they started to play the better football. And I thought they really did play the better football of the two teams across the night. Wrexham had some good opportunities and and do clearly have some class on the pitch. They have some depth as well. and I don't think we saw like a really phenomenal game from them at all. But Cardiff's ability to st ability to stick in it and really try to create create opportunities. I thought they had great width up front, and really used the pitch well. I I thought it was a a really strong performance. And and even though the free kick that won it for them in the 98th minute maybe should have been saved by the Wrexham goalkeeper. But the the the free kick it that goal was was deserved from Cardiff City. And I think if you're a Cardiff City fan, you're feeling good about the fact that they were hit, punched in the mouth straight away, and then they came back and hung in and and kind of deserved the point between those two. And then the last the last headline I had in the the kind of positive columns for the week were was a team that lost, which is Lincoln City. And That was a that was a great game, Lincoln away at Middlesbrough for the opening day. The it kind of had the ebbs and flows that make the championship such a fantastic league to watch as a as an impartial third party. You know, they it had Lincoln City, the underdog, at one of the clubs that's that's, you know, picked for promotion. really dictating the game for the first fifty-five, sixty minutes. And they found and unlocked a few things that I think can really help them in this league. They had the early goal from Adam Reach and just kind of the cool, calm, collected veteran there who's gonna help guide them through this this new league and new era for the club. They had Hamer's long throws as a real weapon, potentially a little one dimensional sometimes, Great goalkeeping performance from Wickens, a couple of sharp reflex saves. They had a disallowed eighty third minute goal that would have been something, would have been really been something if that if that goal had been allowed. and they just got undone by a kind of not not getting back in the first goal from Will Langshire. And then the the goal at the end started to feel a little inevitable for Middlesbrough. But they proved that they could really hang at this level. And if you're an imps fan, you're watching that game, I think you're feeling reasonably good that this is not going to be just a throwaway season. You're saying, wow, these guys have gone up against one of the best in the division and they've really held on there and and performed in a way that that can make fans feel proud. So thought that was a a positive, even in a losing effort there for Lincoln. at at Middlesbrough. So let's move on to a couple of the not so positives, the negatives. And I think there's only there's two places to start here, and that's the performances of Preston and Portsmouth. Preston and Portsmouth, I think, are the only two clubs out of the first week where things are starting to look dark. we may be premature on that. It's only one week. but if you go and read some fan forums for both Portsmouth and Preston, you'll see that fans are starting to go to a slightly dark place already. I don't know if you've seen the Portsmouth season ticket fan cutting up his ticket. but it's it's there are elements of that. It's not that's not the complete a hundred percent total story narrative that's out there, but there is some panic going on in those fan bases. And the Portsmouth Club, let's start with Portsmouth. I mean, they they lost three one to QPR after going one goal up. But how long can it be until they start fans start coming for the head of John Masino there rightly or wrongly? Or he's been kind of a protected class to this point where fans have really said he's doing his best with what he's got. does that continue? How much rope does he have until there's Some calls for his head. There's there's little murmurings on the outside right now. People really didn't like conceding three goals to QPR in the opening week. And there were comments out there that it was kind of a frail performance from the club. So he has to start putting a product on the pitch that does not look frail. or else those those calls will just start to get louder and louder. On the Preston side, it's maybe even worse than Portsmouth, because with Portsmouth, you can feel like they haven't really done a ton. to start the transfer window. So there's still a chance of some, you know, new talent coming in and some changes and some solidifying, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, through the month of August. Preston have already spent a little bit of money, but the squad still feels very thin. Now let's let's start with why that might be. You know, they've they lost Ben Whiteman to Wrexham, their captain, kind of inspirational leader, and the way It was a bad breakup too, you know, you had Hacking Bottom coming out and kind of not slamming him but saying he's, you know, he's done here and and it was just a it was a shitty, shitty breakup. And so, that happened. but the fans already have kind of this, I think, a a kind of tighter leash or or less less empathy for Hacking Bottom in his current situation. They feel like he's too negative and that that's that's something that if we're not scraping out and getting in some some kind of tough draws and and the squeaking through the odd win in the first couple of months here, that could become problematic for him. So they're the two clubs that I think are in the kind of darkest f space coming out of the first week. and in a position which which might might show that Some bad things can happen there over the first first couple of months of the season. The other club I wanted to call out as as a negative start was Bristol City. And I talked a little bit a about it at the top, how Millwall kind of just completely pulled them apart and dismantled them. And yes, a lot of that was to do with the the red card to Adam Randall, that that felt a little bit harsh, but it was also kind of stupid to he was on a yellow card already and then he's mucking around, grabbing a guy like it's probably a yellow. It's it's, you know, it's just it kind of felt like a one of those crazy things that happens. But it did not look like a coherent and structured team at any stage of the game. And they it really felt like they were a decent step behind and below Millwall. So we'll see how they go this week, and go in a a situation where they hopefully you know, don't concede a go a man down in the first half. But, you know, Scubala came in as this guy. It's like, well, we've got a plan. We've got to plan as this guy and we're gonna be really structured and we're gonna build the club to what he wants to do. So we've got to give him time to do that. that definitely didn't happen in the first week. So then a couple more clubs than these aren't positives, these are these aren't negatives necessarily. These are more question marks as we go into the rest of August and the second week this week. But two clubs that I I've got some thoughts and questions about, Southampton and Norwich. And the question here is are these were these dark clouds brewing or are these just kind of slow starts or strange games that happened this week? Let's start with Southampton. Southampton looked flat as any team in the first half. And my first thought was that the kits they were wearing, which I think is their third kit or it could be their away kit, but either way, the kits were shocking. It was just a really, really bad color scheme. And a worse sponsor. The P and O cruise line logo looks like it's this kind of low res image put on by a twelve year old onto a jersey. Like the jersey looks it looks like someone has eaten a bunch of Skittles and then drunk a like purple and blue Slurpee and then throwing up all over a a an a t shirt and then that's what they've used for the game. And then they've slapped a low res logo on the front. I mean, I can't say enough about how terrible those kits are. Anyway, they looked a mess. They played an like an absolute mess. they got it together towards the last twenty minutes, but they really had nothing To lose in the last 20 minutes, they were behind. so they had a lot of chances. They had a couple of little moments. The the Laren goal was nicely put together and nicely finished. You know, you saw a flash there of, yeah, this is a a a good outfit. But it was really they gave the ball away way too easily. And it just brought up this question that we talked about last week and that we said in all of the preview content of is this a club that's going to struggle in the immediate aftermath of Spargate? And with Eckert, with this, you know challenge looming over him and and his role within the club. Is this something that's going to consume the club? And so their game this week is going to be really important to see how they respond to that. Norwich, on the other hand, were a bit messy, but they had all the run of play at home to West Brom. but then they just couldn't get it together. couldn't score. And so I'm a little less worried about them. They they looked good. Andre Brooks I thought looked really good and polished on the ball. they had a couple of other guys that that created a bunch of chances couldn't finish. but it's it was not just the lack of finishing. It was also the fact that once West Brom scored, they kind of folded and they didn't have that could have just been exhaustion, tired, you know, it's it's early on in the season, we've got tired legs and we haven't got full fitness in the into some of these squads. But is it is it bad luck? Is it game management? Is it fitness? I liked large stretches of their play, but you if you're a Norwich fan, you're kind of ruining that. I know it doesn't look unlucky to lose two-nothing, but that's kind of how you feel coming out of the week. And then my other question, Mark, was was Wolves, and y they were lucky to get a draw there, against Blackburn. Really flat performance and You know, flat first week that happens and that was a theme as I went through all those different teams, wasn't it? That like there was some really flat performances this week. And so we're gonna have to see how they come out and set the tone this week and and see how they go. But that's gonna be across a lot of teams. They were my thoughts from the first week. it's obviously as I start at the top that it is week one. So we've got a lot to to see this week and we'll get to some of those games in a second. Before we get to this next week's slate of games, I wanted to just touch on the Premier League for a second because Premier League kicks off this week and I've been reading and listening a lot of preview content for the Premier League and something that struck me this season as opposed to other seasons where there's just so much Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City content, you know, it's really who out of these three clubs has the best squad and who's gonna win. This year, this question has come up with a number of different pundits of is this a year that that feels more open than other years? And if so, why is that? Why is it that this could be I even saw written somewhere, and obviously people are looking for d angles and content to write, right? So like this could all just be bullshit, but but I think it's not, and that I'll get to the why I think it's not in a second. Someone wrote and said, Well, it could this be, is this the best chance for an underdog to win since Leicester City won it all? bit over ten years ago now. And so I tried started to try to go down a path of answering this question of could an underdog win the Premier League this year? And if so, who would it be? And I can't quite do it justice at the moment. And I'm I I'm actually gonna go away and create an index which I think I can get up and running by sort of the FA Cup third round or so. So sort of October, November. but I'm gonna create this index called the Giant Killer Index, which is really trying to understand which clubs are best positioned to make one of these kind of crazy underdog runs, the the way that we saw with Leicester City at the Premier League, in the middle mid 2010s, but that you saw in things like the FA Cup with Southampton last year, these underdog runs that that kind of go on all often happen in leagues. sorry, in in cups happen a little less so in leagues. but it's let's start with the fact that it's kind of crazy we're even asking this question. If you go back two or three years, you think about Man City's dominance in the Guardiola era and then, you know, the dominance of the big the big five clubs, it's kind of crazy that we're thinking that this could be a year where a an underdog could come up and win the Premier League. And what's even crazier is when you look across that Premier League and you see those different clubs. You've seen the emergence over the last few years through good management and good ownership, strong analytics, strong coherence of identity. The emergence of this kind of middle class in the Premier League. Clubs that were true underdogs now really see themselves as part of the furniture of the Premier League. And you've got at the top, I think this really clear set of teams, at least from a from a a cost perspective or or ownership perspective in terms of how much they're valued. But you've got clubs like Arsenal, Man City, Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and then probably a little gap there to but still in the upper class at Villa, Aston Villa, Newcastle, and Spurs. You know, if you take those eight teams out and you say those clubs are really feel like they are the kind of upper class of the the premiership and and they're the ones that feel like they're always competing or always in and around European spots and and competing for the league. You've then got the other 12 teams that are the true quote unquote underdogs and you know clubs that we think could be one that could make a run this year. So you've got, let's split those up. So you've got the recently promoted clubs, Hull, Ipswich, and Coventry come in fresh to the league this year. Ipswich kind of yo-yo club out one year, back again. Coventry and Hull haven't been there in a while. You've then got this series of clubs who are Perennial underdogs, if you go back a few years and then back into their history, but have been consistently kind of punching up over the last few seasons. Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Brentford, Bournemouth, who did so well last year, got a European spot. And then even Leeds, you might put into that group as well, even though they were just recently promoted last year. And then you've got a group of clubs where you're like, well, are these guys really underdogs at all? And that's probably Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Brighton. Fulham maybe could go into that group as well. But those guys are are clubs where you're like, well, you know, these guys are really have been consistently part of the league over the last few years and are well run on the whole. Pull Nottingham Forest out of that maybe with the owner, but like reasonably well run and and have a a claim to be maybe part of that that upper group. But if so if we think of those groups as the underdogs, you who are those could make a run this year? And if you ask bookmakers, they'll tell you that there's one clear club in that group and that's Brighton. they're the best option in the bunch. And transfer market values would tell you the same thing, that the Brighton value valuation of its players is actually higher than a club like Newcastle. And they're up in that upper echelon of clubs. So Brighton would be the one that that sort of stands out of that group as as being able to logically make a run. You can probably throw out the three newly promoted clubs as and by let's just define making a run. Making a run might not necessarily mean winning the the whole Premier League, but it could mean, you know, getting a European spot or challenging for a European spot, you know, making a similar run to what we saw out of Bournemouth last year. so if we throw out those three newly promoted clubs, let's look at the rest. And if I'm looking at the rest, I I had a couple of criteria, if I'm trying to find who could make a run, of what clubs are and what clubs aren't. And the two things that in particular I thought of looking at were continuity in management and scheme and not playing European football. Which sounds kind of crazy, but If you look back to that Leicester City run, one of the really important parts of that was that that club, that squad got into a real rhythm of playing the pre just the Premier League. And they were going up against clubs that were really getting thrown around and and kind of, you know, pulled apart in terms of playing midweek football in Europe. And so if you if we take those things as the criteria, so a manager that's that's holding over and not playing European football, you actually toss out a lot of clubs. So You know, you've got clubs like Bournemouth that are both playing European they're they're playing European football, lost their manager, Sunderland playing European football, Crystal Palace playing European football and lost Glasnar to Nottingham Forest. You really start to winnow down the clubs and it brings us to a club which you might feel slightly unexpected, in Leeds. And You know, Leeds has continuity. They've got Daniel Fark in his third season. They found an identity. They switched to a back three sort of midway through the season last year, and since then only lost six of their the following thirty matches and really started to build some momentum to the point where if you looked a couple of months before the end of last season, everyone was talking about obviously Spurs potentially going down, but also Leeds in that in that relegation battle. They really lifted themselves out of that pretty easily. And it really was in the last couple of months between Spurs and West Ham and Leeds were were kind of out of the fray. They also spent real money this offseason and spent money on something which wasn't a wish or a an idea or a whim, but spent money on a scheme and a strategy that they feel good about. And so I I'm looking for a manager who's been there a while. I'm looking for no European football, you apply that filter, you really do whittle this down and you get a club like Leeds. Are they winning the league this year? I don't think so. you know, they're 14th last year, a negative 10 goal differential. But I think the door is open for a club like that to make a run. So they're a way to Forrest to start the season this weekend and I'll be interested in paying attention there. And I it did make me really think about building out this index a little bit more to try to process some of these stats in in a really meaningful way to try to pull apart which of these clubs are positioned to make a run across the leagues and the cups this year. So more to come on that in the coming months. So let's finish this week with just looking ahead to the weekend and the championship. Again, you look across that slate of games. It's just like last week, there's so many interesting games to have a look at. And I'm I want to start with two games that it feels hyperbolic to say there are some must-win or must-draw games in the middle end of August. but we might have You've got Lincoln City going against Portsmouth and Preston going against Wolverhampton. It's not a must-win game for Wolves, definitely. It's a very high stakes game for Lincoln City and Portsmouth in their matchup. So it's the first home game for the imps in the championship. First home game in the championship for I think like 65 years or something like that. That's gonna be really exciting. They played in this really positive way last week, almost got a win, almost got a draw, sort of devastated at the last minute. Can they snap back and have a positive performance in front of their home fans? Portsmouth, on the other hand, devastating first week. You got fans ripping up season tickets in after week one. What's gonna happen there? So I'm excited to tune in there. Preston versus Wolves, similar reason. that it just feels slightly existential for Preston right now. We have to see whether they can kind of start to gel it all together under Hacking Bottom. Can we draw a line and go forward? For Wolves, they didn't really show us much in that first week. You know, there's other clubs that we talked about, there's other teams we talked about, Middlesbrough, Millwall, Southampton. They all finished pretty strong in the week, even though Southampton lost. Those other clubs, those other big players finish strong, West Ham, Burnley, There were lots of positive signs, not a ton of positive signs from Wolves in the first week. So can they get it together? They should put Preston away. What's going to happen there? Interesting game to watch. Millwall versus Norwich is another one that I'm looking closely at. Tough test for Norwich at the den. They kind of folded after they went behind a West Brom at home. Millwall look great in the first they in the first game. They looked really great, really organized, like they really knew who they are. So that's going to be a tough test for Norwich. Interested to see how they go there. Can Watford continue their kind of giant killing run away to Wrexham? Wrexham looked strong early, but kind of faded in their game at Cardiff City. what are we going to get out of them? Can Watford keep it going on the road? Blackburn is home to Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough should take care of business there, but you know, is this Rovers Mowbray? Team led by Chocolate Fiend, Tony Mowbray. Is that is that a real are they a real club this year? What are we going to get out of them? And then a sneaky one, Derby County, who we didn't talk much about them today. they lost to Charlton in the first week, but they're home to Cardiff City. And so curious about whether Derby can bounce back and can Cardiff City really build off what I thought was a really positive first week for them and get the win. in derby. So lots of exciting games for this week. That's all I've got for the Minnows podcast here on Thursday, August twenty. Thanks for listening. Check out MinnowsFootball dot com and stay tuned for more championship and underdog football content as we start to examine the human condition through second tier football. Thanks for listening.