Huddersfield sign the famous 'Championship cheat code', Stoke City turn in a performance to ease pressure on Alex Neil and Sunderland defeat Middlesbrough in a thriller which fans insist is no derby. All this and more from the latest round of the Championship...
TEAM OF THE ROUND
Stoke fans haven't had a great deal to cheer about this season, or really any season since they were relegated back in 2018. Another manager bit the dust earlier in the campaign when Michael O'Neill was sacked in August, however new boss Alex Neil has struggled to get much uplift since he came aboard. With just one win in seven going into the weekend's clash with Reading, few Potters fans would've expected a comfortable high scoring home win, but that's exactly what they got.
Far be it for me to rain on Stoke's parade, but they were certainly given a helping hand by opponents Reading on their way to their biggest win of the season. Goals one and two in this 4-0 victory came gift wrapped, with Reading mistakes in possession leaving them wide open for William Smallbone and Tyrese Campbell to take advantage. As the game got away from Reading, Jacob Brown chested home a lovely cross from Josh Tymon and the fourth goal pretty much summed up the fact that everything was going right for the Potters. The cliche 'he just needs one to go in off his backside' has never been more apt as Dwight Gayle's seemingly never-ending goalless streak finally came to an end via highly advantageous circumstances.
Stoke fans are too long in the tooth to expect their side to all of a sudden turn into Brazil 1970. They will hope a few cobwebs have been blown away and even though Reading were far from their best, some confidence can be taken from this easiest of home wins.
PLAYER OF THE ROUND
Harry Cornick (Luton Town)
Often when we talk about a manager going into a new club in the Championship it's because the previous one has been sacked. A far smaller percentage of managerial manoeuvring involves a second tier boss going off to supposed bigger and better things and, with that being the case, you'd assume the club in a healthier place.
This seems to be where we are with Luton Town. Nathan Jones left for Southampton pre World Cup but also left a club with a highly competitive structure and nature at Kenilworth Road. A big part of the job for Jones' replacement Rob Edwards would've been continuing on the same path and keeping the good things going, whilst obviously adding in a bit of his own input. Edwards hasn't changed the system, the strategy is evolving gradually and with January quiet so far, is relying on the squad built before he took charge.
There were a nice couple of goalscoring options waiting for Edwards at Luton, with Elijah Adebayo a star in the Championship last season and Carlton Morris added in the summer. For the weekend trip to Wigan there was no Carlton Morris, so Adebayo was partnered by Harry Cornick, now in his sixth season at the club and a member of the Luton promotions from League Two and League One. Cornick may not be first choice any more but this was an excellent performance, pouncing on ponderous defending to grab the first and then combining ruthlessly with strike partner Adebayo for Luton's second. As Edwards evolves Luton he'll need to turn to the people who predate him at the club and the input of the likes of Cornick could help no end.
TALKING POINT OF THE ROUND
The North East Derby
I was keeping up with the north east derby between Sunderland and Middlesbrough via twitter on Sunday. Actually, I'm poking the bear a bit calling it a 'derby' as the pre-match tweeting back and forth seemed to be about ten percent football and the other ninety percent was people getting upset about the TV coverage referring to the game as a 'derby'. Call it whatever you're comfortable with, we know that area in the north east has thrived before and these two clubs both seem to be trending in the right direction lately.
The game, as derbies tend to do, hinged on a big moment when at the start of the second half Ross Stewart got in behind Dael Fry and charged towards the box. Fry was deemed to have impeded Stewart and because the tackle was made with his hands rather than his feet it couldn't have been a deliberate attempt to play the ball and so out came the red card. Stewart made a bit of a meal of the subsequent penalty but managed to knock home the rebound for his fifth goal in six appearances since returning from injury. Amad Diallo made things safe in the last ten minutes as Sunderland kept the ten men at bay and took the three points.
I may trigger some fans sensibilities calling it a 'derby' but this is certainly a north east rivalry worth keeping an eye on for the remainder of the season. The two sides have now met twice in the EFL but, given their proximity in the table and the amount of traffic around those play-off spots, another postseason meeting can't be ruled out.
LOANEE OF THE ROUND
Anthony Knockaert (Huddersfield on loan from Fulham)
The term 'Championship cheat code' is reserved for those second tier performers who can make the difference between promotion or not. A cheat code really means the manager has a secret formula for winning in the form of a player who'll essentially do the majority of his work for him by simply being better than everyone else. Over the past few seasons the 'Championship cheat code' honour has been bestowed on the likes of Jack Grealish, Emi Buendia and Alesksandar Mitrovic, who all left fans of their successfully promoted clubs wondering whether it would've been quite the same without them.
A name that predates all of those is Anthony Knockaert, who in 2023 feels like a bit of an old school 'Championship cheat code'. Knockaert gained notoriety as the Leicester City player who missed 'that' penalty before Troy Deeney scored 'that' goal in the 2013 play-offs at Watford. Latterly though, he starred first in Leicester's 2014 promotion and was then EFL player of the season in Brighton's 2017 success. The Frenchman made it a hat-trick of promotions after making a big money move to Fulham for the 2019/20. Truth be told he wasn't the influential player for Scott Parker's play-off winners he had been previously.
A reunion with former Brighton manager Chris Hughton saw Knockaert spend the 2020/21 season at Nottingham Forest and for once he finished down in the Championship bottom half. And that is where Anthony Knockaert has landed this January window, struggling Huddersfield to be precise in the bottom three. It's a different brief and although his powers may not be what they once were, can Knockaert be Mark Fotheringham's 'Championship cheat code' to survival.
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