Ozan Tufan produced a masterclass for Hull City. Promoted Ipswich offer much promise. And the confusion around Leeds United continues as Willy Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra go missing. All this and more from the latest round of the Championship...
TEAM OF THE ROUND
There's so much to be said for consistency and continuity in football, with the compounding of good habits paying dividends in both tangible and intangible ways both on and off the pitch.
An August in the Championship can be extremely chaotic for clubs who have changed regime and especially for those with sought after players who are subject to what can be a frustratingly slow and inefficient sales process. Of course the opposite can be true and those clubs with continuity of personnel who ended the previous season well can easily leverage a head start over their less ready competitors. The flag bearer for this particular theory right now would be our post round two Championship leaders Ipswich Town.
Ipswich absolutely powered to promotion from League 1 with a particularly spectacular run in bringing 13 wins and 2 draws in their final 15 games. They took to the field against Stoke on Saturday with the entire starting XI all at the club last season in League 1 and recorded their second win in a row to go top of the admittedly very early Championship table.
Ipswich have continuity in the dugout, with their pattern of play and most importantly with their results. Could it be that this is just the result of early season circumstances and others will soon catch up, or could this continuity carry them much deeper into the season in the more desirable parts of the table?
PLAYER OF THE ROUND
Ozan Tufan (Hull City)
I was really hopeful of a round one hat-trick in the Championship, it didn't happen but the disappointment didn't last long thanks to Hull City's Ozan Tufan.
The Tigers actually went behind to Sheffield Wednesday but Lee Gregory's clumsy aerial challenge in the box gave Tufan the chance for his first from the spot. The Turkish star smashed his penalty into the corner of the net and sprinted to grab the ball and restart the game, this is sometimes a performative gesture but with what came next I guess he really did mean business.
The second was an absolute beauty, with Tufan finding that lovely number ten pocket of space and with ruthless precision setting the ball and bending it perfectly into the top corner from 25 yards. At this point with confidence soaring maybe the third was inevitable and further clever movement saw Tufan drop back from the last line of defence to find space in the box and with that lethal right foot bend the ball low into the corner for number three.
For a player with 65 international caps for Turkey and at 28 in the prime years of his career maybe our expectations should be high for Tufan. He was possibly in the wrong place at the wrong time during his Premier League loan at Watford and it was sporadic flashes of this type of performance last season that took him to eight Championship goals with Hull. He's got the talent and now the springboard, perhaps we'll now see the dominant season that Tufan looks capable of producing.
TALKING POINT OF THE ROUND
Willy or won't he?
There's a reason Leeds United have a 'never a dull moment' reputation as a club, over the years a fiercely engaged and intense fanbase has had to put up with its fair share of chaos and we're certainly in that territory at the moment.
Relegation from the Premier League and the chasm in finances compared to the EFL leaves clubs needing to cash in on assets, replenishing them while the financial advantage is still present and hopefully to bounce back as quickly as possible. Unfortunately Leeds are struggling to do this at the moment for a couple of reasons.
The first is the contract situations with many of their highest value players, leading to six players being loaned out to take them off the wage bill but not bringing in anything in the way of transfer fees to spend on freshening up the squad. The second thing is the issues with a couple of big names conspicuous by the absence from the starting XI for the defeat at Birmingham on Saturday.
Use whatever language you're comfortable with, whether it be 'reluctance to play' or 'forcing a move', neither Willy Gnonto or Luis Sinisterra were around at the weekend. The current transfer turmoil is not a good backdrop for Daniel Farke, promoted twice from the Championship before, to build himself another viable team.
LOANEE OF THE ROUND
Fred Onyedinma (Rotherham United on loan from Luton Town)
Last week it was the vast swathes of stoppage time, this week it was the red card to Rotherham's Fred Onyedinma that was the refereeing decision that triggered the most fan outrage within the Championship discourse. Onyedinma scored in minute 48, and was sent off just two minutes later after he was booked in both the 49th and 50th minutes. But was his sending off against Blackburn Rovers unusual or unfair?
Before we get into the whys and wherefores of the two yellow cards, it should be said that Onyedinma's header from Cafu's free kick was beautifully executed but the problems began with the celebration. The goalscorer ran to the touchline and embraced the Millers fans and picked up a yellow card for his troubles. The laws state that 'approaching the spectators in a manner which causes safety issues' is a guaranteed yellow card and so referee Bobby Madley duly booked him. Things went from bad to worse a minute later when Onyedinma called for an opponent to be booked by waving an imaginary yellow card, referee Madley waved a real one and he was sent off.
We immediately descended into one of those facts vs feelings debates. Onyedinma's red card was definitely unusual, given the incidents were so close together and were both things that referees have let go in the past. Was it unfair? Well by the letter of the law it wasn't, the two offences are both worthy of yellow cards and that's what happened.
I can understand Rotherham fans being irked as they are the first team to fall victim to such a seemingly silly and pedantic red card, I will have some sympathy if other referees don't follow suit in the future but for now I'll back the official and hope consistency is coming.
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