Exclusive interview with Sky Sports’ Don Goodman: Wrexham are adapting to Championship level, Coventry City could open a gap at the top of the second-tier, Sunderland’s start is ‘absolutely extraordinary’
Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT’s football betting platform, talkSPORT BET, Sky Sports pundit and former West Brom, Wolves and Sunderland striker Don Goodman reflected on the opening stages of the Championship season, offered his thoughts on an ‘absolutely extraordinary start’ for one of his former teams and explained why he has sympathy for Russell Martin at Rangers.
Q: Middlesbrough are second in the league and were top before the weekend – can they maintain it?
Don Goodman: “18 points from nine games is an outstanding start to the season. It’s actually identical to Sunderland last year, who were also top at this stage. Having a strong start proved really important, with Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland all in the top four after eight games and going on to get promoted.
“Obviously, Sunderland slightly fell away and finished fourth, so nobody at Middlesbrough will be getting carried away, especially Rob Edwards. It’s been a brilliant start but it’s also a job you need to see through.
“There are massively promising signs. This Middlesbrough team look way more resilient and harder to play against than last season. Before the weekend, they conceded the joint-fewest amount of goals alongside Stoke, have kept four clean sheets, don’t concede many big chances, and Sol Brynn has not had to make many saves. Rob Edwards has come in and been able to fix the issues which existed.
“The next challenge for them is to be a bit more creative, which was really evident in the 0-0 draw against Stoke in midweek. OPTA says that they are 15th when it comes to creating big chances and have generated an XG of 7.8. That would put them 21st in the XG table, so there aren’t many teams that are creating fewer genuine chances than them.
“They’ve got plenty of different options in attack, and it’s just a case of Rob Edwards finding the best combinations of those players for certain games, and if they get that right, then they’re in business.
“But the foundation of most promotion campaigns is being solid and hard to break down, and they’ve certainly got that.”
Q: Same sort of question for Stoke City. Do you think they have sufficient depth to maintain their current performance level?
DG: “If you offered every Stoke City fan 15 points after eight games prior to the weekend, I would guess 99.9% of them would be ecstatic after last season when they survived on the final day.
“One of the reasons for their struggles was that they conceded 62 goals, only a handful of teams conceded more. If it wasn’t for Viktor Johansson, who prevented 10 or 11 goals according to stats, the likelihood is they’d be a League One team this year.
“So, Mark Robins had to tighten things up and he’s he’s done that. They’ve got the joint best defensive record with Middlesbrough, conceding just five. They started the season on fire, winning their first three, scoring eight, and they only conceded two.
“But they haven’t been able to keep that goal scoring going, netting only two in their last five. They’ve missed plenty of chances, and it’s had an impact on their recent results. They’ve only managed one win, drawn three and lost two of last six.
“At this stage, it’s hard for me to see a top two finish for them, in what is, admittedly, the most wide-open. Championship, I’ve seen for a very, very long time but by the same token, I wouldn’t rule them out of pushing for a play-off spot.
“Given they’ve only lost two games, they are hard to beat and that’s a really good starting point for any team.”
Q: Are you expecting Leicester City to finish in the top six?
DG: “Leicester City have given me reasons to have doubts on the pitch, and at this stage, we don’t know what will happen off the pitch in terms of points deductions, either.
“They’ve got an incredibly talented squad, and, in reality, should really be pushing for a top two spot. There’s no doubt.
“It’s a group that has only won three of their eight games, and away from home, they’ve only won one of 4 and even that was slightly lucky against Charlton, who were far the better team in that game.
“So in terms of their performances, the jury’s still got to be out on Leicester. I saw them live, and they were quite decent when they beat Birmingham 2-0, but they’ve drawn all four games since. They haven’t quite found their fluency and need to do better.
“They got booed off in midweek after conceding a late equaliser to Wrexham, and I didn’t like the fact that they were so dominant and didn’t go for the jugular. They almost said, ‘right, we’ll hold what we have’, and that’s also the attitude I saw against Birmingham but they did it much better on that occasion than they did against Wrexham.
“For me, that is not the sign of a team that wants to dominate games of football. You need to be going for the jugular. Last season, using Leeds as an example, we saw them winning by three, four, or five goals on a reasonably regular basis.
“Of course, you could argue they’re probably missing a striker in their defence, but it doesn’t detract from have been pretty average performances in the main. The transfer window was difficult for them in terms of what they could do because of the financial rules.
“But when I summarise overall, this is a team and a group that should be doing better. Depending on the level of potential points deduction, it would be a massive failure if they didn’t get in the top six.”
Q: How big an opportunity for promotion does this season present for Coventry City?
DG: “My concern for Coventry City, before a ball was kicked, would have probably been defensively. Maybe I didn’t see solidity in the goalkeepers and the defenders last season, even though they had a brilliant time under Frank Lampard from November onwards.
“I just always felt they were a team that you could go and score against, really. We all know about their goalscoring prowess, having already 27 goals, which is miles ahead of Bristol City, who have scored the second-most with 15.
“But the fact that they’ve kept four clean sheets this season and three in a row, that’s what is making me stand up and take notice. That solidity now appears to be there and they’ve still got Luke Woolfenden to come in if needed, which is good for the depth in that area.
“For me, City are the team ticking all the boxes in the Championship. I’ve spoken about Middlesbrough needing to find that edge in attack and how Stoke’s goals are drying up a little, but Coventry are doing everything.
“What makes it more impressive is that they’re doing it without Jack Rudoni and Ephron Mason-Clarke, who would both be starters if fit. It doesn’t really get better than that, and at this stage, it feels like anyone finishing above Coventry is going to have a great chance of being automatically promoted. That’s how highly I rate them.
“When I look at their next five fixtures, I see a real opportunity for them to maybe put daylight between themselves and a lot of the other chasers, really. With respect to these teams, they’re going to play Blackburn, Portsmouth, Watford, Wrexham and Sheffield United.
“The highest team of those six is Watford, who are 10th in the table. So it’s the here and now for Coventry. This is a massive, massive chance, and if they keep going the way they are, I could see them having a, having a bit of a cushion once those six games are done.”
Q: Some Birmingham City fans are surprisingly growing restless. How much pressure is on Chris Davies, do you think?
DG: “I’ve seen the good and the bad of Birmingham City, there’s no doubt.
“On the opening day against Ipswich Town, I thought they were sensational, and they actually convinced me that if they could retain that level of performance, they’d have a chance of a play-off push at least.
“I’ve seen the other side of them, too. Leicester City totally controlled them in terms of not really giving them a sniff of goal, and won comfortably.
“Obviously, it was hard to judge them against Coventry City last weekend because they were down to 10 men for all of the second half and what remained of the first, so I wouldn’t really judge them on that.
“I think the equalising goal by Demari Gray against Sheffield Wednesday with the last kick was massive because it was a game that we all totally expected them to win and it also preserves their unbeaten home record under Chris Davis. It’s unbeaten in 29, an incredible record.
If you analyse the last season’s promoted clubs from League One after eight games, you had Oxford on the same points as Birmingham, because they got off to a great start, Derby on nine points, and Portsmouth on just four points. So actually, Birmingham are doing okay and there’s improvement to come.
“Any talk of Chris Davies being at risk of losing his job is absolute nonsense, despite high expectations.
The obvious area for them to improve is creativity. Before the weekend, they only scored five goals from open play. Only Sheffield United and Derby County had fewer than their 21 shots on target, while only Sheffield United, Millwall and Portsmouth had a lower shot conversion than their 6.93%, which is super low.
“Successful teams have probably 12 or 13% shot conversion, so, they’re way off it. They’ll look to kick on, they’re defensively sound and if they improve that creative output, I would expect them to start climbing the league.”
Q: Are you seeing signs of Wrexham adapting to Championship life? They’ve picked up decent results against Norwich City and Leicester City?
DG: Yes, I’ve seen improvement from Wrexham. They’ve gone from losing three of the first five games, where they only beat Millwall, to being unbeaten in their last four against some decent opponents. That’s progress.
“The important bit is that Phil Parkinson appears to have found a settled team, which really helps. They’re unchanged in the last two and only Callum Doyle dropped out from the team that beat Norwich.
“They’ve got one or two injuries that will come back into the team, they’ve started to get new players up to speed, fitness-wise, and they’ve also got new players understanding how Phil Parkinson wants them to play.
“So, there are definitely positives. The biggest of which is in the last three games, according to OPTA stats, they’ve only given up two big chances. In the two games prior to that, they gave up eight big chances, and that had been their biggest struggle when adapting to Championship level.
“There are definitely signs of progress in that defensive department, which has always been a massive part of Phil Parkinson’s DNA. His sides are known for being hard to play against and hard to beat. You can see signs of that being the case.
“But they can’t rest on their laurels because this league, if you do, will chew you up and spit you out.”
Q: Have you been surprised by Hull City’s solid start?
DG: “Hull City managed to do a lot of business, I think it was something like 13 new signings through the door despite the EFL restrictions and they didn’t lose too many players that they would have preferred to keep. Alfie Jones was probably the obvious one they would have loved to have kept.
“All in all, they’re left with not a bad squad of players. They’ve had some difficult games against teams who have started the season well, including the likes of Coventry City, Bristol City and Swansea City. They’re three really, really tough games.
“So the fixture computer hasn’t been massively kind to them. They were 2-0 down at home against Preston in midweek and fought back, so that’s a real positive sign, but my best guess, really, at this stage would be that they’re going to probably end up around where they are now, which is 18th, that’s where I’d see them.
“It’s an OK start to the season, given the level of opposition that they have faced.”
Q: Ollie McBurnie was the Championship’s joint-top scorer, where does he rank amongst the league’s best strikers when fit and on form?
DG: “Ollie McBurnie is a striker who I’ve always said I really, really like. He’s a nightmare for defenders to play against.
“But he’s not really been a prolific goalscorer with the exception of a couple of seasons, most notably Swansea in 2018/2019, where he scored 22 goals in 42 Championship games. That was his big season that got him his big move.
“So, I’m not sure where this goalscoring form has come from. The fact that he’s got six goals and three assists in just seven starts speaks for itself. I think he’s hugely benefited from the return to form of Ryan Giles, who for the last couple of seasons has looked a pale shadow of the creative force that he was on loan for Middlesbrough.
“So, given everything and the fact that Ollie McBurnie is playing in a team who everyone expected to have their struggles this season, I’d say he has to be up there with the best strikers in the Championship at this moment in time, and hopefully can keep this sensational form going.”
Q: What’s your message to Derby County fans who may be concerned about their side’s start to the season? Are you expecting things to improve?
DG: “I’ve got to be honest, I’m not massively surprised by Derby County’s start to the season. They haven’t had access to their full squad because of injuries and they brought in a lot of new players, so it’s always tough to get them integrated and up to speed quickly, it can be hard to get fluency quickly under those circumstances with the odd exception.
“Also, when I looked at the fixture list, six of their eight games that they’ve played so far have been against teams in the top six. While it’s early days, they’ve played a lot of teams who have got off to really good starts for the season, who are full of confidence and hard to play against.
“Generally, they’ve been in tight games, as is the sort of John Eustace way, but what is uncharacteristic about a John Eustace side is just how porous they’ve been. They’ve conceded 14 goals and kept just one clean sheet, and that was away against West Brom in a game that they were massively lucky in, really.
“So, you’d hope, given the squad depth, given that everybody’s coming in and getting over injuries, that they’d be able to improve, but I don’t know what their ambition was before the start of the season. If it was to challenge for a top six place, I couldn’t see it before the start of season and I certainly can’t see it at this stage. They are probably where I would have expected them to be.
“I know people will say, ‘Well, they’ve made some really good signings and players that John Eustace has worked with before and knows a lot about.’ But what was it, four of the signings from Blackburn Rovers? For me, that’s not really, with respect, going get you challenging for a top six place.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how it unfolds for Derby, but, yeah, for me, I would have expected them to be in that middle part of the table, really, so I’m not particularly surprised by this start.”
Q: Cardiff City have dropped out of the top two in League One, but are you still backing them as one of the favourites for promotion?
DG: “The Burton result was obviously a surprising home defeat, but, when you look, it was a bit of a mugging really, Cardiff City missed eight big chances according to OPTA. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.
“I’m still impressed with them, defensively, teams are struggling to find the back of the net against them, so I think they’re going to be there or thereabouts. They’re still very dominant in most games, so if I were a Cardiff City fan, I wouldn’t be overly concerned.
“If you keep repeating that level of dominance that they did against Burton, creating that many chances, you are going to win most games of football, I would say.”
Q: Bradford City are still going strong! When do we start considering them as genuine promotion contenders?
DG: “They’ve lost one game all season to Doncaster Rovers, I believe in a Yorkshire derby and Doncaster are a good team, so there is no shame in losing to them.
“I’d say now, after 11 games and 24 points, where they’ve played five games against teams in the top eight, they can be real contenders.
“I would imagine the players are going to be feeling 10 feet tall and very confident when they go into every game. They’re the top scorers in the league and the goals are coming from everywhere.
“They remind me a little bit of Wrexham last season, in terms of the fact that they’re very, very happy without the ball, they try to be compact, hard to break down, but good at springing on the counter, they get the ball out wide, they get plenty of crosses into the box, and they’re scoring goals.
“After 11 games, which is nearly a quarter of the season, I would say that, yeah, they have genuinely got to be in the conversation for a top two finish. At the absolute minimum, they’ll be looking at a play-off spot.
“Given that last season they were in League Two and they had been stuck in League Two for far too many seasons, I think it’s a brilliant effort and Graham Alexander deserves all the praise that’s coming his way.”
Q: Are you seeing signs that Plymouth Argyle are improving?
DG: “I think Plymouth Argyle were always going to improve. It was just a question of time and patience. Now you don’t always get that in football as a head coach or a manager.
“They lost Ryan Hardie, Adam Randell, Mustapha Bundu and Maksym Talovierov from that team who went down gloriously last season. It’s not like they went down with a whimper, they went down swinging with both fists.
“There were four mainstays of that team they lost in summer window and I don’t have any doubts that had they kept those players, they’d be up there challenging for a top two spot already.
“It’s very, very hard to replace those kinds of players and get an instant impact and they found it hard. I think Tom Cleverly was always going to work out for me, as long as the hierarchy remained patient. They’ve got a history of being patient, some would say over-patient, with one or two recent appointments.
“So the fact that before the weekend they won four of the last six, for me, says they’re up and running. They’re on 13 points, six points off a play-off spot with 35 games to go. There are lots of points up for grabs and they have to believe that they can bridge the gap and find the level of consistency. That they couldn’t find the start at the start of the season.”
Q: We talked about how influential fan pressure has been regarding Russell Martin’s Rangers fate. Do you think there’s anything he could have done to improve things with supporters?
DG: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that level of animosity so early in a new manager’s tenure. Honestly, I don’t. I’ve been racking my brains to think. But he was only a couple of months into the job and the fans, they turned. probably within literally a few weeks and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that level of vitriol.
“I compare it to the Ryder Cup and the abuse that our players, the European players had to take. The difference being, they went and did the job and won and got the satisfaction over the foul-mouthed, abusive American supporters. For clarity, not all of the American supporters were foul-mouthed and abusive, but there was a level of abuse that crossed the line and that’s probably the same with Russell Martin.
“On a personal level, I absolutely do feel sorry for him, he’s a man that I like. I’ve engaged in some good conversations with him. He did a couple of games for Sky and I got to know him enough to know that he’s a good, decent human being.”
Q: Is it inevitable that Brendan Rodgers’ ambitions will lead him away from Celtic? Is there anything they can do?
DG: “I’ve been hearing about the protests, the fan protests to the board over lack of ambition. That is always gonna set alarm bells ringing. I mean if the fans think that then even if Brendan Rodgers won’t publicly say it, he must be feeling it and thinking it.
“It’s a club whose fans and manager want to be competitive in Champions League football. That doesn’t mean winning the Champions League but in this new format, they want to be competitive. They will get lots and lots of glamorous ties against glamorous clubs and that’s what the Celtic fans want, that’s what Brendan Rodgers wants.
“Unfortunately, the recruitment in the summer it wasn’t inspiring, it just didn’t meet up to that desire of wanting to compete in the Champions League. So long-term keeping Brendan Rodgers, it may be a challenge for that board, unless something changes pretty quickly.
“Brendan Rodgers and the fans ae not satisfied with just dominating domestically. Brendan has always been ambitious. You remember the way that he left Celtic the first time around, and he was criticised for it, but it was a manager who was showing ambition and wanting to manage in the Premier League at what was at the time a top club.
“He won the FA Cup and wanted to do just what he wants to do with Celtic, compete in the Champions League. So he’s not going to be short of ambition and the only way that this board will be able to keep him long term is to match that ambition.
“The only way that they will be able to show it, is when the January transfer window comes round. If they don’t do that, then there’s every chance that he won’t be the manager there next season.”
Q: Just looking ahead to the international break, how much pressure is on Heimir Hallgrímsson for upcoming games with the likes of Damien Duff available?
DG: “There’s always pressure on the Republic of Ireland manager and when you lose away to Armenia, that heaps even more pressure on Heimir Hallgrímsson.
“With the next game being Portugal, that’s going to heap the pressure on, and it makes Armenia at home a must-win game.
“But when you break it down, without being offensive, the squad had 13 players playing in the Championship, three Scottish Premier League players, you’ve got one League of Ireland player, you’ve got four Premier League players, and you’ve got one Serie A player, Evan Ferguson, who was on loan from the Premier League.
“So, with the greatest of respect, it’s no wonder that they find it difficult on the international stage. Irish fans have been brought up on their team leaving it all out there and making it as hard as possible for the so-called bigger nations and having a modicum of success. That’s what they will demand.
“They won’t expect to beat the likes of Portugal and, you know, be winning in the Euros or in the World Cup and beating some of these big nations, they can’t possibly be expected to do that, but they need to be more competitive than they have been under Hallgrímsson’s tenure.”
Q: On the contrary, have you been impressed with the team Michael O’Neil is building for the second time with Northern Ireland?
DG: “Michael O’Neil is basically delivering everything that the Republic of Ireland aren’t. He’s doing it, Michael O’Neill, with even less to choose from in terms of what level these players are playing at.
“They have in that squad players from Mansfield, Blackpool, Stevenage, Wycombe and Bristol Rovers. Certainly, over the last couple of squads, they’ve had players from those clubs anyway and there was no disgrace when they lost 3-1 away in Germany.
They’ve got two home games in this international break, Slovakia, who have already beaten Germany at home, so that isn’t going to be easy and Germany again. So they’re tough games, but what I would say is that he has given them a team to be proud of.
“They leave it all out there in every game, and I think they’ve been given a team to be proud of by Michael O’Neill.”
Q: Reaction to Sunderland’s start?
DG: “What Sunderland have done is quite spectacular when you consider this is a team that finished, I think, 26 points behind Leeds and Burnley last season.
“So what Sunderland had to do was be ruthless because they were starting from a lower starting point than both Leeds and Burnley. To give yourself any chance of survival in the Premier League when you come from the Championship, your recruitment has to be pretty spot on, with most of the players contributing in a really positive way.
“They’ve brought in so many players. It’s incredible that they managed to tempt Granit Xhaka into what everybody would have believed was going to be, and still may turn out to be, a relegation fight.”
“Good starts are great but when you think back to the likes of Blackpool who spring to mind in 2010/11, for instance, it was a team that had a good start in the opening sort of 10 games, and then they start finding it tough. So Sunderland have got to guard against that.
“But they should take so much belief from the set of results that they’ve managed to achieve. To go away to Nottingham Forest and win was big. Winning away from home in the Premier League is just so hard.
“So for them to go away and get that first away win was huge, they’ve been brilliant at home, really competitive, but as well as beating Forest, they’ve also gone to Crystal Palace, who just beat Liverpool, and taken a point, so they’ve shown they can compete away as well as at home.
“I do think that they can’t afford to get carried away, but my word, 11 points from seven games, just one more point and they match Southampton’s total for the whole of last season! I don’t mean that to be disrespectful to Southampton, I’m just saying how well Sunderland have started.
“I think the fans must be in dreamland.”
Q: And how do you think Leeds United have fared?
DG: “Yeah, look, Leeds United will be kicking themselves over the Bournemouth goal in the third minute of added time.
“They want Elland Road to be a fortress, and it has been. They’re unbeaten there. They’ve played Newcastle, who are a very, very good team playing Champions League football and beaten Everton, who are probably going to be the best Everton side that we’ve seen for quite a few seasons.
“They’ve been competitive in every single Premier League game with the exception of the Arsenal one, and that’s no shame really, going to the Emirates and losing. They will argue that they probably should have more points, too.
“The goal they let in away at Fulham in the 94th minute was a ridiculous own goal that you just don’t see, it was that weird and strange. They deserved a point.
“So they’ve been a little bit unlucky that they haven’t got more points on the board but I think Daniel Farke has delivered a team that the fans are proud of. They’ve got to keep the points ticking over, but again, the recruitment has been excellent. I really liked it before a ball was kicked.
“I haven’t been disappointed with the new players that I’ve seen and I’m optimistic, very optimistic when it comes to Leeds United.”
Q: Are you expecting Aston Villa to kick on now?
DG: “All of a sudden, Aston Villa have gone from no wins all season to winning three on the bounce. I think they’re up and running. They’re getting back towards where they were last season.
“Unai Emery called his players lazy after they drew against Sunderland, which was a strong thing to say. Maybe it was slightly lost in translation; only he knows what his definition of lazy will be. But he got a response.
“To beat Bologna and then to beat Fulham, Feyenoord and Burnley is huge. I’m definitely expecting Aston Villa to kick on and improve.
“I do only see things getting better for Aston Villa from here on in, albeit it’s a big ask to juggle this European campaign. I think they play Sunday and Thursday games all the way until December and that will be tough.
“They haven’t been able to recruit the way they wanted to, and I think that was part of the frustration Unai Emery has been feeling over the course of the opening weeks of this season.
“But I do expect that they will pick up and start putting points on the board in the Premier League.”
Q: How long do you expect it to take Tyler Dibling to settle in at Everton?
DG: “David Moyes was never going to be one to throw Tyler Diblong to the lions and put this huge expectancy on such young shoulders straight after signing. I’m sure they’ll nurture him.
“He’s only played 13 minutes in the Premier League and come off the bench twice. While he did make an incredible start to life in the Premier League last season, in a really struggling team with Southampton, it just fizzled out.
“The two goals came very, very early in the season, and he played 33 games but was involved in just two goals. There were flashes of what he was capable of, but I’m just a little bit mindful that the season fizzled out a little bit for him.
“So, I was really surprised, if I’m honest with you, that Everton were willing to go to the valuation that Southampton had placed on Tyler Dibling. I think it’s a lot of money, and I’m not sure that what he has done has warranted that kind of transfer fee.
“Having said all of that, Everton have paid for potential and that potential may just take a little bit of time to come to fruition, but when he does start playing on a more regular basis, he’s going to be playing in a better Premier League team, one that’s more competitive, one that’s looking not to cling on, one that’s going go out with the intention of winning games of football,.
“Hopefully, it’s a match made in heaven under a manager who couldn’t know any more than what David Moyes does.”
Q: What have you made of Robbie Savage at Forest Green Rovers?
DG: “I don’t think we should ever be surprised at anything Robbie Savage does.
“It’s hard not to be impressed by the job he has done at Forest Green Rovers so far. They were unbeaten in 13 league games before the weekend. They had won eight and drawn five, and were top of the league. How can anybody not be impressed with that?
“I don’t think Robbie would have taken the job on, had he not believed that he could make an absolute roaring success of it at Forest Green. They had drawn their last couple of games at home to York and then away at Boston United before losing to Rochdale, so there’s just been a tiny little blip.
“It looks like he’s got the tools at his disposal to be competing right at the very, very top, which is where, of course, Forest Green Rovers would expect to be, having recently just come out of the EFL.
“It’s hard not to be impressed with what he’s done so far.”
