Championship review: Xisco sympathy after Sheffield Wednesday axe; Coventry ignite; Chelsea kid Humphreys all class at Swansea

TEAM OF THE ROUND

Coventry City

Little by little Coventry’s season is starting to get moving. The Sky Blues were outstanding last campaign and were a penalty shoot out away from the Premier League at Wembley in the play-off final. The summer transfer window saw the departure of their two star players Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres, but the ownership did put the incoming fees back into the club during what was a busy inward transfer window.

Going into this week Coventry had been on a run of six matches without a win, but the devil is in the details with five of those games ending all square and meaning that the next couple of results would frame the context of the previous six.

Turns out that following back to back wins this week we’re now talking about Coventry being on a run of one defeat in nine and they’ve actually only lost twice this season including that opening day defeat at Leicester could certainly have gone the other way.

QPR were dispatched 3-1 at Loftus Road at the weekend and then Coventry snuck past Blackburn 1-0 in midweek via a late header by Haji Wright. Everything that got Coventry so close to promotion last season was the result of gains compounding over a long period of time, if they can continue to build on this excellent week then the winning work done by Mark Robins over the past six years will no doubt set them towards another strong season.

PLAYER OF THE ROUND

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Leicester City)

Leicester are having a lovely old time back in the Championship and if they can roll out their form over the first ten games for the rest of the season then we may see some records fall along the way. The Foxes are more used to top five Premier League finishes than playing in the second tier in recent times and despite selling some high ticket players have still maintained a fearsome looking squad for this run at the Championship.

Amongst the many stars in the Leicester City side, the one standing out most at the moment is Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who seems to have a couple of advantages on his side. Firstly Dewsbury-Hall had an excellent spell in the Championship on loan at Luton a couple of seasons ago and thus knows the intricacies of this unique division better than the majority of his teammates. Secondly and far more simplistically, Dewsbury-Hall just seems to be too good for the opponents he’s coming up against and is proving quite the dominant force.

This week alone he scored a lovely dink in the weekend thrashing of Blackburn and netted a double as the Foxes swatted away a Preston side who’d led the division up until just a couple of games prior. Enzo Maresca’s system requires Dewsbury-Hall and fellow central midfielder Wilfred Ndidi to get up and in-between the wide players and central striker to become a consistent goal threat. The evidence so far suggests the new role has been interpreted with a great deal of enjoyment and plenty of goals.

TALKING POINT OF THE ROUND

Xisco Sacked

I set up the dangers of managers losing their jobs during international break in the last column by saying ‘only the strongest will make it to spring’. I’d have thought that would’ve given me at least a week of headroom before I’d be dealing with some possible movement from owners in their dugouts. Well I thought wrong and of course it’s Mr Chansiri at Sheffield Wednesday who’s gone first and sacked his manager Xisco Munoz with a game to go before the two week break kicks in.

Since they won the play-offs, it’s been an absolute disaster at Sheffield Wednesday. Manager Darren Moore left the club in the messiest way possible with plenty of dirty laundry being aired in public, the recruitment was delayed and then a bit frantic and to cap it all off the experiment to bring in Xisco Munoz as boss has since backfired badly.

I have plenty of sympathy for Xisco in respect of the chaos going on all around him, but I can’t defend his record on the pitch or the idea that he made the best of this opportunity. Xisco leaves Wednesday at the bottom of the table, seven points adrift of safety and without a win. It’s going to be a tough gig for whoever comes in and managing upwards with Mr Chansiri as well as downwards with the players will be a vital part of the puzzle.

LOANEE OF THE ROUND

Bashir Humphreys (Swansea City on loan from Chelsea)

It may not have been the most aesthetically pleasing goal, but Bashir Humphreys strike for Swansea was significant in plenty of ways. As a centre back Humphreys is unlikely to be judged by his goal tally but this was a first in senior football for the 20 year old on loan from Premier League big boys Chelsea. It was also a winning goal for the Swans against a Norwich side who have been pretty impressive at times so far this season and one that gave new Swansea boss Mike Duff a third consecutive win following a pretty tricky start.

The obvious inspiration for Bashir Humphreys will be the journey taken by Marc Guehi, a fellow centre back and Chelsea graduate. Guehi took not one but two loans to Swansea from Chelsea and teamed up with Steve Cooper for those two near misses in the play-offs. Swansea may not have got their happy ending but Guehi got a move to Crystal Palace and at just 23 is in the England side and going into his third season as pretty much a Premier League ever present.

Things have gone in a similar direction at both Chelsea and Swansea since the Guehi years with the two clubs moving from the top of their respective divisions towards the middle, with current expectations sitting a bit higher than current achievements. It’s a high standard but if this Bashir Humphreys loan results in similar outcomes to the Marc Guehi on then I’m sure all parties will be satisfied.

Follow Benjamin Bloom on Twitter @BenjaminBloom