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The exciting Sheffield United manager wasn't quite so happy. He claimed, in that wonderful monotone voice of his, that he expected more of his forwards and didn't get what he wanted. They didn't score, and they conceded, he might just be right.
Stoke came from behind to beat Charlton at home. Tony Pulis has been using the loan market again and brought in Jody Craddock from Wolves just ahead of the game. He played but they fell behind after conceding a goal to an Andy Reid free kick. Two very good goals of their own turned the game in their favour. The first, a quick equaliser, came from Ricardo Fuller whilst the winner came via the largest striker in the division Jon Parkin. They call him the Beast, how original, and it's not so difficult to work out why.
For every winner there's a loser and currently there are two clubs without a point, Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday. According to Brian Laws, Sheffield Wednesday's problem is a lack of defenders and it showed as they conceded three goals to Wolves. He's promised to bring someone in by the end of the week.
The Saints travelled to Norwich but having gone in front through Kenwyne Jones, who could well be on his way soon to either RK Sunderland or Derby, they were beaten by two goals from Jamie Cureton and some decidedly dodgy refereeing decisions from Clive Oliver.
Certainly the Norwich equaliser was dubious after Oliver awarded a free kick for a back pass. It looked good defending to me, that was the back pass not the inability to deal with the free kick. Southampton will improve, Burley reckons, particularly now they've got a good organiser at the back in Wayne Thomas.
Whilst on the subject of referees there is no doubt that Flood Warden Andy Hall had some bearing on the result at Layer Road. Not quite Rob Styles but bad enough. Barnsley scored the first and last goals in a 2-2 draw against Colchester, and both were from penalties, very fortuitous penalties at that.
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Preston are still without a goal this season in the league, although they did score one in their Carling Cup defeat to Morecambe. All's not too well at Deepdale at the moment and they fell to defeat at West Brom. Kevin Phillips did what he did at Burnley and what he does best, he scored, but it was the second goal everyone was talking about.
Ishmael Miller, on loan from Manchester City (a side commentators seem to have renamed to Sven Goran Eriksson's Manchester City), was the scorer. He gave the Preston defender a few yards start, and then this big strong forward just breezed past him with some pace and hit his shot home. Linked with us last season he is one to watch.
Out on the Fylde Coast it was a full house at Bloomfield Road as they hosted football at this level for the first time since 1978. Searching a twelfth successive win they went in front in the second half through Andy Morrell but in the end the run came to an end and they had to settle for a point when Scott Murray turned in a rebound off goalkeeper Paul Rachubka.
It's going to be all change at QPR this week ahead of their trip to the Turf. The board have resigned today to make way for new investors. How good is this news for the West London club? Not as good as you might think, Gianni Paladini will remain as chairman.
Meanwhile they were beaten 2-0 at home by Cardiff, and this whilst the Welsh club's dynamic strike force of Robbie Fowler and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink were both missing. Steven MacLean, a summer signing from Sheffield Wednesday, and Paul Parry got the goals.
Leicester owner Milan Mandaric is apparently not too happy with his manager Martin Allen at missing out on Hasselbaink, but never mind Mandaric got him two more players last week. Goalkeeper Marton Fulop and left back Clive Clarke have both come in on loan deals from RK Sunderland.
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Is it time to worry? Referee Barry Knight is back and got his first Championship match at Coventry as they entertained Hull. Knight had managed to send off Southend's Alan McCormack in his first match, and he doubled up with another red card, this time Hull's Sam Ricketts. The red card came just after Nick Barmby had headed Hull's equaliser following a Leon McKenzie goal for Coventry. Despite the man advantage for over twenty minutes Coventry couldn't find a winner.
There was no winner at Plymouth either, although there was some good news at the end of the game. Manager Ian Holloway for once wasn't joking when he was found doubled up in pain before the game, and some feared the worst. It turned out to be a kidney stone and Holloway will soon be back to full health.
What he missed was his side going a goal down after just two minutes when Alan Lee scored for Ipswich, only for Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to equalise from the spot five minutes from the end after another hardly convincing decision. Ipswich had Fabian Wilnis sent off, the fourth red card of his career. He was sent off in the same fixture last season, and in 2004/05 was sent off when the two sides met at Portman Road. Maybe Jim Magilton won't bother selecting him when the sides play each other in future.
It's a free week this midweek, before we are all back in action again this weekend. The big game could be Leicester v Watford at the Crisp Bowl, but there's no truth in the rumour that Mandaric will sign another four players ahead of the game. The fixtures, along with the weekend stats, are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 18th August | |
Blackpool 1 Bristol City 1 | QPR 0 Cardiff 2 |
Crystal Palace 2 Leicester 2 | Scunthorpe 2 Burnley 0 |
Colchester 2 Barnsley 2 | Stoke 2 Charlton 1 |
Coventry 1 Hull 1 | Watford 1 Sheffield Utd 0 |
Norwich 2 Southampton 1 | West Brom 2 Preston 0 |
Plymouth 1 Ipswich 1 | . |
Sunday 19th August | |
Sheffield Wed 1 Wolves 3 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Wolves 3-1 v Sheffield Wed (away) |
Total goals scored | 31 |
Player scoring most goals | Jamie Cureton (Norwich) |
Highest Attendance | 24,004 - Norwich v Southampton |
Lowest Attendance | 4,450 - Colchester v Barnsley |
Total Yellow Cards | 34 |
Total Red Cards | 4 |
Most cards in a game | Colchester v Barnsley (4Y 2R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
3 | Brian Howard (Barnsley) Alan Lee (Ipswich) James Scowcroft (Crystal Palace) |
2 | Jamie Cureton (Norwich) Sylvain Ebanks-Blake (Plymouth) Leon McKenzie (Coventry) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Scott Murray (Bristol City) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
11th Aug | 3 - James Scowcroft - Southampton v CRYSTAL PALACE |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 3 | 1 | Norwich | 7 | 0 |
| Blackpool | 1 | 0 | Plymouth | 2 | 0 |
| Bristol City | 1 | 0 | Preston | 7 | 0 |
| Burnley | 4 | 0 | QPR | 7 | 0 |
| Cardiff | 5 | 0 | Scunthorpe | 5 | 0 |
| Charlton | 3 | 0 | Sheffield Utd | 1 | 0 |
| Colchester | 2 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 5 | 0 |
| Coventry | 4 | 0 | Southampton | 3 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 2 | 0 | Stoke | 7 | 0 |
| Hull | 6 | 1 | Watford | 4 | 0 |
| Ipswich | 6 | 1 | West Brom | 2 | 0 |
| Leicester | 3 | 0 | Wolves | 5 | 0 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Saturday 25th August | |
Barnsley v Plymouth | Leicester v Watford |
Bristol City v Scunthorpe | Preston v Colchester |
Burnley v QPR | Sheffield Utd v West Brom |
Cardiff v Coventry | Southampton v Stoke |
Charlton v Sheffield Wed | Wolves v Blackpool |
Hull v Norwich | . |
Sunday 26th August | |
Ipswich v Crystal Palace | . |