Pressure on Sheffield Wednesday's Xisco Munoz and co is premature with squads still taking shape
Sheffield Wednesday are the only team in the Football League without a point, Doncaster Rovers are bottom of the entire pile. Sheffield United are yet to get off the mark in the Premier League, Huddersfield Town have only one Championship point .
Two away defeats which will not help Bradford City’s League Two promotion hopes, and Rotherham United's League Cup exit at Stoke City took their aggregate score to 10-2 from two early-season trips to the Potteries. The other results have not been too pretty either.
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Hide AdMiddlesbrough's early-season form is looking like a continuation of the way they ended the previous campaign, and even when Leeds United topped off a good week with their first league win of the season, the edge was slightly taken off it when Salford City knocked them out of the League Cup on penalties.
If ever there was a time for patience, this is it. Those at the top in particular need to show it.
The Owls' trip to Elland Road this weekend already feels more decisive than it ought to for manager Xisco Munoz, who has seen his team booed off after their last two Hillsborough matches.
Logic should tell you that a new manager with 10 summer signings, six new to English football, were always going to need time.
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Hide AdUnfortunately it is rare at clubs the size of Sheffield Wednesday – and League Two Bradford, which is why some there are getting twitchy as Mark Hughes beds in a new formation. Chairman Dejphon Chansiri setting his sights on the play-offs as soon as his team went up was as unhelpful as it was unrealistic.
The Owls have played well in their last two games only to be undone by late goals, so things are moving in the right direction, just slowly.
After an experienced squad stumbled over the line in May, the Owls were never likely to take as quickly to the second tier as Ipswich Town have.
Fans’ frustrations are very easy to understand but changing managers just after the transfer window shuts is always a bad look, and happens far too often.
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Hide AdMunoz could help himself by making more use of established players – Reece James and Marvin Johnson spring to mind – whilst he beds in the new ones, but it is too soon to judge him.
Doncaster have had an even more dramatic overhaul under Grant McCann.
This, though, is an era where league tables are published before everyone has even played. Quick judgements are inevitable, even from owners.
"I believe the squad is better than this!" was an ominous line for Kevin Nagle to chuck into his post-match tweet about Huddersfield's "total drubbing" at home to Norwich City.
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Hide AdPublic pronouncements like that are not very welcome when a manager is doing his post-match media duties, particularly as Neil Warnock was spinning a more positive line. Nagle might well have been told that by his manager since.
The Terriers have been badly undermined by defensive mistakes from good, experienced players – Lee Nicholls, Michal Helik, Matty Pearson, Jonathan Hogg. They cannot wait forever but the hope is that they will quickly settle down.
Huddersfield, to an extent, but much more so Rotherham, Middlesbrough and Leeds, are still waiting to get their last-minute shopping done so they can progress.
All must get better after the international break but one only needs to look at where Leeds were at the start of last week to now to see how quickly the mood can change.