Jones, Matos, Peixoto & Stephan up for August awardpublished at 08:54 BST 10 September
08:54 BST 10 September
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
(L-R) Nathan Jones, Vitor Matos, Cesar Peixoto and Julien Stephan have overseen positive starts to the Championship season for their respective clubs
Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones, Swansea's Vitor Matos, Cesar Peixoto of Wolves and QPR head coach Julien Stephan have been nominated for August's Championship manager of the month award.
Jones led Charlton to the top of the table with three wins from their opening three games.
Swansea made an unbeaten start under Matos with their seven points including victories over Stoke City and Derby County.
In his first season in charge of Wolves, Cesar Peixoto also started with seven points from the first three games of the campaign as they seek an immediate return to the Premier League.
QPR have made an encouraging start to the new season and went through August unbeaten with Julien Stephan overseeing away wins at Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers.
The winner of the season's first award will be announced on Friday, 11 September.
Wolves' attack leads the league but defence must improvepublished at 11:14 BST 7 September
11:14 BST 7 September
Dazzling Dave Fan writer
Image source, Getty Images
Wolves have made a strong start to the season in front of goal, scoring more than any other team in the Championship. But their defensive record is becoming a serious concern.
After five matches, Wolves have scored 13 goals. They have also conceded 10, an average of two per game. Only Burnley with 12 have let in more, while Derby County and Preston North End have also conceded 10.
That is not the record of a side hoping to challenge for promotion.
Sunday's 2-2 draw at Birmingham City was another frustrating example. Wolves took the lead after only three minutes through Fer Lopez. Birmingham equalised before Ladislav Krejci headed Wolves back in front.
But the advantage lasted only five minutes.
Jackson Tchatchoua's attempted backpass looped past Jose Sa and into his own net. It was a costly mistake, but it also highlighted issues that have appeared during the opening weeks, including poor communication and lapses in concentration.
Birmingham did not need to produce a moment of brilliance, Wolves handed them a route back into the match.
The concern is not only the number of goals conceded, but the nature of them. Poor decisions, defensive errors and an inability to hold onto leads are making games harder than they should be.
There are clear positives in attack. Wolves are creating chances, scoring freely and carrying a threat going forward. At Birmingham, they led twice and looked dangerous for long spells.
Yet goals alone will not sustain a promotion push if opponents continue to receive cheap opportunities. Successful teams need to manage difficult moments, stay organised under pressure and see out leads.
This is not about blaming one player for one own goal. Wolves need greater care and concentration, clearer communication across the team and better game management when they are ahead.
Ten goals conceded in five games is an early warning. Wolves have the Championship's most productive attack, but the defence must tighten up quickly if that attacking strength is to fuel a genuine promotion challenge.
Pick of the stats: Birmingham City v Wolvespublished at 14:38 BST 4 September
14:38 BST 4 September
Image source, Opta
Birmingham City welcome Wolves for the first West Midlands derby between the two sides for eight years on Sunday (12:30 BST kick-off).
Blues are unbeaten in their opening four Championship games, albeit just one of those was a victory, while they have drawn the other three.
Wolves suffered their first defeat of the season on Tuesday night, going down 4-2 at West Ham but Cesar Peixoto's side remain near the top of the table in fourth position at this early stage of the campaign before the weekend's action begins.
This will be the first season in which Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers will face in the league since 2017-18, when Wolves completed a Championship double over their rivals.
Wolves are looking to win three successive league games against Birmingham City for the first time since December 1999. They have also won their past three league visits to St Andrew's.
Birmingham are unbeaten in nine league games (W4 D5), their longest run in the Championship since February 2020 (10).
Wolves have won just one of their previous 23 away league outings (D6 L16), losing 4-2 at West Ham last time out.
Wolves' Jose Sa is without a clean sheet in any of his past nine league starts – he is one of two goalkeepers to concede over two goals more than expected according to Opta's expected goals on target model (2.1) in the Championship this season alongside Burnley's Max Weiss (3.4).
🎧 'Not the window we anticipated for Wolves'published at 14:15 BST 2 September
14:15 BST 2 September
BBC Radio WM's Mike Taylor is joined by former Wolves striker David Kelly to analyse the club's business in the summer transfer window.
They discuss the large size of the squad and whether there is enough Championship experience for Wolves to win promotion back to the Premier League this season.
"This might be a promotion squad - the only thing that we can say for the moment, is it is not what we were anticipating," said Taylor.
"That doesn't mean it will necessarily be bad. We'll know that in a few weeks, but it is not what we were expecting. It just isn't."
Listen below or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.
And remember, this is your Wolves page so bookmark it, or if you're on the BBC Sport app or signed in on a browser, hit 'Follow' to add it to your MySport and get more news, analysis, stats and fan views - and also select the bell icon in the app to sign up for club notifications.
Woody: The game was a lottery as both defences were poor, but we managed to score more. We need to massively improve in defence if we're going to get promoted.
Dave: At last a better team effort, moving the ball quicker, but the new players we need didn't arrive.
At times the back four were wanting and the real big problem is that we don't have enough cover - what happened to finding full-back cover?
All we can do now is hope this team can continue with winning, but I am really concerned.
Sue: Much-improved display. The players need to gel and then will be a good competitive team. Still starting slow. That needs addressing.
Image source, Getty Images
Wolves fans
Tristan: Didn't offer much at the back and were not clinical going forward at all. Played our hardest game of the season at a good time, and didn't make the most of it.
Steve: Overall I don't think we were that bad, certainly not 4-2 bad. We lost to yet another worldie, a daft, unnecessary penalty and a deflection, plus we hit the bar twice. It's a long season and it's going to be a rollercoaster - buckle up and stay positive.
Peter: Wolves will not be in the promotion stakes unless they tighten up their defence, which was cruelly exposed by the Hammers after looking suspect in the opening games. The retention of a focused Krejci and his return to the starting line-up could certainly help in that respect.
'The result was unfair' - Peixotopublished at 23:28 BST 1 September
23:28 BST 1 September
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Wolves suffered a first league defeat at West Ham
Wolves manager Cesar Peixoto admits he was frustrated by his side's inability to convert chances in their 4-2 defeat at West Ham.
The visitors fell to a first defeat of the season despite a strike from Marshall Munetsi and an own goal by Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Peixoto believed Wolves deserved more on the balance of play.
"It was not the result we wanted," he told BBC Radio WM.
"It was unfair because we created a lot of chances and West Ham scored, we didn't.
"We stayed competitive until the end. I liked the performance, we created a lot of chances and played like we wanted even at 4-1. They scored and we didn't."
Peixoto says his players should have broken the game up more to contain the Hammers.
"We needed to make more fouls to stop the [flow of the] game. We made less than i wanted. We tried to manage the ball more and we hit the bar twice.
"We managed the game better than West Ham but didn't score."
Follow EFL transfer deadline daypublished at 08:53 BST 1 September
08:53 BST 1 September
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Transfer deadline day is upon us and today is the final chance for your EFL club to finalise any business until January.
The transfer window closes at 23:00 BST, so we might have some late night scrambles to get deals over the line.
There has already been plenty of movement this summer and whether it's a busy or quiet day for your club, you will be able to keep across it all on BBC Sport.
Image source, Getty Images
