We’re hard at work this week updating the Belief Index for the Championship. As a “reminder,” the Belief Index is based on three big buckets: history, trust, and performance. The history and trust pieces are operating as intended; the performance piece, less so, with some movement this week that made us rethink how we store and show performance versus expectation in the early part of the season. A revamped Index with explained methodology changes is on track to be released as our scheduled run next Monday.
In the meantime, there was no shortage of chaotic action this week in the Championship as well as elsewhere in the Minnows universe. I talk about all these games and more in this week’s episode of Minnows Football, but just in case you’re audio-averse…
Hull City 2, Man Utd 0
Hull made about as smashing a start as you could’ve hoped for, downing giants Manchester United in front of an absolutely pumping MKM Stadium. Oli McBurnie was the sparkplug, catalyst, live wire, Energizer Bunny, whatever metaphor you like, he was him and they were it and it was marvelous.
West Ham 1, Charlton 2
Nuno Espirito Santo hails from São Tomé and Príncipe, a tiny, Portuguese-speaking island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. He left just before his eighth birthday, but whether it was his calm, methodical nature, his love of cliff diving, or his love of the underdog, something was instilled in him during that time that must endure to this day and his current goal of getting West Ham automatic promotion back to the Premier League on the first try. The result didn’t go West Ham’s way on the weekend, but it’s still August, and there’s a lot still pointing in a positive direction for the Hammers, despite everything.
Millwall 3, Norwich City 0
Can Norwich tame The Den, Norwich fans asked the internet in the run up to the game last week? No, came the resounding answer from Millwall fans, who are absolutely flying on not just the results from the last two weeks, but the way their team has gone about their business on and off the park.
Millwall are tough to face, between Jake Cooper down back and Josh Cooper up front, big, physical handfuls who, just like McBurnie at Hull, draw the attention of defenders and have a magnetic, outsized influence on events on the pitch. They’ve come out swinging to start the season.
Looking ahead to Matchweek 3
Norwich, on the other hand, have dropped six points to start and looked completely out of sorts at The Den. They have a massive matchup this week against Burnley, who struggled in a loss to West Brom last week. The winner of that matchup (if there is one) will feel a lot better; the loser may be reaching for the early-season panic button.
Other big matchups we’re looking forward to this week:
- The battle of big-ambition ownership: Wrexham vs Birmingham
- Middlesbrough vs West Brom: Can Boro string two good halves together, and are West Brom legit?
- Southampton vs Millwall: The toughest test so far for Millwall, and a chance for Southampton to continue to dig out.
Onwards!
Leave a Reply