Worst Performance of the Month – Oxford 5.02

There was never going to be another game picked here, was there? At least at Wycombe we competed, and the Bolton game was on a knife’s edge. This debacle (and it was a debacle) was a low point of the first month and maybe even the reason so many people lacked clarity in the wake of the transfer deadline passing. The lack of players was the cause, we went with no striker, and the shape lacked cohesion. Oddly, it wasn’t a great Oxford side that beat us; just one set up to expose our weaknesses, which they did well.

This isn’t the norm, not by a long shot, but it will be the benchmark by which every other bad performance this season will be measure. I can hear myself asking on the podcast now – ‘was it as bad as Oxford?’. Oddly, the xG shows that for the last ten minutes, we had enough chances to get two goals and shouldn’t have conceded the ones we did.

Best Performance of the Month – Bradford 7.28

I guess it’s a shame that we saved our best performance of the month for the EFL Trophy, but the win earns us £10,000 and a spot in the next round. We blew a strong Bradford side away in a game that was far too entertaining and competitive for this competition. Usually, we see a team of players up against kids or reserves, and only the latter stages provide any excitement. The fact is some of the best performances last season came in this competition, against Hull, Shrewsbury and Accrington. We’ve continued that this campaign, already impressing against Manchester United U21s and in this encounter. Watch the highlights, if only for Hakeeb’s goal.

Best Individual Performance of the Month – Anthony Scully v Manchester United U21s – 9.10

It’s been a good start to the season for Scully, and his Man of the Match performance against Manchester United Under 21s underlines that. He scored three good goals, a header and two succinct finishes to give us a head start in a competition that few really get turned on by until the latter stages. Yes, we were playing a youth team, but you still have to perform, and Scully did just that. Impressively, he also got the second-highest rating too, an 8.7 against Fleetwood. Last season Alex Palmer got the single highest rating for any game, 9.1 against Hull, and Scully has already matched that. His 8.7 against Fleetwood would have won all but two months last season as well, and it matches the highest in the League (Brennan Johnson v MK Dons also got 8.7). What a month for the youngster, who we must remember is still only 22.