In our exclusive interview, the ex Wolves striker discusses Hull's impressive start to life in the Premier League, Wolves' recent form, and more of the biggest stories from across the Football League.
Don Goodman believes the recent injury to Wolves striker Raul Jiménez is a ‘huge blow’ for the team as they look to secure promotion back to the Premier League.
The former striker and commentator also believes it’s too early to tell if Hull City will stay in the Premier League, with the Tigers currently being one of the favourites in the football betting to be relegated despite their strong start to life back in the top flight.
In our exclusive interview, Goodman further discusses Norwich City’s struggle to match last season’s form, Watford’s difficult start to the season and what has gone wrong for Wigan since their relegation from the Premier League.
Hull have made an impressive start to the season to ease relegation worries. Have you been surprised about how good they’ve looked defensively compared to last season?
They were one of the worst defences in the Championship last season, but they’ve started this season defensively solid, and it obviously helped them at the weekend even though they lost the game.
But they stayed in the game even though it would be a painful loss to Fulham who are struggling down there.
I do think the performance was worrying from a Hull City point of view. They allowed themselves really to be dominated pretty much from start to finish.
It was only really that little bit of defensive resilience and wayward finishing from Fulham that helped keep them in the game.
So they were in the game, that’s the positive. I guess the bad news would be if we’d have been watching that and it was the first game of the season most people, including me, would be considering Hull already relegated, it was so poor from them.
Thankfully for them, it wasn’t and they have proved to be a competitive side in the first seven games. They’re currently two points ahead of the last time they were in the Premier League, which ultimately finished in relegation.
They’re level on points to where they were the time before that, and that finished in relegation.
So, there’s not a lot of wriggle room really still for Hull City. You look at the next two fixtures, they’re both at home where they are unbeaten, where they’ve won one and drawn two.
They’ve got Brentford and Ipswich coming up in those games and you do get the feeling that they are two pretty massive games really for Hull.
They’ve stuttered slightly in recent games, but do you expect them to stay clear of trouble from what you’ve seen so far?
I think it’s too early to say at this moment. As I said, I think that performance away at Fulham was a slight worry.
I know the next two games are at home, but Brentford in particular, I’ve seen away from home this season and they are a very, very good team.
So, it’s going to be a real test for Hull in that one especially. From my perspective, I do think the next little batch of five or six games will give us more of a clue because they’re in and around the same points as the last two times that they got relegated from the Premier League.
But you do see a bit more resilience about them this time, there’s no question about that, and that needs to be standing them in good stead, I would say.
What do you make of Raul Jiménez’s injury? He’s reported to be out until January – do you think this will impact their promotion chances?
It’s a huge blow for Wolves to lose Raul Jiménez for that long. I don’t think anybody can deny that because they haven’t really got a like-for-like replacement.
They’ve got Sean Neave who looks like he’s got potential, but is he really ready to have an extended run in the team as the main starting striker?
I’m not sure about that, but they’ve got Adam Armstrong who is a different type of a forward.
He’s been prolific in the Championship as we saw with his spell at Southampton, but you didn’t really too often see him play as an out-and-out number 9.
He played more as a number 10 or in one of the wider positions, but he’s proven that he can score a lot of goals at this level. He also picked up a back injury, that’s why he was missing against Burnley, so I’m not really sure how serious or not that will be.
But when he does get back to fitness, Adam Armstrong is going to need to step up for Wolves in terms of being more clinical.
He’s got one goal, but he’s missed a few presentable chances. So, I’d back him to step up in the absence of Raul Jiménez, but he could do with getting back on the score sheet to boost his own confidence.
What have you made of Wolves since the international break? It seems like they may have lost some momentum since the break
I felt that they looked like I’d expect them to look, this group of players at this level in the Black Country Derby win against West Bromwich Albion.
It was a very dominant performance, and they should have won it by more than the one goal that they did. But I would say since then, underwhelming would be the term that I would use to describe Wolves.
They lost against Middlesbrough, which in fairness, is one of the hardest places to go and play, so you can’t be too negative about that result.
But I think the home loss against Bolton Wanderers was very worrying. Especially conceding three goals when they are the team that boast the best xG against stat in the Championship, even after those three goals.
That basically means that they don’t concede that many chances, but for Bolton to go to Molineux and score three was a real turn-up for the books.
The win over Burnley was much needed, although you have to say for the first 35 minutes, they were completely dominated and maybe lucky that they were only one goal down.
I guess really my overriding emotion at this stage is if they want to be a top two team, and that has to be the aim for them, they’re going to need to improve their performance levels dramatically from these last three games since the international break.
Can Preston turn it around and get themselves out of the relegation zone?
I said when Graham Alexander took the job, it kind of reminded me of the Rob Edwards scenario when he left Middlesbrough in the Championship for Premier League Wolves, who were in all likelihood going to get relegated, and so it proved.
There is a big chance that Graham Alexander is going to end up down at the level that he left to go to Preston and that’s the factual view of it.
He would have known that, but the emotions, similarly for Rob Edwards, took over and became the prime motivator and that is understandable.
Ultimately Rob Edwards went to a club struggling in a level above and lost his job in the end, and I know Graham Alexander will have a deep love and affection for Preston but that will mean nothing if they end up relegated.
You have to be honest with Preston. They’re rock bottom and they’re five points from safety, and the truth is there haven’t really been any indicators that they can turn it around in the three games that Graham Alexander has taken charge of so far.
He said when he first went in that he wanted to make them harder to beat, he wanted to tighten up the defence, and yet they’ve conceded nine goals in those three games.
So, it’s a tough one, and at this moment you’d have to say it’s difficult to see any sign that they will survive. It could be a long hard winter ahead for Preston.
Should Graham Alexander look to utilise free agents to bolster his squad?
It’s one of those things. It’s okay for us to say that he should look at the free agency market, but it depends on who’s available. What we have to confess is that by Preston’s own standards, they actually spent a fortune on transfers in the summer.
But I guess they’re struggling at both ends of the pitch. In Graham’s three games, they’ve only scored 1 goal and they’ve conceded nine. So, the reality is that, the right kind of help, if it’s out there and accessible, would be gratefully accepted I would imagine.
Graham Alexander tried turning to a back three, should he change since it’s not worked so far?
Well, a back three or a back five, whatever way you want to look at it, that was something that Paul Heckingbottom utilised quite regularly.
So, the players are used to that system, there’s no doubt about it. I don’t personally think the system is the problem. Maybe the balance isn’t right between defending and attacking.
They’re too easy to play against and they’re too easy to score against. I’m not sure any change of system would change that really.
I think it’s the mentality. They need a win from somewhere and they need an injection of confidence to give themselves a positive boost and some kind of chance to breach that gap that has appeared between them and safety.
As I said, it’s already at five points to get out of the relegation zone, which at this stage feels like quite a big gap with the way Preston are playing.
Norwich City were one of the most in-form teams last season after Philippe Clement took charge. Why hasn’t it gone to plan so far this season and is this bigger than just the manager/head coach?
It’s very difficult to put your finger on with Norwich. Norwich and Burnley, you have to say, have been the biggest disappointments of the season so far.
For these two clubs to find themselves in the bottom four after 11 games is really poor by their standards.
It’s not like it’s three or four games; we’re now up to 11 league fixtures. I think that’s quite remarkable given the squads that they’ve got available to them.
The obvious problem is that they’re conceding goals at a rate of knots. They’ve had 21 goals against, and I calculated if they keep that same ratio till the end of the season, then they’ll have conceded 88.
Now that’s a big number and things can change, but that is almost certain relegation when you concede that number of goals.
They haven’t had a clean sheet yet, so clearly defensively has been a problem. Albeit if you look at the last three, they’ve lost them all, but they’ve only conceded four, whereas the three before, they conceded nine.
The difference is they’ve only scored one in the last three and the three before, they managed to score eight. So that balance is what Norwich are looking for, which I’m sure would have been worked on in the international break.
They would have had an opportunity to analyse and to try and fix the issues, but that still isn’t right for me which is a massive surprise.
The other problem that they’ve had is at home, which became a fortress under Philippe Clement last season, but they’ve lost four of six games so far this season, and that is a problem.
It’s a massive, massive problem that Norwich really need to fix quickly.
Is Clement under pressure considering the start to the season or do you expect the Norwich board to remain patient with him?
I think any manager at any level that loses five league games in a row has to be under some kind of pressure.
The hope for him is that they’ve got one point more than they had after 11 games last season and that was before he had even arrived, so there is still hope.
But the form needs to change really soon, and with respect, you feel that the next three games against Charlton, Watford, and Derby probably represent an opportunity.
They maybe would have thought that about a game at home against Portsmouth last weekend. They probably thought that represented an opportunity, but they didn’t take it.
And of course, Charlton, Watford, and Derby will look at playing Norwich at this stage as an opportunity for them.
I do think the next three games are massive for Norwich and probably will determine whether there could be any kind of a recovery that will see them shoot up the table towards at least a sort of a top 8 finish.
Do you see echoes with the Leicester situation last season, where it feels like the players are too good to be involved in a relegation battle, but there’s a lot of negative momentum?
It’s very difficult to stop negativity from creeping in when things aren’t going right. You can be in trouble in a flash and find it really hard to turn around, not only as a manager, but as a group of players and staff.
There’ll be disgruntlement among the fans. I think they’re already having a go at the sporting director Ben Knapper.
I think they’re disgruntled with him, and yet it’s only a few months ago where they were lauding him for appointing Philippe Clément.
I think Ben will accept it’s the nature of the job for him! You can’t really win when you’re in those decision making positions at a football club, but as I said, I think the big problem for Norwich is two-fold really.
It’s the fact that they’re conceding so many goals, and it’s that home form. We all know if you’re going to be promoted, home form has to be a bedrock, and so far this season it hasn’t been.
Tom Ince gave a pretty damning interview regarding the situation at Watford. They’ve had multiple managers and failed to finish in the top half of the Championship since 2022/23. Is there any hope for the club or are they going to free fall into the lower leagues if it carries on?
It was some interview Tom Ince gave. I was listening to it, and it contained honest and very frank views on the state of the football club.
Although they won 2-0 at home against Charlton on Saturday, that interview left you feeling like there’s nothing but than a season of a long, hard relegation battle looming.
I think what was considerably an eye-opening revelation for me, was Tom highlighted the differences of opinions of those making the decisions within the hierarchy which are important decisions.
If you get that sort of disagreements at the top level of any football club, then it leads to a lack of unity, and we all know that no unity equals no success.
In Watford’s case, you can see it going from bad to worse, really.
If there is involvement above the manager/head coach, how difficult does that make his job?
I’ve never experienced it, or I’ve never been at a football club where I knew it was going on, or probably where it actually was going on, if I’m being honest.
That was back in a different era though, whereas we now know that owners tend to get more involved and directors of football, etc.
Managers have been rebranded as Head Coaches because they’ve had a little bit of that management power and decision-making taken away from them.
So that in itself, at a club like Watford is always going to make your job as a head coach very difficult.
There’s no doubt about it. You’re always going to feel like you’re treading on eggshells, and you probably know that you’re only ever three or four defeats away from being sacked.
It must be very difficult to operate under those circumstances when you know the writing is on the wall quite quickly should it continue to go wrong.
Gavin Bazunu got his move to Bolton this summer and was named their player of the month for September. He’s had a tough time off the pitch with his national team, but do you think this is the start of him getting back to his best?
It’s quite a unique position being a goalkeeper because when a goalkeeper struggles it usually has a huge impact on a team. It’s always sad to see a player lose form and ultimately lose confidence where performance levels drop off.
That’s clearly what happened with Gavin Bazunu over the last few seasons. But his stats have already dramatically improved this season when you compare them to last season.
The save ratio this season is 70%, which is up from 60% last season. The goals prevented is 0.87 this season, where it was -7.5 last season.
Clearly, he was making mistakes, and you have to say, he made a mistake that was costly on his debut for Bolton against West Ham.
I seem to recall he should have been doing better with one of the goals that West Ham scored. But he’s shown a lot of character to recover from that, and he deserves credit for that.
Steven Schumacher deserves to take some credit as well because he really stuck with him and backed him through those difficult times.
I think now that Bolton are actually reaping the rewards of a goalkeeper who’s grown in confidence again. He’s pulled off some really good saves this season and actually those saves are earning Bolton points in some of those games.
Robbie Savage is off to the perfect start as Peterborough manager – what kind of impact do you expect him to have at the football club?
I think we’ve seen it the impact he’s had instantly. He was renowned at both Macclesfield Town and Forest Green Rovers for having teams that play attacking front foot football with a lot of freedom.
He’s been recruited by Peterborough United because really, if you go through the last 20-odd years of history at Peterborough, that’s how they like their teams to play.
That’s the reason Robbie Savage has been recruited, and if the first two league games are anything to go by, he already seems to have buy-in from his young group of players.
They had scored just four goals in their first eight League One games prior to his arrival, and so for them to score five in his first two is some turnaround.
You can throw in the four they scored in the EFL Trophy against Ipswich Town’s U21s as well. It’s clear how he wants to play and that his style is having a dramatic effect on the goals output.
I think the one thing you always know is when a team wants to play like that, it will not always be plain sailing, and I think they got a little glimpse of that on Saturday when they drew 2-2 at home against Burton Albion.
They had the lead, then they got pegged back, and then they went behind, and they scored a 96th-minute equaliser to salvage a point.
So, it’s going to be an exciting ride full of attacking football, but it’s not always going to be plain sailing.
Savage has only managed in non-league where he’s had the ability to sign players outside of the traditional transfer window. Will this be something he might struggle to adapt to if there’s injuries or suspensions?
I really don’t see that being a problem at all because he’s at a football club where Barry Fry and Darragh MacAnthony and all the people involved in the recruitment team at Peterborough generally had an exemplary record of success in the transfer market.
So, I don’t really see that being a problem for Robbie Savage in that department, if I’m honest.
I think they are a group of young players who are impressionable players. They are probably more likely to follow Robbie, than a disgruntled seasoned pro who might disagree with the tactics or whatever.
It doesn’t really look like he’s going to get that from that group and I do think that’s down to the recruitment in the summer.
January is not a million miles away, and before you know it’ll be here, so I don’t think that that will be an issue for Robbie Savage, if the squad needs additions if I’m honest.
Reading have made a good start to the season. There’s plenty of experience in both the playing squad and management staff, do they have a good chance of challenging for promotion this season?
The loss to rock bottom Wigan Athletic was a bit of a surprise. When I looked at the data, it suggested that it was a game that they really shouldn’t have lost.
But despite losing, they still find themselves in a healthy seventh place. They had gone four unbeaten going into that game, so they’re going to want to get back on track as soon as possible.
When you look at that league, it’s very tight at the top. They’re three points off sixth and four points off second, so there’s not a lot of a gap for them to make up.
There are some very good teams in League One, so it’s not going to be easy, but the hope will be that they can stay in touch with those top teams and be able to sustain it.
Last season they fell away in the last six games. They didn’t win any of the last six, losing four in the process, and that ultimately meant they ended up nowhere near the playoffs.
So, I look at the next six games, and they’ve got a bit of a mixed bag. They’ve got some of the top teams and they’ve got some of the strugglers as well.
For me, this is a really important period for Reading, and I think we’ll probably know more about what their aspirations should be after those next six games, I would say.
Ian Evatt is coming up to a year in charge of Blackpool – they haven’t had the greatest start to the season but given how he did at Bolton, do you think the club need to be patient with him?
Well, they’ve gone six games without a win, so there will be some pressure on Blackpool.
Ian Evatt has been in football a long time and he’s going to accept that better was probably expected from Blackpool this season because he stabilised the club last season when he came in and he took 51 points in the 33 games that he took charge of.
That’s pretty decent and I think that raised expectations this season. Unfortunately, after a good start where they won two and drew one of their opening three games, they’re now winless in the last six, losing five of them.
The only point that they picked up was at home against fellow strugglers Bromley, so you feel like this next run of games is going to be important for both Blackpool and for Ian Evatt.
They’re only outside the relegation zone on goal difference, and patience is a very rare commodity in football.
So, this form needs to change very quickly, and I think Ian Evatt will be the first one to acknowledge that.
Wigan Athletic are rock bottom of League One as it stands, do they have enough about them to get out of this situation?
It was a massive victory against Reading, otherwise they would be a little bit marooned at the bottom of the table.
But that win has brought them back within touching distance of seven teams directly above them. They’re now a draw or a win away from seven teams, which is a much better position to be in.
It’s very tight down at the bottom. They were the only one of the bottom six teams that managed to win at the weekend. So based on that, you’d have to give them a chance of survival because they’ve shown that they can dig in and get a result.
The next two games look pretty tough away at Oxford United and Huddersfield Town, who both have aspirations to be up there at the end of the season.
But they follow those games up against fellow strugglers Bromley, Barnsley, and Blackpool, so there’s some huge games for Wigan coming up.
They will hope that a run of positive results in that little batch of five games will just see them climb up and away off the bottom and out of the relegation zone.
It’s going to be tough because all the other teams down there have got the same aspiration, but if they can get on a run of results, then they’ll ease a few worries.
Where has it gone wrong for Wigan since their relegation from the Premier League?
It’s very hard to put your finger on what exactly went wrong at Wigan.
You’d have to say when they were in the Premier League, it was a club when you look at the size and the stature of it, that was probably punching a little bit above its weight.
But usually what happens when a club slides down the leagues quickly, it’s that the hierarchy have got their managerial appointments a little bit wrong, the recruitment has gone wrong and not been good enough.
Throw in the financial difficulties that Wigan had and the ownership issues that Wigan had, and the decline really, when you look at all those factors, is understandable really.
It’s disappointing, but you can see how it’s happened to them, whereas I would say Leicester City and some of the other clubs that have declined, it’s more difficult to understand given the quality of player that they’ve had at their disposal.
This club will be desperate not to drop down to League Two, and it’s Gary Caldwell’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen. As I said, there was some positivity at the weekend with that win, and they’ve got a really important five games coming up.
