This isn’t the Conor Gallagher Report just yet, but it could well be, as the stylish midfielder scored for the third week in a row to get his Charlton Athletic career off to the most flying of starts. He was joined on the score sheet this week by two of his former academy team-mates, each of whom have made much-needed positive early impressions, and one long-time member of the Loan Army.
Headliners
Gallagher has been the catalyst for a very encouraging return to Championship football down at The Valley, playing on the side of a diamond midfield, and bringing his energetic, technically-refined game to the fore in a role that gets the best out of him. His latest strike was an exceedingly well-taken effort, shortly before half time, that saw the Addicks to a 1-0 win over Brentford.
He followed Trevoh Chalobah’s midweek lead as the England Under-20 international made the most of his midfield lease of life by scoring Huddersfield’s solitary reply in their 2-1 defeat at Cardiff. It was a rather atypical goal for him, collecting the ball on the edge of the area and being forced onto his weaker side, but he took a chance and was rewarded.
Times are challenging at Huddersfield right now, but he’s making a strong impression under caretaker manager Mark Hudson, and has the right mentality to be a leader as they embark upon a new challenge in the weeks ahead.
Iké Ugbo’s first goal for Roda was sandwiched in between on Friday night but, like Chalobah, it was in a losing cause as NEC Nijmegen claimed a 2-1 victory of their own.
Victor Moses’ first match of the new season was certainly an eventful one, as he scored a penalty, missed a penalty, and went off with injury in Fenerbahce’s 5-0 win against Gazisehir. He’ll be out for around a month.
England
Premier League
Danny Drinkwater played and scored for Burnley’s Under-23 team in a midweek behind-closed-doors friendly, as he works on his fitness before making a first-team bow.
Championship
Matt Miazga had an outstanding time as Reading drew 1-1 at West Brom in midweek, looking every inch at home in Jose Gomes’ three-man defence, but he was unable to build on that after limping out of the weekend trip to Huddersfield after just twelve minutes. Gomes later revealed that it was a mostly precautionary decision, as the American had felt cramp, and didn’t want to risk something more serious occurring.
Izzy Brown only played 21 minutes for Luton this week, and they all came in defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, rather than in the 3-1 win at Barnsley.
Jake Clarke-Salter has been struggling with a minor knock at Birmingham, one that ruled him out of both of their fixtures this past week. Wigan lost to Middlesbrough and QPR without Dujon Sterling being involved on either occasion despite appearing to be fit and, as manager Paul Cook comes under increasing pressure, it’s a situation to pay close attention to.
League One
Luke McCormick continues to put in the hard yards at Shrewsbury as he learns his trade in the professional game. A hard-working and committed 59 minutes away to Accrington Stanley saw him depart before the Shrews had mounted a comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2, and subsequently he was on the bench for the visit of Burton on Saturday. Richard Nartey was in the opposite dugout for that one, coming on for the last ten minutes, as he did at Oxford in midweek to make his Brewers’ debut.
Jacob Maddox is still waiting to make his Tranmere Rovers bow, as he catches up on fitness after missing part of his pre-season, but the postponement of their match against financially-troubled Bury won’t have helped his cause either.
League Two
Josh Grant continues to wait for his first league minutes down at Plymouth Argyle; he was twice an unused substitute this week.
Germany
Lewis Baker scored an own goal as Fortuna Dusseldorf were beaten 3-1 at home by Leverkusen on Saturday. It was somewhat unlucky, as he ended up turning into his own net in attempting to clear a cross from the right, but he played well last week and will look to bounce back against Eintracht Frankfurt next Sunday.
https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1165257560557084672
Ethan Ampadu is yet to feature for RB Leipzig.
Netherlands
Charly Musonda is unfortunately injured once again. Just days after undertaking his first serious interview with English media, a knee problem flared up and kept him out of Saturday’s draw at Heracles, leaving both Vitesse and Chelsea sweating on a prognosis.
Italy
Serie A is back and back with a bang. Mario Pašalić’s second year in Bergamo with Atalanta began with a 3-2 win at SPAL, having trailed 2-0, while Davide Zappacosta came off the bench for the final twelve minutes of Roma’s 3-3 draw with Genoa to mark his debut in the Eternal City.
Scotland
Nathan Baxter is still some way away from being fit to resume his Ross County career; having suffered his should injury in July, mid-October is the soonest anyone expects him to be ready and available.
Brazil
Nathan played ninety minutes as Atlético-MG lost 1-0 to Bahia.
Statistics
Started: August 1st 2019
Finished: August 1st 2020
| Player | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe/Cont | Other | Mins Played | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Ethan Ampadu | RB Leipzig | 0 (3) | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 297 | 2 (4) | 0 |
| Tiemoue Bakayoko | Monaco | 20 | 1 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1910 | 21 (1) | 1 |
| Lewis Baker | Fortuna Dusseldorf | 6 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 562 | 7 (1) | 0 |
| Charlie Brown | Union SG | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 152 | 2 (1) | 0 |
| Isaiah Brown | Luton Town | 16 (8) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1517 | 18 (8) | 1 |
| Juan Castillo | Ajax | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1800 | 20 | 0 |
| Trevoh Chalobah | Huddersfield Town | 30 (6) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2923 | 30 (6) | 1 |
| Jake Clarke-Salter | Birmingham City | 18 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1873 | 23 | 1 |
| Danny Drinkwater | Burnley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 149 | 2 | 0 |
| Danny Drinkwater | Aston Villa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 207 | 3 | 0 |
| Conor Gallagher | Charlton Athletic | 25 (1) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2220 | 25 (1) | 6 |
| Conor Gallagher | Swansea City | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1847 | 21 | 0 |
| Josh Grant | Plymouth | 17 (5) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 2075 | 23 (6) | 0 |
| Marc Guehi | Swansea City | 13 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1177 | 13 (1) | 0 |
| Kenedy | Getafe | 3 (16) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 942 | 7 (20) | 3 |
| Jacob Maddox | Tranmere Rovers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 165 | 2 | 0 |
| Jacob Maddox | Southampton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Luke McCormick | Shrewsbury Town | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 382 | 5 (3) | 0 |
| George McEachran | Cambuur | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 0 (2) | 0 |
| Matt Miazga | Reading | 19 (1) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1758 | 21 (1) | 2 |
| Victor Moses | Fenerbahce | 6 | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 514 | 6 (1) | 1 |
| Victor Moses | Inter | 4 (8) | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 597 | 7 (10) | 0 |
| Charly Musonda | Vitesse Arnhem | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 0 (3) | 0 |
| Richard Nartey | Burton Albion | 21 (6) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2049 | 23 (8) | 0 |
| Nathan | Atlético-MG | 9 (6) | 3 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1174 | 13 (8) | 3 |
| Danilo Pantic | MOL Fehervar | 3 (4) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 412 | 6 (4) | 0 |
| Mario Pašalić | Atalanta | 20 (3) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 (2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2292 | 25 (4) | 7 |
| Lucas Piazon | Rio Ave | 13 (5) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1422 | 16 (5) | 4 |
| Baba Rahman | Mallorca | 1 (1) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 379 | 4 (1) | 0 |
| Dujon Sterling | Wigan Athletic | 7 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 750 | 8 (1) | 0 |
| Iké Ugbo | Roda JC | 25 (2) | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2351 | 26 (2) | 13 |
| Davide Zappacosta | Roma | 3 (6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 458 | 3 (6) | 0 |
| Total | 34460 | 382 (107) | 43 | |||||||||||
| Player | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Mins Played | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | Apps | Cln Sht | |||
| Nathan Baxter | Ross County | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1260 | 14 | 3 |
| Jamal Blackman | Vitesse Arnhem | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jamal Blackman | Bristol Rovers | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 810 | 9 | 2 |
| Total | 2070 | 23 | 5 | |||||||||||
Covid-19
Several league campaigns were curtailed earlier than expected due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Numbers for those players are assumed to be as of the formal end of that respective season; whether the stats officially count or not, we will take them as having happened.