5 EFL talking points as Man City experience joy and sorrow; Brentford hit seven

Some of the key points to emerge from a busy night in the Carabao Cup, Leagues One and Two and the EFL Trophy

It’s been another busy night across various competitions in the EFL.

The third round of the Carabao Cup saw 41 goals across ten games with the odd shock or two thrown in.

The standout result was Brentford’s 7-0 humbling of sorry Oldham, who are already bottom of the entire Football League, whilst three Premier League teams were eliminated from the competition.

Elsewhere, there were four games taking place tonight across Leagues One and Two.

And in addition, there were a sprinkling of EFL Trophy games.

Here, we look at some of the talking points to emerge from this evening’s games.

Cup shocks avoided – in the main

At various points in the evening there were more than a few shocks on the cards.

Manchester City, who have effectively owned this competition having won the last four editions, were trailing 1-0 to Wycombe.

Similarly, Burnley trailed 1-0 at home to Rochdale, QPR led twice against Everton, Sheffield United went in front against Southampton and Stoke twice took the lead against Watford.

In the end, Wycombe and Rochdale fell apart and conceded ten respectively.

As for the others, it was a mixed bag with QPR hanging on for a successful spot-kick win, whilst the Blades lost their shoot-out.

As for Stoke, they sealed a notable 3-1 win at Vicarage Road to secure the evening’s stand-out win.

Four-midable strike pair

Just how do you separate them?

Both Marcus Forss and Jay Rodriguez would quite rightly have left the field at full-time tonight expecting to easily pick up the player of the round award.

After all, they each struck four times. Brentford’s Forss hit a first half hat-trick before adding a fourth for good measure on the hour.

Burnley forward Rodriguez matched that feat although all his strikes came in a bonkers second half at Turf Moor.

He hit a treble in the space of 12 minutes and his quad took just 27 minutes in total as they came from behind to knock out Rochdale.

Surely no other player will hit as many in Wednesday night’s six ties?

All change please!

We’ve come to expect it by now but this competition often sees multiple changes made by Premier League sides.

Tonight saw nine top flight teams in action and between them they made 76 alterations – an average of more than eight each.

Some went the whole hog, changing their entire team.

It probably goes to show, given the lack of upsets, that strength in depth really is crucial.

Charlton fans losing patience

Charlton Athletic remain in the League One dropzone after another below-par result tonight.

Despite dominating the first half against Gillingham, they only had a 1-0 lead to show for it.

Elliot Lee notched the opener but the Gills drew level through a Ben Purrington own goal. Despite pressing, Athletic had to make do with a point.

It does little to ease the pressure on boss Nigel Adkins, and they’ve now won just two of 10 in all competitions.

Fans are already venting their fury on social media and Saturday’s home game with Portsmouth looks massive.

Not all happy for City

City’s senior side were doing the business, despite a scare, against Wycombe in the Carabao Cup.

But their under-21s didn’t enjoy a memorable night.

They were in action away at Doncaster in the Papa John’s Trophy although a clutch of regulars were of course bumped up to the first team by manager Pep Guardiola.

And despite Samuel Edozie giving Brian Barry-Murphy’s side the perfect start when he put them 1-0 up, they couldn’t hang on in South Yorkshire.

Joe Dodoo’s brace turned the game on its head and the hosts held on. Another interesting side-note was Liam Delap’s exit from the action just after the hour mark.

That will undoubtedly raise questions about Guardiola’s plan for him, given the expectation heaped on his young shoulders over the summer.

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