Dallas Premier League

First season, and not one bad week yet

mdropkin is the only new manager in the league this year, and he is already third in it

He took over a roster in August, having never played a week of this league, and the read on him was that the newcomer would be the easy fixture. Four gameweeks later he is 3-1 and holds the third-best title chance in the competition.

What stands out is not the ceiling but the absence of a floor. Everyone else has had a week that got away from them — the league has produced totals in the thirties and forties already this season. He has not been near that. His worst week is better than the worst week of every manager but two, and his scoring has climbed in each of the four rounds rather than bouncing around. Last week's 122.85 was the second-highest of the round.

The case against is the usual one at this stage: four weeks is four weeks, and his biggest total came against the team that is still looking for its first win. But the schedule-proof measure agrees with the record. Score every team against the whole field each week instead of the one opponent they drew, and he is third there too. Most first-year managers spend a season learning which of their players actually start. He appears to have skipped that part.