We are barely three weeks into the new Championship season, yet the anxiety is already audible. Four clubs in particular, Stoke City, Norwich City, Burnley and West Ham United, are yet to find a rhythm and the restlessness among their supporters is entirely understandable. Early days, yes. But in this division, early days can quickly become late nights for managers who cannot find answers fast enough.

Stoke's long wait continues

There is a well-worn assumption that relegation from the top flight is a temporary inconvenience, a brief detour before an automatic return. Stoke City's supporters would dearly love to believe that. The Potters are now in their ninth consecutive Championship season, with a highest finish of 14th since dropping out of the top flight. Last season briefly offered grounds for genuine optimism: they sat second just over a third of the way through the campaign, a play-off place looking almost certain. Then came three wins from their final 20 games.

This season has begun with defeats against Swansea and Southampton. The owners have not stopped investing, with Ipswich's George Hirst joining on a permanent deal and Ben Johnson arriving on a season-long loan within the past fortnight. Mark Robins is now the seventh manager to attempt to revive the club's fortunes. A trip to Wolves on Saturday will test the mood further, and patience among some supporters appears to be thinning.

Clement's Norwich need a response against Burnley

The optimism around Norwich City at the start of the campaign was well-founded. Philippe Clement inherited a side in serious difficulty when he took charge in November, yet they finished ninth, winning 17 of the 31 league games he oversaw. Summer recruitment was considered rather than frantic: Andre Brooks arrived from Sheffield United, while Ali Ahmed and Mohamed Toure had already been brought in during January. The ambition was clear.

Two games in, the picture looks quite different. A home defeat to West Brom was followed by what has been described as a horror display at Millwall, leaving the Canaries without a point. Burnley visit Carrow Road on Saturday, and the Clarets are themselves under pressure after losing at West Brom last weekend and suffering an EFL Cup exit at Bradford City in midweek. New head coach Nicky Hayen is still finding his feet and his squad's shape, but a win for either side would provide much-needed breathing room. Defeat for either would intensify scrutiny considerably.

The honest caveat here is that two games is a very small sample. Form lines built on 38 matches last season should not be abandoned entirely on the back of a fortnight. But Championship managers are rarely afforded the luxury of extended patience, and the early noise matters even when the underlying evidence is thin.

West Ham's trip to Watford is loaded with risk

West Ham United have been the Championship's most discussed club since the summer, for reasons that stretch well beyond the pitch. Ownership uncertainty and a record-breaking transfer outlay, headlined by the signing of Arne Engels, have kept them firmly in the spotlight. Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo reportedly framing that signing as preparation for Premier League football only added to the pressure surrounding a club that needs to focus squarely on winning in the second tier first.

Last weekend's home defeat to Charlton was damaging. A midweek EFL Cup win at Southampton will have offered some relief in terms of morale, though it does little to address the league position. Saturday brings a trip to Watford, a side that has already beaten Southampton on the opening weekend and earned a draw at Wrexham. Alessio Dionisi's team were heavily beaten by Peterborough in the cup in midweek, but their league form suggests they are a genuine threat.

West Ham have the squad quality to turn things around quickly. But the margin for error in the Championship is narrower than their off-season spending might suggest. Possession, as our recent analysis noted, has been plentiful for them so far. Cutting-edge has not. Watford away is a match they simply need to win.

The wider picture

It would be wrong to draw firm conclusions from so little data. Three weeks of football is a prologue, not the story itself. What we can say is that the Championship's early weeks have a habit of revealing which clubs have genuine cohesion and which are still assembling the pieces. Right now, Stoke, Norwich, Burnley and West Ham look like the latter. Saturday's results will not settle the question, but they will shape the narrative heading into September.

Frequently asked

Why have Stoke City struggled in the Championship for so long?
Stoke were relegated from the Premier League and have now spent nine successive seasons in the Championship, with a highest finish of 14th in that time. Despite continued investment in signings, they have yet to mount a sustained promotion challenge, and last season's collapse, three wins from their final 20 games, summed up the recurring problem.
How has Philippe Clement done as Norwich City manager?
Clement took charge in November with Norwich in serious trouble and guided them to a ninth-place finish, winning 17 of his 31 league games in charge. The early weeks of the new season have been difficult, however, with no points from two games heading into Saturday's home match against Burnley.
Why are West Ham United under so much pressure in the Championship?
West Ham have broken the Championship transfer record and face high expectations to win promotion, but they have lost at home to Charlton and are yet to find consistent form. An ownership dispute running in the background has added to the scrutiny, and Saturday's trip to an in-form Watford side is seen as a significant test.