2014/15 Championship Thread

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Tue 07 Apr 2015, 5:34 pm

Read an awful article on top 50 managers under 50. Katanga higher than Howe and Dyche, to name just two.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 07 Apr 2015, 6:13 pm

#noAlexNeil #nojustice

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Tue 07 Apr 2015, 8:40 pm

Blackpool so far dealing with that world class midfield

by FootballLight Wed 08 Apr 2015, 8:27 am

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Blackpool so far dealing with that world class midfield

Blackpool dealt with Ake and Norwood, that's not exactly difficult. Norwood was pretty much non-existent throughout the game and Ake was good at timing his tackles but when it came to passing he was just poor. We scored within a minute of the 2nd half and if you saw his pass, it was shocking. Zat Knight struggled all night long, what a pointless signing, gave the penalty away after causing himself and the team problems. Kwesi Appiah just doesn't seem cut out for this level as he was knocked off the ball everytime and wasn't inventive enough. Mackie came on and again, did nothing. Pogrebnyak came on and scored and did all the work and did ok. Yakubu didn't seem much of a threat either.

Its a point closer to safety but we need to be playing much better than that. Albeit, the pitch played a big factor in the final 20 minutes with the quality of our play and dribbling but we need to have them games dead and buried in the first half really. On the whole, yes its a point closer to safety (if we were ever in danger anyway) but still disappointed that we couldn't win that game.

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 5:01 pm

Tightest promotion race for years, but how would last seasons promoted teams have faired this season. I feel Leicester would have still been home and dry but not so sure about QPR and Burnley, though Ings would have had a bag full.

What are the thoughts of other fans on here.

by NickisBHAFC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 5:23 pm

Tbh the standard is the worst it's been for years this year. Would of expected all of last years teams to of bossed this year.

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 5:50 pm

NickisBHAFC wrote:Tbh the standard is the worst it's been for years this year. Would of expected all of last years teams to of bossed this year.

To be honest Nick can't disagree with you about the standard, Derby have had a woeful run and are still in the playoffs we've lost 4 out of last 5 away games and are still up there. Thought QPR road their luck last year especially in the play off final against Derby though.

by GSC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 6:39 pm

Don't see the standard argument frankly. QPR were dire last season and went up. Brighton were mediocre and made the playoffs. Leicester finally managed to stop underachieving for a season. I'm struggling to remember who the other playoff team were to be honest.

The top 6/7 this season will be a far stronger bunch than last season when you had 3 good teams in the entire division

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 08 Apr 2015, 7:01 pm

We're not far removed from Palace barely winning a game over the final few months and still making the playoffs and going up

I agree with GSC, the top 8 sides would all be automatic playoff teams in yesteryear

by FootballLight Wed 08 Apr 2015, 7:15 pm

NickisBHAFC wrote:Tbh the standard is the worst it's been for years this year. Would of expected all of last years teams to of bossed this year.

We can say that because they were the best 3 teams last year, they have all invested in stronger players than what they had and the players they currently have in their squads will have become better when playing against better players.

by GSC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 7:19 pm

Leicester would probably win this league again. Burnley would be in the top 6 teams. QPR probably aren't a playoff team

by NickisBHAFC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 7:43 pm

The championship standard was awful last year, I'll never forget Ulloa goal at Forest though so that just makes me forget how poor the season was.

The season palace went up was the best standard I've known. We had a superb squad and played some stuff most premiership teams would of been proud of, yet came up short.

Standard gets worse by the season im afraid, let's hope for a change next season.

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 8:03 pm

Leicester walked it last season 103 pts, nobody has been good enough to break away from the pack this season, agree with what GSC said about QPR, they are probably the luckiest team ever to be promoted, outplayed in the final with the overrated Lucky Harry in charge.

Looking at our squad if we managed to go up, I feel we need to buy 6 or 7 players just to stay in the division, no team in the Championship has a squad anywhere near Premiership standard IMO.

The top strikers in the Championship would be lucky to score 5 in the Premier league.

by GSC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 8:30 pm

The pack is better this year than last mind.

All 3 promoted teams might get relegated this year so not sure that point is really relevant.

by FootballLight Wed 08 Apr 2015, 8:46 pm

GSC wrote:Leicester would probably win this league again. Burnley would be in the top 6 teams. QPR probably aren't a playoff team

Funny you say that and QPR this season have actually been better than both Burnley and Leicester. Whistle

by FootballLight Wed 08 Apr 2015, 8:49 pm

Nico the gman wrote:Leicester walked it last season 103 pts, nobody has been good enough to break away from the pack this season, agree with what GSC said about QPR, they are probably the luckiest team ever to be promoted, outplayed in the final with the overrated Lucky Harry in charge.

Looking at our squad if we managed to go up, I feel we need to buy 6 or 7 players just to stay in the division, no team in the Championship has a squad anywhere near Premiership standard IMO.

The top strikers in the Championship would be lucky to score 5 in the Premier league.

Chris Martin would be able to bag a few I bet. Funny you say that, look at some of the shít that's in the Premier League. Villa could barely score, Sunderland are just woeful, Hull are just as bad etc. The 3 PL teams have just failed to secure the results but I bet you replace the top 3 Championship teams with the 3 that came up they'd have done better. Bournemouth certainly would because of their brand of football.

by GSC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 8:54 pm

FootballLight wrote:
GSC wrote:Leicester would probably win this league again. Burnley would be in the top 6 teams. QPR probably aren't a playoff team

Funny you say that and QPR this season have actually been better than both Burnley and Leicester.

Yeah, Swansea came up through the playoffs when QPR were originally promoted if memory serves. Funny how that point is completely irrelevant.

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 9:20 pm

FootballLight wrote:
Nico the gman wrote:Leicester walked it last season 103 pts, nobody has been good enough to break away from the pack this season, agree with what GSC said about QPR, they are probably the luckiest team ever to be promoted, outplayed in the final with the overrated Lucky Harry in charge.

Looking at our squad if we managed to go up, I feel we need to buy 6 or 7 players just to stay in the division, no team in the Championship has a squad anywhere near Premiership standard IMO.

The top strikers in the Championship would be lucky to score 5 in the Premier league.

Chris Martin would be able to bag a few I bet. Funny you say that, look at some of the shít that's in the Premier League. Villa could barely score, Sunderland are just woeful, Hull are just as bad etc. The 3 PL teams have just failed to secure the results but I bet you replace the top 3 Championship teams with the 3 that came up they'd have done better. Bournemouth certainly would because of their brand of football.

I think Martins a good striker in this division would he be good enough in the Premier not so sure, its ironic that since Lambert left Benteke has started banging them in and Defoe has alway's been a good finisher.

Its hard to say whether the top 3 at the moment would do better than the 3 promoted teams, we all know the Premiership is a whole different level.
Would Bournemouth be able to play there attacking style of football in the Premier League without being exposed probably not.
Leicester fans would probably have thought they could hold their own in the Premiership after the way they won the Championship.

by NickisBHAFC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 9:22 pm

Doesn't matter how you go up, it's how you plan over the summer and how well you're football club adapts to the Premership. Hence why Holloway sides have never stood a chance in the Prem, have to be very defensive minded to stand a chance, hence the sucess of Swansea and Stoke who have come up from the championship in recent years and are now considered 2 established premiership, who the big teams struggle to take results of.

by GSC Wed 08 Apr 2015, 9:30 pm

Leicester also had a squad full of good championship players that don't make PL grade

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 9:35 pm

NickisBHAFC wrote:Doesn't matter how you go up, it's how you plan over the summer and how well you're football club adapts to the Premership. Hence why Holloway sides have never stood a chance in the Prem, have to be very defensive minded to stand a chance, hence the sucess of Swansea and Stoke who have come up from the championship in recent years and are now considered 2 established premiership, who the big teams struggle to take results of.

Yep Nick I agree, Tony Mowbray tried an attacking style of football after taking WestBrom up it was a disaster. Bournemouth have played good attacking football all season, they try that style in the Premiership they will take some hammerings IMO.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 08 Apr 2015, 9:41 pm

Yet when us and Swansea went up under Lambert and Rodgers we both played exciting, attacking stuff and survived comfortably.

Swings and roundabouts innit

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 9:48 pm

[quote="Olly"]Yet when us and Swansea went up under Lambert and Rodgers we both played exciting, attacking stuff and survived comfortably.

Swings and roundabouts innit[/quote Depends who you have in your squad Olly.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 08 Apr 2015, 9:51 pm

Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:Yet when us and Swansea went up under Lambert and Rodgers we both played exciting, attacking stuff and survived comfortably.

Swings and roundabouts innit[/quote Depends who you have in your squad Olly.

We played the majority of the season with Zak Whitbread and Elliott Ward at centre half and Marc Tierney at left back. Not entirely blessed with quality, but because of the way we'd go out to win games and take the game to teams we were comfortable survivors.

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 10:02 pm

Olly wrote:
Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:Yet when us and Swansea went up under Lambert and Rodgers we both played exciting, attacking stuff and survived comfortably.

Swings and roundabouts innit[/quote Depends who you have in your squad Olly.

We played the majority of the season with Zak Whitbread and Elliott Ward at centre half and Marc Tierney at left back. Not entirely blessed with quality, but because of the way we'd go out to win games and take the game to teams we were comfortable survivors.

Holt would have been upfront not a bad un to have and Ruddy was a decent keeper.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 08 Apr 2015, 10:03 pm

Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:
Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:Yet when us and Swansea went up under Lambert and Rodgers we both played exciting, attacking stuff and survived comfortably.

Swings and roundabouts innit[/quote Depends who you have in your squad Olly.

We played the majority of the season with Zak Whitbread and Elliott Ward at centre half and Marc Tierney at left back. Not entirely blessed with quality, but because of the way we'd go out to win games and take the game to teams we were comfortable survivors.
Holt would have been upfront not a bad un to have and Ruddy was a decent keeper.

2 players does not a squad make my friend Hug

by Nico the gman Wed 08 Apr 2015, 10:13 pm

Olly wrote:
Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:
Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:Yet when us and Swansea went up under Lambert and Rodgers we both played exciting, attacking stuff and survived comfortably.

Swings and roundabouts innit[/quote Depends who you have in your squad Olly.

We played the majority of the season with Zak Whitbread and Elliott Ward at centre half and Marc Tierney at left back. Not entirely blessed with quality, but because of the way we'd go out to win games and take the game to teams we were comfortable survivors.
Holt would have been upfront not a bad un to have and Ruddy was a decent keeper.

2 players does not a squad make my friend

Don't recall saying it did,but a decent striker and goalkeeper help the cause unless you think different.

by FootballLight Thu 09 Apr 2015, 9:01 am

Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:
Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:
Nico the gman wrote:
Olly wrote:Yet when us and Swansea went up under Lambert and Rodgers we both played exciting, attacking stuff and survived comfortably.

Swings and roundabouts innit[/quote Depends who you have in your squad Olly.

We played the majority of the season with Zak Whitbread and Elliott Ward at centre half and Marc Tierney at left back. Not entirely blessed with quality, but because of the way we'd go out to win games and take the game to teams we were comfortable survivors.
Holt would have been upfront not a bad un to have and Ruddy was a decent keeper.

2 players does not a squad make my friend
Don't recall saying it did,but a decent striker and goalkeeper help the cause unless you think different.

To go up you need 4/5 players of real Premier League quality I think which I think some of them sides at the top of the Championship don't have. Over the summer you need to invest in at least another 2/3 PL quality players alongside 2/3 experienced players. The only problem with that is you could have 6 new players and then its about how do they gel together?

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 11:41 am

It isn't of the quality of when we were in it. That's not just because we were there, but ourselves and Southampton were two pretty decent sides who have easily established ourselves in the top flight. Of the three that went up, Reading were obviously the weakest and it showed

by GSC Thu 09 Apr 2015, 11:56 am

I'm not even sure that was a particularly strong league compared to this one. Reading started playing after about 3 months and won it. West Ham did a QPR from last year.

This year lacks a dominant team like Leicester last season, but the general strength of the top 6/7 teams will be as strong as ever. There wont be a team like Brighton last year who made the playoffs because somebody had to.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 12:21 pm

The leagues are always notably poorer when the relegated teams don't show up very strong.

Not sure I can agree on that, though. Norwich this year have basically come from deep to take a challenge on to win it. They shouldn't have had a chance.

Even a side like Leeds that used to cause problems have just got weaker and weaker.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 12:25 pm

Is coming from 7th when you actually topped the table for a good portion at the start of the season really coming from deep?

by GSC Thu 09 Apr 2015, 12:34 pm

Yeah iirc Reading were bottom of the table after a month or two.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 1:53 pm

I dunno Olly, but did you think you looked a team that could win the thing?

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 3:40 pm

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I dunno Olly, but did you think you looked a team that could win the thing?

At the start of the season looked like we'd romp it, had a blip and then thought playoffs before Adams went.

Since Neil has come in we've been a class above

by Nico the gman Thu 09 Apr 2015, 3:46 pm

Olly wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I dunno Olly, but did you think you looked a team that could win the thing?

At the start of the season looked like we'd romp it, had a blip and then thought playoffs before Adams went.

Since Neil has come in we've been a class above

You where right up there when we played you at the Riverside, so you've never been that far off the pace.

by Nico the gman Thu 09 Apr 2015, 3:55 pm

Olly wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I dunno Olly, but did you think you looked a team that could win the thing?

At the start of the season looked like we'd romp it, had a blip and then thought playoffs before Adams went.

Since Neil has come in we've been a class above

I think you'll go up automatic to be honest, and when we play you, if you can contain our loan striker you should turn us over. We now only play 1 up front in away games , if we played 2 strikers the opposition might think we're actually trying to win the game.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 4:16 pm

Don't get me wrong, I had Nodge for the league at the start of the season and have never thought you wouldn't get playoffs. But I also thought the teams ahead would have got more points on you in the meantime

by FootballLight Thu 09 Apr 2015, 7:50 pm

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:It isn't of the quality of when we were in it. That's not just because we were there, but ourselves and Southampton were two pretty decent sides who have easily established ourselves in the top flight. Of the three that went up, Reading were obviously the weakest and it showed

Yet we still finished 19th? QPR finished bottom, yes 20th, so obviously they were the weakest.

by Guest Thu 09 Apr 2015, 7:58 pm

FootballLight wrote:
Dolphin Ziggler wrote:It isn't of the quality of when we were in it. That's not just because we were there, but ourselves and Southampton were two pretty decent sides who have easily established ourselves in the top flight. Of the three that went up, Reading were obviously the weakest and it showed

Yet we still finished 19th? QPR finished bottom, yes 20th, so obviously they were the weakest.

Big pointer, there, FL.

by FootballLight Thu 09 Apr 2015, 7:59 pm

GSC wrote:I'm not even sure that was a particularly strong league compared to this one. Reading started playing after about 3 months and won it. West Ham did a QPR from last year.

This year lacks a dominant team like Leicester last season, but the general strength of the top 6/7 teams will be as strong as ever. There wont be a team like Brighton last year who made the playoffs because somebody had to.

No, Reading played well from January. We were inconsistent under Brian McDermott until we lost to Cardiff and Hull at home then we started looking up. I think we only lost 1 game away at Peterborough out of 21 games in the league which was why we won the league. We won that league when we beat West Ham away on the last day 4-2 but we theoretically won it when we beat Southampton away 3-1.

The cants Brighton beat us to it because we only drew at home to Burnley. That was a poor day. Glad Ulloa is coming back down to this division, hope Pearce snaps him next season.

by FootballLight Thu 09 Apr 2015, 7:59 pm

Sorry, I forgot West Ham came up, I thought it was QPR. Doh

Couldn't cast my mind back enough to remember the teams, sorry.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 9:29 pm

We didn't get relegated the year we came back though. Whereas Reading were the weakest of the three that came up the year us and Saints did. I honestly thought they were weaker regardless of table position and it showed when we all came round to the premier league the year after.

by FootballLight Thu 09 Apr 2015, 9:36 pm

Because we didn't invest in Premier League quality players which was the main factor to why we got relegated.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu 09 Apr 2015, 11:51 pm

We survived without major investment

by FootballLight Fri 10 Apr 2015, 2:33 pm

Who is w?

by GSC Fri 10 Apr 2015, 2:46 pm

The one before x.

by Nico the gman Fri 10 Apr 2015, 5:02 pm

Praying for a miracle that Brighton produce the display of the season and stuff Bournemouth tonight, not holding me breath though.

by Fernando Fri 10 Apr 2015, 5:16 pm

If Bournemouth get through tonight & next week with 6 pts they will go up just for the fact that Norwich/Middlesborough will result in someone dropping pts tbh.

by Nico the gman Fri 10 Apr 2015, 5:41 pm

Fernando wrote:If Bournemouth get through tonight & next week with 6 pts they will go up just for the fact that Norwich/Middlesborough will result in someone dropping pts tbh.

Yep fancy Bournemouth and Norwich, and both have far superior goal difference to us, relying on defence and not scoring enough goals has caught up with us in the end. We should have brought a striker in instead of 2 defenders I'm afraid, Kike's had a poor season after the early promise.

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