The Championship 2020-21

Why don’t you then?

 

This Championship is no better or worse than any other seasons. There are good and bad teams and a lot of matches.

 

God, he looks a bit of a hard nut - makes Garry Monk look an angel by comparison!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?sxs...hUKEwi30avO_aLuAhWL4YUKHdhpCEUQ4dUDCAk&uact=5

 

Dewsbury-Hall looks superb. I saw Luton’s other PL loanee, Norrington-Davies joined Stoke on loan. Would be pretty pleased if we somehow convince Leicester that Dewsbury-Hall would be better off with us. Would be a good Capoue replacement.

 

I don't agree with this. After COVID there are fewer teams throwing the kitchen sink at promotion. Half the division just seem happy to still just be in business. Fewer upwardly mobile teams I think.

 

And not all of them are even guaranteed to be so, looking at Derby's immediate predicament. They are teetering on the brink of administration right now.

 

That's been a problem all season, and could be the difference in many games between a low scoring draw or a narrow defeat and a win. In any profession where you have to express yourself and in turn motivate others to do well you are not going to perform at your best or be of most benefit to your colleagues when your heart isn't fully in it. There are jobs where you can perform at a completely mechanical level and do everything that's required, like a software engineer or accountant, but generally in well-paid jobs the former kind outweighs the latter, whether it's a footballer, actor, rock musician or manager of a medium to large team.

I honestly think this team would perform better and with more passion if they had the fans behind them - our fanbase isn't the most vocal but last season in our (eventually failed) push for survival they showed they can make a difference. For whatever reason, the teams above us seem to cope better with the lack of fans behind them and that's why they're doing better (so far).

 

Frankly I wouldn't care if Xisco looks like he sleeps under Waterloo bridge every night if he could get us playing to our potential

 

The Championship was always a ticking timebomb, some eye-watering financial figures out there (think Reading's wage bill was over 200% of their income at some point in the recent past, not sure what it is now). Even without Covid, it was all going to come crashing down at some point

 

One very small contribution to redressing the balance of the universe.

 

Caution seems to still be embedded in the DNA of our squad at the moment. I think this comes from being a smaller club in the PL for a number of seasons. You have to be careful because you are facing better attacks and on the occasions when you get in front the mindset is to try and keep it tight at the back to get those vital points. In the Championship however, especially if you are one of the better teams, you have to make that advantage count by pushing to score more goals but this doesn’t seem to have got through to our players yet.
Yesterday was a good example. Watford were clearly the superior team but they didn’t give themselves free rein to attack until they went one up through a defensive error. Happily they did then push for a second goal, which they soon got, but after that they missed a trick in not keeping going but instead settled for cautiously controlling the rest of the game. The points were absolutely secure and there was a great chance for a 3 or 4-0 win but they didn’t go for it.

 

That spending by Reading remains in place. Since the parachute money ran out they have lost £52m in the last 2 financial years (to June 19) so must be close to FFP sanctions albeit the owners injected £27m of equity last year as well as increasing their loans to £68m. In total their owners have put £122m into Reading. Income c £20m/ wages £40m last 2 years.

 

Just checked the table for first time in a while and a startling realisation took hold: that we are all but certain to be in the playoffs. That horrifies and excites me.

Sure, half our fan base is adamant we are somehow in a ‘false position’ and are doomed to finish 14th come what may. And some optimists cling to hope Xisco will sort out the away form and we will hunt down the top 2.

But barring some incredible shift, it looks like playoffs for us. Bring it on I say.

 

The bedwetters have a point in that we are crap, but they are really underestimating how bad the rest of the division is looool

 

Honestly not just attempting to be Eeyore here, because general likelihood says you're could well be right and I'm more concerned about how we would perform in a playoff situation against our rivals in our current incarnation, but it's probably worth noting that we have literally half the season's games left, and at this point we would have to overhaul the same points deficit to be an automatic contender as any of the three teams immediately below the playoff places would need to overhaul us (and gain a space instead).

If anyone believes that (automatics) is still a theoretical possibility, then we'll have to give it a fair few more games before we can declare playoffs a lock, particularly when you look at Stoke, say, and their impressive manager and improved squad (with the new left-back).

 

Were you wearing your Union Jack pants when you posted that?

 

If you love another place so much more than where you live I don’t understand why you wouldn’t go there. Nothing to do with my views at all

 

If we end up in the playoff final up against Muff, that's only going to end one way

 

Please do, and make sure to take the same attitude to Erdogan's running of the country as you do to the Pozzos' running of our club; you'll finally be out of our hair in no time.

 

So GoingDown is outed as Ozil!

 

You see, from anyone else I'd believe that, but your track record on analytics makes Priti Patel look like an expert.

Still, this is an enjoyable thread knowing that I live in the heads of so many around here. I don't even have to mention the likes of you and here you are jumping in wishing death upon me.

My own saving grace is knowing that whatever happens, you'll always be a bedroom dwelling website scraper and I won't.

 

Sarcasm or taking a pop?
Many on here have commented on how weak this Championship is this season.
I think we are a poor side, but we are lucky that there are many sides far worse than us in this division.

 

There are still a few on here saying that we're bound to finish mid table...if we do, that'll be some embarrassment seeing how bad everyone else is...

 

It hinges on Pedro being ready to step up and score 20 goals... or not.

 

You thought we might be in League 1 next season and instead we've got the most home points of any sides in the top 4 divisions in England. It's not a fluke at this point.

We're not great to watch, but we're a good Championship side.

 

Pedro is the main threat atm. Looks to be able to carry that mantle also. 20 I doubt but will be the leading g scorer. I will say again he has overtaken Sarr for me in future value for the club.
As for the rest of the Championship most teams are hit and miss there is no real stand out team for me. Yes Norwich are points clear but didn't look that good against us. Anyone who now goes on a decent run will be up challenging, hopefully its us. The one thing Disco has bought in is some spirit and desire and that goes along way. We just need another wholehearted display as we've given the last two games and the points are ours. Stoke probably deserves a result against us considering the home game so that will be interesting to see how we fight against them. We desperately need an away result and performance to bang some confidence into the team.

 

Yes and no.

 

His aim is for 15 goals this season which would be a good target for him given that he's not played every game. Definitely capable though

 

By Championship standards, we're a good side. The table shows that now and I think it'll show it at the end of the season.

At times I've preferred to stare at the wall rather than watch us, but we're still better than the majority of teams in this tinpot league.

We've got more points at home this season than 9 teams in the Championship have in total. Please don't mention our away form, I don't want to think about it.

 

Swansea's game tonight postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Blackburn. Let our rivals fixture backlogs pile up!

 

Would have been funnier had it happened to Brentford as they're already a game behind (with Bristol City seemingly doing them dirty to get that game called off lol), we're merely catching up in terms of games with Swansea

 

Ohh I agree with you. We got very lucky with the Stoke result though. As I said we are now showing some passion in our play which is only a good thing. Bar the Swansea match I'm more than happy with what Xisco has achieved so far. But we need to step up even further. A must win tonight and all I can see is a win tbh. The Stoke game will give us the information we need on how we're progressing.

 

True. Unlucky in the Bournemouth game though, by the same token. Yeah agree, Stoke will give us a good indication of if we've actually turned a corner

 

Fair point with Muff. But that was Ivic and his dire way to play that helped muff too.