The Championship 2020-21

Brentford pull another back, enough time for an equaliser?

 

Fortunately there isn't.

 

Norwich have a panache for scoring late goals whereas we are the opposite. We concede them. It's just the way it is.

 

Straight red card for Adam Idah late on for Norwich though, might be of annoyance to them with so many games to play

 

Another mad weekend in the Championship then! Just taking each result on paper, I'd have taken that all day long, draw for us vs Bournemouth, dropped points for Swansea and Brentford, wasn't expecting anything from Wycombe against Norwich and still think Reading will start to fall eventually. Annoying how it all came about though!

 

I watched this game, I have to say what I have seen of them they are the most overrated team in the league. Brentford can't defend they now have the joint 3rd worst defence in the league.

 

Really should have gone up last season, bottled the last two games against relegation threatened teams when in the end just 3 more points would have done it. This season they've lost a few players, seems Watkins was replaceable, but Benrahma is not

 

So Norwich scrapped a win against the bottom team and Brentford lose. Meanwhile Blackburn who seemed like a tough opponent thumped Coventry.

The league is absolutely there for the taking if we can get our act together.

 

By the looks of it, Norwich are all over teams all game, whereas we have absolutely incredible Championship players who come up with moments of brilliance in amongst a more cautious approach. Perhaps it's not surprising they get a lot of late goals

 

Yes they have lost all 3 games that I have seen them play this season, they conceded 4 in one and 3 in the other and were beaten by a poor Birmingham City in the other.

 

Yeah, I think that trap is more 'not having two pennies to rub together' more than it is any mistaken belief in his players' quality, to be honest.

 

Ah yes, I'm in that trap too

 

Do we?

 

Which is the same with Norwich, Delia is worth £23m so they simply don’t try to stay up financially, it’s not that they believe they don’t need to spend.

Interesting the gap between L1 and the championship is seemingly so vast though, it seems greater than it ever does between PL and championship.

 

The gap between League 1 and the Championship is absolutely ginormous, at least stepping up to the Prem you get given enough money to be competitive if you play your cards right, but a) there isn't even that much money for getting promoted to the Championship, and b) you're up against far bigger clubs who either have lots of money or spend money they don't have

 

Yes, clearly.

 

Sarr's been a bit good last two games, hasn't he? JP's strike at Derby was alright too

 

I think it's where you really start to see the gap between historically 'bigger' teams who have spent the past few decades operating in the top two divisions and whose support level is always relatively likely to keep them at a certain level, added to the fact that even outside parachute payments, solidarity payments from the Prem to Championship clubs are around £5m, whereas just one drop to League One saw clubs get just £700,000.

 

But these are occasional flashes. I accept that you said 'moments of brilliance' but if these players are 'absolutely incredible' as you say, shouldn't they be doing it more consistently?

For all the crowing over him, Sarr hasn't scored since Liverpool, has he?

 

And I bet Norwich could at least try to be riskier and not just go for the yo-yo route, we tried to establish ourselves with a degree of success, as are Burnley (who probably won't be in as much financial trouble as us if they go down as well)

 

Norwich could definitely spend more, but they seem happy to pocket the cash and then rinse and repeat. They probably think if they spent everything they could they still wouldn’t stay up. So just don’t bother. Must be slightly frustrating as a fan you would imagine, but they must be in excellent health financially.

 

Tbf Sarr has had his opponents on toast all game against Blackburn and Bournemouth (and played quite well against L*ton), OK he's missed a few chances, but he's put in some delicious ball which should have resulted in more than 1 assist (or 2 if you count Cleverley's goal). JP has already scored three, which is not bad at all, especially as I maintain he's being played out of position!

 

On Tuesday, Reading have Blackburn. Norwich play Brentford, Bournemouth play Bristol city and Swansea have a tricky game in Stoke. Potential opportunity for us.

No doubt we’ll give Wycombe their first championship points though!

 

Of course, I don't want us to end up like Bolton (without being too blasé, I don't think we will), but Jesus, it must be boring being a Norwich fan. I mean I'd love for us to win the Championship, but surely a club like Norwich, who are quite a bit bigger than us historically, can aim for higher without risking their future?

 

You just know its coming don't you

 

Are we worried about Reading yet? I mean, on paper they don't look outstanding, but they don't concede many and have already developed a bit of a cushion

 

Middlesbrough have done quite well since losing to us on the first day; well, they haven't lost since.

They have played all of Watford, Bristol Reading and Muff, and only Watford have won. I wonder whether we'll look back on that result at the end of the season, and the one against Wednesday, as very decent results all things considered

 

Yeah. I'd just like to see these 'absoutely incredible' players do it a bit more consistently (and, not least, to see us scoring more goals). Perhaps this is a formation issue, or perhaps it springs from other players being out. What I see at present is considerable potential, but for me the jury is still out to some extent.

 

As I say, I think Pedro is a bit wasted as a striker, I'd prefer to see him out wide or just behind the main striker, but you can't argue with what he's done so far with often limited support. As for Sarr, despite the Liverpool game, he's never been a deadly finisher, but everything else he's been top notch in (apart from the Reading game of course), it's not his fault we don't have a clinical finisher!

 

Neil Warnock is one hell of a boss at this level! On paper they definitely shouldn't be up there, but he gets results

Sheffield Wednesday looked to be chipping into that points deficit, but their form has dropped a bit of late, still in huge trouble

 

Yeovil mk 2

 

Reading Ivic’s interview on the official site, unless it’s a lost in translation moment it looks like the Perica injury is not as bad as first feared.

 

Perhaps we can compromise on ‘really good’ rather than ‘absolutely incredible’?

 

Think they’ve had pretty easy fixtures, but look very good defensively. Think their defence will keep them around the top 6 but I don’t think you can sustain their current form. The last few games (barring today) I think they’ve won 1-0 with one shot on target.