The Championship and Lower Leagues Thread 2011/2

[patiirc]

We've loaned David Clarkson out to Brentford for a Month

 

In other news some statues outside Bloomfield Road iirc have been defaced with The Dark Knight style joker paint

 

Edit: Its the Jimmy Armfield Statue as confirmed here

[tiger_rick]

Cracking win for us today. 1-0 didn't really reflect our dominance, 61% possession and 17 shots starts to though. Pompey look a good side on paper but were desperately poor. Surprised to see Aaron Mokoena is as bad as he is, the Pompey fans cheered when he was subbed.

 

We're up to 8th (or joint 6th) with 4 wins and 3 defeats. 2 of those defeats came in home games we dominated and lost 1-0 so it's not much of a stretch to say we should really have 6 wins from 7. Even in the one game we got a good hiding, away to Leeds, we had an equal share of the ball, 18 shots and 15 corners.

 

Next 2 games are both away but against the bottom 2 sides. Bet on 2 home wins.

[patiirc]

Next 2 games are both away but against the bottom 2 sides. Bet on 2 home wins.

 

 

OOOOOOOOOOH BASSSO! He should get a cracking reception still a cult hero, inspite of the idiot manager/agent who saw him get booted out

 

 

We are so going to get spanked, again. We havent scored a home goal ALL season. Cant see that changing unless Basso gets nutmegged

 

 

Today 2-1 loss to ten man Leeds after Kisnorbo got sent off and conceding from a set piece late on, will shock to no one.

 

We are going down if things dont change. Clusterfuck of epic proportions

[Glenryck Pilchards]

We are top of the league! (well until tomorrow at least) And I believe we deserve where to be at the moment. Tony Mowbray has got us playing with subtle confidence and he is definitely doing his homework on every single opponent we have faced. Since the start of the season we have only been behind for 15 minutes in total, and if it wasn't for conceding daft injury time goal against Pompey on opening day and if Haroun scored against Cov with his last minute opportunity we would have still had a 100% record.

 

We have won six away games on the trot which is a new club record. Normally Boro fans are the most negative bunch of fans you will ever meet, but there has been a renewed sense of cautious optimism on Teesside and we believe we have a genuine chance of promotion. In recent weeks we have been playing the unfashionable formation of 3-5-2 with Hoyte and Bennett playing as wing-backs. Hoyte has been a revelation this season, the majority of fans had written him off as all he had was pace in abundance, but in the wing-back role he has been linking up with Emnes very well and has set up half of Marvellous Marvin's goals.

 

At the start of the season I would have been more than happy finishing 6th but the Mogganaut is currently motoring fast and the wheels don't look like coming off anytime soon. My only concern is we only have Emnes and McDonald as recognised strikers an injury to either of them would hit us hard, but we have signed the Man City youngster Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely ( I am just going to call him Big Al) on loan until Christmas. But things are looking good and as long as we don't have our traditional New Year's dip in form we will be up there until then end.

 

Up the Boro!

[vanhalen2007]

Amazed with how Southampton have played this season, good fast aggressive football from a young team, who are hungry. Who knows what can happen this season, I don't for a million years believe this run will last as we haven't played any top top teams like Boro, West Ham etc, but we've stuck 4 past Birmingham last week, and who knows how vital these points we've racked up at the minute could count into a playoff place d we've scored 26 goals in 8 games(including carling cup)

[Fatty Facesitter]

Amazed with how Southampton have played this season, good fast aggressive football from a young team, who are hungry. Who knows what can happen this season, I don't for a million years believe this run will last as we haven't played any top top teams like Boro, West Ham etc, but we've stuck 4 past Birmingham last week, and who knows how vital these points we've racked up at the minute could count into a playoff place d we've scored 26 goals in 8 games(including carling cup)

 

There's a lot to be said for the winning mentality, regardless of what division you came from previously. Aside from an obvious team example of how getting promotion one season can spur you on in the next, there's been a few examples recently of teams coming up from League One doing well in the Championship. Leicester did very well upon their League One promotion a few seasons ago and were a penalty shootout away from a Wembley final and chance of back-to-back promotions. Leeds were still in with a play off shout last season on the final day and Millwall weren't too far behind themselves. Brighton have looked excellent so far this season in addition to Soton.

 

Relegation to the third tier can go either way for some teams. It nearly always serves as a real kick up the backside for clubs and causes changes that otherwise just wouldn't be implemented as quickly, i.e a new manager, boardroom and playing staff. In ours and Soton's case it's proven to be a case of one step backward and seemingly two steps forward. Other clubs still go through the changes but it takes longer to bounce back, i.e Forest and Leeds, but they still get back nonetheless.

 

That's why it amazes me to see how far Bradford and MK Dons have/had fallen.

[tiger_rick]

Donny Rovers have sacked Sean O'Driscoll and appointed Dean Saunders. Massive shock. Even though they are bottom of the league, O'Driscoll has been fantastic there and seriously loyal. I would've thought they'd be better off going down with him than without him.

 

What do you think of it, Butch? Don't think you were keen on Saunders last year where you? Made a good start this year though.

[seph]

Looking forward to Basso coming home tomorrow . If we don't score against him we may very well be following Donny down.

 

Up for it, Rick? It won't be 3-0 again, I'm fairly certain.

[Fatty Facesitter]

Didn't expect Donny to do that. I'm sure I read just a day or two ago that they told him his job was safe?

 

Either way that's quite a gamble.

[tiger_rick]

Looking forward to Basso coming home tomorrow . If we don't score against him we may very well be following Donny down.

He's let in 1 in 4 league games so far, long may that continue.

 

I'm not coming down which is a shame but my record at Ashton Gate is terrible so no bad thing for the team. We never do very well when we're expected to win so I reckon you'll get at least a draw.

 

Was looking forward to going to Donny on Tuesday but they've followed up the curse of the ex-striker (signed Jon Parkin this week) with the curse of the new manager!

[Ricc1PW]

Bradford desperately need a win tomorrow - we're home to AFC Wimbledon. we need to start winning, and quickly. or this season will peter out into either midtable mediocrity, or worse, another scrap against relegation.

[patiirc]

I ramble about how our fans are retarded from time to time but the current lot is just beyond belief

 

Currently they are on about dropping our best (read scored half our 6 goals for the season striker) because although he is currently in contract, he hasnt signed a new one and thus is all things evil personified.

 

He had a shit game by all accounts yesterday, but has been playing 1 up top for most of the rest of the season and deigned to have a penalty saved by Leeds the other week

 

This to our fans, clearly means he is shit and should be in the ressies and never play for the club again until he signs, amongst the more retarded comments from our online fans and that we should play everyone else in front of him, despite them actually scoring less goals

 

Wonderful logic. I wonder what will come out next.

[mikey]

We are top of the league! (well until tomorrow at least) And I believe we deserve where to be at the moment. Tony Mowbray has got us playing with subtle confidence and he is definitely doing his homework on every single opponent we have faced. Since the start of the season we have only been behind for 15 minutes in total, and if it wasn't for conceding daft injury time goal against Pompey on opening day and if Haroun scored against Cov with his last minute opportunity we would have still had a 100% record.

 

We have won six away games on the trot which is a new club record. Normally Boro fans are the most negative bunch of fans you will ever meet, but there has been a renewed sense of cautious optimism on Teesside and we believe we have a genuine chance of promotion. In recent weeks we have been playing the unfashionable formation of 3-5-2 with Hoyte and Bennett playing as wing-backs. Hoyte has been a revelation this season, the majority of fans had written him off as all he had was pace in abundance, but in the wing-back role he has been linking up with Emnes very well and has set up half of Marvellous Marvin's goals.

 

At the start of the season I would have been more than happy finishing 6th but the Mogganaut is currently motoring fast and the wheels don't look like coming off anytime soon. My only concern is we only have Emnes and McDonald as recognised strikers an injury to either of them would hit us hard, but we have signed the Man City youngster Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely ( I am just going to call him Big Al) on loan until Christmas. But things are looking good and as long as we don't have our traditional New Year's dip in form we will be up there until then end.

 

Up the Boro!

 

I watched both Palace/Boro game and I think in both games, the team that went behind were unlucky to get level. In the first game, Boro's sweeper system was very effective at mopping up throughballs. Sean Scannell likes to drop off and play the inside forward, trying to thread balls through to Jermaine Easter and the door was shut in their face every time by Bates. The goal was an amazing finish and every team in this division, no matter how disciplined, are going to give you one chance so it was an excellent finish, though massively against the run of play. Palace threw everything at it but they simply couldn't bag an equaliser.

 

In the League Cup, Palace tried the 4-5-1 and Boro tinkered with the team, playing Hoyte and Arca on the wrong side of the field. Thing is, Williams and Zaha kept pulling off their wings and coming inside, which the sweeper system couldn't handle. Second half, they threw the kitchen sink at it and they couldn't break Palace down.

 

What shocks me the most is how uncharismatic Mowbray is. He's confident, he has a quiet authority but it's amazing that this guy can inspire anybody. He's just a low-key man who happens to be a brilliant tactician.

[patiirc]

Only we can take a 2-0 lead where we are completely battering the opposition and then go on to lose 3-2 at home

 

Awe inspiring

[vanhalen2007]

Well everyone in the top half of the table seemed to implode laqst night, so we are still top of the league! Difficult game tonight though, away to Cardiff, I would say this is the first real test we have faced this seaon, oh and Pompey scum losing to a last minute own goal just made my night!