Championship 2018-19

[JHRover]

Easy to say that now in January whilst there's still a chance of survival and he seems to be well liked there. Might be a different story come May/June once the dust has settled post-relegation and he discovers his budget.

[DE.]

Wouldn't be surprised to see him resign "in protest" around the end of June/start of July when he realises Evans is going to sell everyone and expect to get promoted first time with nothing but free transfers and hard work. 

[Husky]

Birmingham are poor away from home aren't they. They could have lost by six.

How they managed to get a point against us after looking like they'd given up is a testament to our frequent turgid play, lack of overall fitness and mostly shocking use of substitutions.

[Swanson]

Jarrod Bowen at Hull doesn't seem to stop scoring.

[K-Hod]

Had a glance at the table and noticed as it stands, we are the only team in the top half with a negative goal difference. 

-4 no less! 

Edited January 19, 2019 by K-Hod

[DeeCee]

27 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Had a glance at the table and noticed as it stands, we are the only team in the top half with a negative goal difference. 

-4 no less! 

The lack of clean sheets will do that!

[JacknOry]

42 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Had a glance at the table and noticed as it stands, we are the only team in the top half with a negative goal difference. 

-4 no less! 

it is improving though, think it was -8 not so long ago.

Even Brentford in 17th have +4

Edited January 19, 2019 by JacknOry

[ChrisPriceBaldSpot]

The wheels on the bus are loosening in Leeds,

Loosening in Leeds,

Loosening in Leeds.... 

[SBlue]

Tbh I’d be surprised if any of the current top 6  falter too much. Good teams. Maybe boro?

I’d be absolutely delighted at this stage in the journey if we can keep the heat on and finish best of the rest - that’s a hell of a platform to build from as the Blades have shown.

 

You never know though...

 

edit -

Sod it, unbeaten till the end of the season, ten wins, eight draws - a comfortable 4th.

Edited January 19, 2019 by S8 & Blue

[K-Hod]

9th as it stands, 10 points from being realistically safe for the season. 

Way above the other two promoted teams and above two of the relegated teams, interestingly enough! 

With the way this season has gone, I do think the league is there for the taking!

[J*B]

On 17/01/2019 at 18:49, J*B said:

It wont matter anyway, February soon so they'll crumble. I think they'll scrape 8th on the last day of the season.

Here it comes!

[Bigdoggsteel]

If we beat Hull next week I will start to believe we have a chance. 

It's got a big game feel to me, for both sides and what they can hope to achieve this season. 

[Butty]

2 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Had a glance at the table and noticed as it stands, we are the only team in the top half with a negative goal difference. 

-4 no less! 

+5 at home -9 Away... Fortress Ewood! 

[Butty]

31 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

If we beat Hull next week I will start to believe we have a chance. 

It's got a big game feel to me, for both sides and what they can hope to achieve this season. 

Too be 6 points off the play offs is bloody good going but I still don’t quite think this squad is there yet. We’re 3 or 4 players away for me. 

[old darwen blue]

2 hours ago, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

The wheels on the bus are loosening in Leeds,

Loosening in Leeds,

Loosening in Leeds.... 

They’re top?

[ChrisPriceBaldSpot]

7 minutes ago, old darwen blue said:

They’re top?

Yeah I know, but I'm not a big fan of Leeds so any chance to have a go at them losing gives me a hint of satisfaction. 

[47er]

1 hour ago, Butty said:

Too be 6 points off the play offs is bloody good going but I still don’t quite think this squad is there yet. We’re 3 or 4 players away for me. 

Look how tight it is below us though. We could finish anywhere between 16th and 8th (being realistic here) and so could half the league.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

If we beat Hull next week I will start to believe we have a chance. 

It's got a big game feel to me, for both sides and what they can hope to achieve this season. 

Yeah, that's the one. As you say - if we beat them I'll start looking up at the top 6 and not down the league.

[SBlue]

5 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Yeah, that's the one. As you say - if we beat them I'll start looking up at the top 6 and not down the league.

I’ve been happy to not look down for a while.

49 points average survival over the past few years and maybe less this time.

Interesting to see where Wigan and Rotherham are tonight - that’s a decent barometer for how well we are doing.

[Darrenbot]

It's nice to be looking up the table again,i was getting worried we'd be getting dragged into the relegation scrap after the Sheff Utd game but they've turned things round since then and theres always one team that has a good run in the second half of the season and gets into the playoffs so no reason why we cant be that team this season. 

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, S8 & Blue said:

I’ve been happy to not look down for a while.

49 points average survival over the past few years and maybe less this time.

Interesting to see where Wigan and Rotherham are tonight - that’s a decent barometer for how well we are doing.

I dont think thats a decent barometer at all considering the difference in resources that the 3 clubs have. I think its a lazy, commonly used statement.

Rotherham and Wigan dont have a mid table wage bill, they didnt have 10 million to spend in the summer either, far from it. To add meat to the bones, our season in League 1 was very much a one off, following a particularly catastrophic managerial appointment. We kept our key players, spent around 2m (Dack, Samuel, Bell, Gladwin, Hart) and once a sense of normality returned (Mowbray) and we got over the initial shock we romped to promotion. We then spent a further 10 million on more players in the summer. He also has the advantage of a Premier League standard academy (the likes of Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis all key members of our team) and within the financial restraints previous managers have had to deal with, high earning bits of quality have managed to be kept.(Evans, Graham, Mulgrew)

Both Rotherham and Wigan had recent spells in League 1, and far less resources to invest in their squads.

Thats not to downplay the progress we are making, or to suggest anything other than Mowbray is doing a good job. I just dont think thats a fair barometer.

[SBlue]

10 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I dont think thats a decent barometer at all considering the difference in resources that the 3 clubs have. I think its a lazy, commonly used statement.

Rotherham and Wigan dont have a mid table wage bill, they didnt have 10 million to spend in the summer either, far from it. To add meat to the bones, our season in League 1 was very much a one off, following a particularly catastrophic managerial appointment. We kept our key players, spent around 2m (Dack, Samuel, Bell, Gladwin, Hart) and once a sense of normality returned (Mowbray) and we got over the initial shock we romped to promotion. We then spent a further 10 million on more players in the summer. He also has the advantage of a Premier League standard academy (the likes of Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis all key members of our team) and within the financial restraints previous managers have had to deal with, high earning bits of quality have managed to be kept.(Evans, Graham, Mulgrew)

Both Rotherham and Wigan had recent spells in League 1, and far less resources to invest in their squads.

Thats not to downplay the progress we are making, or to suggest anything other than Mowbray is doing a good job. I just dont think thats a fair barometer.

Haha fair enough, good points.

I just thought that Wigan were deserved champions over us in League One and I expected that we’d be very evenly placed this season.

Their recruitment didn’t look too bad next to ours when the only real signings we’ve added regularly to the lineup is one PL loan and Armstrong for 1.5 million, whom we had last year along with the youth products you mention.

I think we’ve improved massively from last season with much the same squad - can’t say the same for Wigan.

I’d like to think that Cook has been found out at this level, odious git.

Edited January 20, 2019 by S8 & Blue

[roversfan99]

13 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Haha fair enough, good points.

I just thought that Wigan were deserved champions over us in League One and I expected that we’d be very evenly placed this season.

Their recruitment didn’t look too bad next to ours when the only real signings we’ve added regularly to the lineup is one PL loan and Armstrong for 1.5 million, whom we had last year along with the youth products you mention.

I think we’ve improved massively from last season with much the same squad - can’t say the same for Wigan.

I’d like to think that Cook has been found out at this level, odious git.

I think both teams were miles better than any one else in the league of course. They undoubtedly deserved their title too as a league is won over 46 games, but to add a bit of context in terms of comparison, our adaptation period was far more traumatic to League 1, with their squad having far more experience of being there. It took a dozen games (and 4 losses) for us to settle into the league. Dack had niggly injuries, Graham wasnt fully fit, Lenihan had a long term injury, and Mowbray was struggling to settle on his best team, hence the likes of Caddis and Ward making regular appearances, with Samuel and Antonsson up front. 

I may have got my perception of last season a little muddled up but we was at one stage 12 points behind Wigan (and Shrewsbury) and made 9 of those up in the final 3 quarters of the season. I personally would take our team over theirs.

It frustrates me when Mowbray feeds the suggestion that we are doing well for a promoted club as he did last week by calling us "a league one side." I feel like it was an over simplied (although I suppose unarguable!) statement on last seasons side alone with the likes of Mulgrew, Graham, Evans, Bennett etc all Championship players, not to mention Dack. But he had 10m to spend further in the summer so it is a negative reflection on him if he wishes to suggest that is the case. Most of that money was spent on someone who has not shown any signs of improving that squad. Palmer has already returned, Davenport is forever injured. Reed, Rodwell and Rothwell have improved our options to varying degrees. Armstrong obviously was here last season.

[AllRoverAsia]

Leeds lose at Stoke, well they were a man short in the bushes.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

11 hours ago, S8 & Blue said:

I’ve been happy to not look down for a while.

49 points average survival over the past few years and maybe less this time.

Interesting to see where Wigan and Rotherham are tonight - that’s a decent barometer for how well we are doing.

I was looking over my shoulder after our pretty dismal Xmas defeats. Next week will be a good test, win that playing well and we'll be looking good for the run in. Will it be too late to encourage the Chicken Chokers to get the cheque book out again though ?