Championship season 2019-20

[chaddyrovers]

I just Leeds are struggling now. Same problem as last season kicking in again. 

Fulham have improved at the back with Hector at the back. Leader and organiser they lacked. Brentford have some attacking players that they scored goals with their BMW trio in attack. 

Swansea will do well to get playoffs. Cooper been impressive so far. Still think they just miss out on top 6 but will be successful season IMO for them. 

Rovers. Only 5 points of top 6 and decent chance of getting there IMO. If Armstrong, Downing, Travis, Lenihan and Adarabioyo stay fit. If we could add a couple of signings could help our cause. 

Very competitive league and very enjoyable to Watch.

[roversfan99]

8 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I just Leeds are struggling now. Same problem as last season kicking in again. 

Fulham have improved at the back with Hector at the back. Leader and organiser they lacked. Brentford have some attacking players that they scored goals with their BMW trio in attack. 

Swansea will do well to get playoffs. Cooper been impressive so far. Still think they just miss out on top 6 but will be successful season IMO for them. 

Rovers. Only 5 points of top 6 and decent chance of getting there IMO. If Armstrong, Downing, Travis, Lenihan and Adarabioyo stay fit. If we could add a couple of signings could help our cause. 

Very competitive league and very enjoyable to Watch.

How would a team currently in the top 6 finishing just out of the top 6 be a successful season? Surely it would be agonizing? Bizarre mentality.

Been some absolutely soul destroyingly boring games on TV from the Championship in recent weeks. 

[chaddyrovers]

13 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

How would a team currently in the top 6 finishing just out of the top 6 be a successful season? Surely it would be agonizing? Bizarre mentality.

Been some absolutely soul destroyingly boring games on TV from the Championship in recent weeks. 

Cos I dont think Swansea will get top 6 as I said at start of the season. They are re balancing their finances. Cooper has some great contacts in football and bringing in many of England under 19's he had there. I said they would top 10 and IMO thats a successful for them. 

Always going to dull games when you have teams playing 4 games in days. Just like PL games were. Enjoyed tonight game tho. 

Edited January 20, 2020 by chaddyrovers

[roversfan99]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

Cos I dont think Swansea will get top 6 as I said at start of the season. They are re balancing their finances. Cooper has some great contacts in football and bringing in many of England under 19's he had there. I said they would top 10 and IMO thats a successful for them. 

Always going to dull games when you have teams playing 4 games in days. Enjoyed tonight game. 

The best way to re balance their finances would be to get promoted. If they just missed out on the play offs, like any team that just misses out on tangible reward and achievement, they would be gutted. Top 10 in a league in which the top 6 teams are rewarded either with promotion or a further chance of promotion is a strange target, essentially 7th to 10th are teams that have come close but not close enough.

Tomights game was lacking in quality and entertainment.

[chaddyrovers]

13 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

The best way to re balance their finances would be to get promoted. If they just missed out on the play offs, like any team that just misses out on tangible reward and achievement, they would be gutted. Top 10 in a league in which the top 6 teams are rewarded either with promotion or a further chance of promotion is a strange target, essentially 7th to 10th are teams that have come close but not close enough.

Tomights game was lacking in quality and entertainment.

Well Swansea sold 2 players for over 30.million pounds plus wages of players released last summer saved. So the re balancing has happened already. 

Swansea have made cuts back now focusing on developing their own talent and loan players in. 

Told you all this in the summer Roversfan99. And the reasons why they wouldnt get top 6. 

Well we have to disagree on tonight game. Ive already said I enjoyed it. Also praised O'Neill and the impact him and his staff have had already. 

[roversfan99]

8 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Well Swansea sold 2 players for over 30.million pounds plus wages of players released last summer saved. So the re balancing has happened already. 

Swansea have made cuts back now focusing on developing their own talent and loan players in. 

Told you all this in the summer Roversfan99. And the reasons why they wouldnt get top 6. 

Well we have to disagree on tonight game. Ive already said I enjoyed it. Also praised O'Neill and the impact him and his staff have had already. 

Whatever a teams expectations are, and I didnt realise that Andre Ayew, 20m and 80k a week talisman classes as own talent, if a team finishes just outside the play offs then its going to leave their fans dissapointed, even if they didnt expect to get in the play offs, if they just missed out they would be full of regret and frustration.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Swansea have Bastón and Ayew, them 2 alone cost the bones of £40 million. Has there ever been a more expensive strike force in the Championship? I would imagine there is some expectation there. 

Watched the game last night. Very poor. WBA didn't look great at all. That Perreira looks alright, but not many others stood out. Stoke were very well drilled to be fair. I would have expected that from an O'Neill team, they certainly won't go down now. 

[Mattyblue]

Current bottom 3 will go for me, only other other possibility will be Charlton. Hudds and Stoke will pull away.

 

[roversfan99]

15 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Swansea have Bastón and Ayew, them 2 alone cost the bones of £40 million. Has there ever been a more expensive strike force in the Championship? I would imagine there is some expectation there. 

Watched the game last night. Very poor. WBA didn't look great at all. That Perreira looks alright, but not many others stood out. Stoke were very well drilled to be fair. I would have expected that from an O'Neill team, they certainly won't go down now. 

Exactly, a 16 goal, 40m strikeforce is hardly the privelidge of a team cutting back. Chuck in a couple of high calibre loans and presumably decent loan fees to nab them plus Celina for another 4m and they have some firepower there. They made their cut backs culling out of contract high earners that werent playing anyway so were no worse off for losing Bony, Fer etc. They sold McBurnie and James (who is massively overrated at this moment) which was a blow but they were adequately replaced by high earning returning loans, Ayew is the best of the bunch. Certainly no reason to feel hard done by, or as a team in the top 6 to see just missing out on the play offs as success.

Yeah West Brom and Leeds are in poor form at the moment. Suppose from their perspective every team hits a bad run and at this time both are not in immediate danger of surrendering their top 2 places.

[Admiral Nelsen]

8 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Current bottom 3 will go for me, only other other possibility will be Charlton. Hudds and Stoke will pull away.

 

Think that's where the smart money is. Even Charlton I think can put a big part of their bad patch down a silly number of injuries. Can see them picking up slightly.

Wigan are a difficult one to suss out. I don't think their squad is very good, but they've spent plenty and they're definitely under-performing to be cut adrift at this stage. Trouble they seem to have is that when they've put in their better performances, they still haven't found a way to win. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

7 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Exactly, a 16 goal, 40m strikeforce is hardly the privelidge of a team cutting back. Chuck in a couple of high calibre loans and presumably decent loan fees to nab them plus Celina for another 4m and they have some firepower there. They made their cut backs culling out of contract high earners that werent playing anyway so were no worse off for losing Bony, Fer etc. They sold McBurnie and James (who is massively overrated at this moment) which was a blow but they were adequately replaced by high earning returning loans, Ayew is the best of the bunch. Certainly no reason to feel hard done by, or as a team in the top 6 to see just missing out on the play offs as success.

Yeah West Brom and Leeds are in poor form at the moment. Suppose from their perspective every team hits a bad run and at this time both are not in immediate danger of surrendering their top 2 places.

Brewster was highly coveted too. My Liverpool supporting friends say he is top class. They have serious firepower. Of course they are trying to play down expectations. 

Jesus it's getting to squeaky bum time though, Leeds only 5 points clear of 3rd now. I remember it was 12 at one point and the top 2 looked untouchable. It would be absolute quality if Leeds missed out again. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 minute ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Think that's where the smart money is. Even Charlton I think can put a big part of their bad patch down a silly number of injuries. Can see them picking up slightly.

Wigan are a difficult one to suss out. I don't think their squad is very good, but they've spent plenty and they're definitely under-performing to be cut adrift at this stage. Trouble they seem to have is that when they've put in their better performances, they still haven't found a way to win. 

Powell was a big loss from them from a creativity, goals and assists point of view. 

[Mattyblue]

One away win in 40 I read the other day. They have been fairly strong at home in recent seasons, but they are now losing game after game at the DW too, think they’re doomed.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Mattyblue

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Powell was a big loss from them from a creativity, goals and assists point of view. 

I've no fondness for the club (quite the opposite) but I live in the area so I try and keep abreast of their fortunes. You're definitely right on the creativity point, nobody with Powell's ability. It looks on paper as though having Moore, Lowe, Garner and Windass up front along with having no creativity in the middle is tailor made for playing on the break, but for whatever reason it's just not working out for them and the locals are extremely anti-Cook.

Hopefully they'll be back at their level next year. 

[Mattyblue]

Anti-Cook now ay? 

He was a genius when they pipped us to that tin pot League.
 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Mattyblue

[JacknOry]

11 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Brewster was highly coveted too. My Liverpool supporting friends say he is top class. They have serious firepower. Of course they are trying to play down expectations. 

Jesus it's getting to squeaky bum time though, Leeds only 5 points clear of 3rd now. I remember it was 12 at one point and the top 2 looked untouchable. It would be absolute quality if Leeds missed out again. 

It absolutely would.

I read recently that they tried to do a 3 million loan deal for Jarrod Bowen for the remainder of the season with a view to a 15 million transfer should they go up. Now, while I agree that a club should strengthen when in a position of power, that kind of comes across as a bit arrogant - like they already think they are up. Hull could get that money and probably more for Bowen in the future anyway, the lad is still young. Besides, why would they derail their own season (a point below us) as due to the unpredictability of this season, they still have a chance of the playoffs themselves.

[JacknOry]

While we can bemoan some of our recruitment and the speed at our progression, compared to Wigan, it is clear who has done far better since we both came up. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

13 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

I've no fondness for the club (quite the opposite) but I live in the area so I try and keep abreast of their fortunes. You're definitely right on the creativity point, nobody with Powell's ability. It looks on paper as though having Moore, Lowe, Garner and Windass up front along with having no creativity in the middle is tailor made for playing on the break, but for whatever reason it's just not working out for them and the locals are extremely anti-Cook.

Hopefully they'll be back at their level next year. 

I haven't watched them a huge amount this season, but from what I have seen, that Windass is absolutely useless

Edited January 21, 2020 by Bigdoggsteel

[Bigdoggsteel]

9 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

It absolutely would.

I read recently that they tried to do a 3 million loan deal for Jarrod Bowen for the remainder of the season with a view to a 15 million transfer should they go up. Now, while I agree that a club should strengthen when in a position of power, that kind of comes across as a bit arrogant - like they already think they are up. Hull could get that money and probably more for Bowen in the future anyway, the lad is still young. Besides, why would they derail their own season (a point below us) as due to the unpredictability of this season, they still have a chance of the playoffs themselves.

Didn't they want a similar deal for James last season? Before United signed him.  Such a bizzare deal. Like if they don't go up the player is supposed to just go back to Hull and forget he  was ever pimped out.

 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Bigdoggsteel

[Admiral Nelsen]

9 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

While we can bemoan some of our recruitment and the speed at our progression, compared to Wigan, it is clear who has done far better since we both came up. 

Definitely. I don't want to use Wigan as a yardstick for what our expectations should be, and doubtless we have made the odd decision on recruitment which might not look like being that wise as things stand, the state of the two teams at present is like night and day.

They were genuinely gutted when Charlie came back to Rovers. That's the difference between where we both are. 

[JacknOry]

6 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Didn't they want a similar deal for James last season? Before United signed him.  Such a bizzare deal. Like if they don't go up the player is supposed to just go back to Hull and forget he  was ever pimped out.

 

Yes and they almost pulled it off. Deal was scuppered at the last minute because Leeds didnt want to pay the 1.5 million loan fee up front. Swansea rightly wanted it straight away so they could use it in the January window to strengthen.

[chaddyrovers]

9 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Swansea have Bastón and Ayew, them 2 alone cost the bones of £40 million. Has there ever been a more expensive strike force in the Championship? I would imagine there is some expectation there. 

Watched the game last night. Very poor. WBA didn't look great at all. That Perreira looks alright, but not many others stood out. Stoke were very well drilled to be fair. I would have expected that from an O'Neill team, they certainly won't go down now. 

Now Baston was signed 3 and half years and never set the place on fire. Ayew was signed 2 years ago. Both signed when Swansea was PL club and could pay those fees in transfers and wages. 

I have enjoyed watching O'Neill teams for a while. They are always very well drilled and organised. He has made Stoke solid at the back

9 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Brewster was highly coveted too. My Liverpool supporting friends say he is top class. They have serious firepower. Of course they are trying to play down expectations. 

Jesus it's getting to squeaky bum time though, Leeds only 5 points clear of 3rd now. I remember it was 12 at one point and the top 2 looked untouchable. It would be absolute quality if Leeds missed out again. 

This is Brewster 1st loan outside Liverpool football club, so lets calm down before we go OTT.

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

6 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Now Baston was signed 3 and half years and never set the place on fire. Ayew was signed 2 years ago. Both signed when Swansea was PL club and could pay those fees in transfers and wages. 

I have enjoyed watching O'Neill teams for a while. They are always very well drilled and organised. He has made Stoke solid at the back

This is Brewster 1st loan outside Liverpool football club, so lets calm down before we go OTT.

 

Yes and they still cost the amount I said,when they signed doesn't change that. They released players to calm the wage bill,but they kept their £40 million strike force. 

I wouldn't go as far as saying I enjoy watching his team's,but he always exceeds expectations with what he has.

Would you be saying that about Brewster if we signed him? 

 

[chaddyrovers]

38 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Yes and they still cost the amount I said,when they signed doesn't change that. They released players to calm the wage bill,but they kept their £40 million strike force. 

I wouldn't go as far as saying I enjoy watching his team's,but he always exceeds expectations with what he has.

Would you be saying that about Brewster if we signed him? 

 

Baston is gone in the summer and I expect Ayew will go. Surprise someone like Villa haven't gone for Ayew tbh. 

I did enjoying Danny Batth performance last night plus Butland being so commanding and looking back to his back. Wonder if his improvement is down to the new GK coach appointed. Similar to the job Bobby Mimms did with Paul Robinson

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

Baston is gone in the summer and I expect Ayew will go. Surprise someone like Villa haven't gone for Ayew tbh. 

I did enjoying Danny Batth performance last night plus Butland being so commanding and looking back to his back. Wonder if his improvement is down to the new GK coach appointed. Similar to the job Bobby Mimms did with Paul Robinson

Ya,Batth and Butland were excellent. Thought Gregory upfront was decent enough with what he had to work with.