The Championship Thread 2023/2024

[Blarmy]

Obviously 2nd is as good as 1st looking at things completely pragmatically, but surely any supporter of any team of any sport wants that team to win things and get records?  Surely that’s the very epicentre of why people are sports fans in the first place?

I’m glad the modern game hasn’t completely taken that away from me. I would be overjoyed with 2nd, but would also take a lot from another trophy and Leeds never being able to say they were better than us this season.

[st albans fox]

Enzo is learning a lot more about his players this way than simply cantering to the title 

[Mark_w]

13 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

On Leeds they still have to play Middlesbrough who are in decent form now that their key players are back from injury, Hull, Coventry and Southampton so they will drop points at some stage. For us on paper I would say our tough remaining games are  Southampton / Norwich / WBA.

We can still finish 1st imo. But at a minimum 2nd is certainly well in sight, I would say unless Ipswich / Southampton remain consistent we have 2nd in the bag come Mid April.

Ipswich have 78 points from 37 games and strengthened their team well in January, they're not just going to go away.

[Tommy Fresh]

6 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Your goalposts have changed, mine haven't. It's not much deeper than that.

How do you know what my goalposts were? I've not once denied it would be pretty shit to finish second after having a decent lead either, however I doubt you'll be harping on about it this time next season if we're safe in the Premier League

[Chelmofox]

2 minutes ago, Blarmy said:

Obviously 2nd is as good as 1st looking at things completely pragmatically, but surely any supporter of any team of any sport wants that team to win things and get records?  Surely that’s the very epicentre of why people are sports fans in the first place?

I’m glad the modern game hasn’t completely taken that away from me. I would be overjoyed with 2nd, but would also take a lot from another trophy and Leeds never being able to say they were better than us this season.

Of course! There is a difference between someone saying they would be 'happy with 2nd', and criticising the happy clappy fans for applauding us coming second. The latter is just insulting for no good reason.

 

I'm fed up with this anyway. We are still top by the same margin as we was last week and our next league game isn't until 29th March. 

[Happy Fox]

4 minutes ago, Mark_w said:

Ipswich have 78 points from 37 games and strengthened their team well in January, they're not just going to go away.

They have some tough games on paper more so than us and Leeds, they will drop points.

[Number 6]

Context works both ways for this. I would be disappointed by second, I think given our position it would be a **** up when we could and should have been looking at posting a ridiculous points total.

 

But if we hit say 100 points and get pipped to that title by Leeds then I don't think you could really grumble too much if we're posting what is normally a Champion's total.

[LCFCJohn]

50 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

When we are in the premier league it’s not going to matter one iota of difference where we finished either 1st or 2nd In the championship.

 

The championship is gruelling to get 82 points at this stage is really good.

Does make me smile you were all about winning the league by March earlier in the season 

 

But of course, I agree. The team who wins the playoffs might do best (Luton are better than Blades and Burnley this season). And yes it is a good points total to be on. But after being so many points ahead it’d be a bit of a damp squib no? And I did state that I would take second now so I clearly am saying promotion first. I have been all season whilst some were getting by very arrogant and carried away.

 

To be fair, it was the level with Man City thing on the most second tier titles I wanted to beat so more than just about this season. One for the history books!

[Lionator]

It’s hard to see Ipswich winning more than 6 of those last 9. They have at least three games there where we would not fancy our chances (Norwich, Cov and Hull away). 
 

100 will be the cut off. If we get to that then we will 100% be promoted. Realistically I think 95/96 may be enough. 

Edited 10 March 2024 by Lionator

[Super_horns]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Unfortunately, it's a sad indictment of the game but you've hit the nail on the head.

I just look forward to the next manager having exactly the same ideas and tactics !

 

Seen Scott Parker connected for example .

 

Even fans of Bournemouth and Fulham got fed up with  him .

[Haywood_6]

Looking at the table. I feel like another 15 points will be enough for automatic - about 97 points. 

 

We've had some very average, patchy performances lately. The players look like they need the rest so the international break has come just at the right time. Just need to refocus now physically and mentally.

 

It's huge getting Ricardo back and a fully fit Ndidi. If Vardy can stay in this rich vein of form, we'll get this done. 

[Lionator]

Next week is a must win for Ipswich if they want the top two I think. Being 3 or 4 points behind us with a massively inferior goal difference, having played a game more and a very tricky run-in would be difficult. 

Edited 10 March 2024 by Lionator

[Fear Of The Fox]

6 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Next week is a must win for Ipswich if they want the top two I think. Being 3 or 4 points behind us with a massively inferior goal difference, having played a game more and a very tricky run-in would be difficult. 

I believe all 3 of us will drop points here and there. It's too tight in the bottom also, every team will treat each game like an FA Cup final. I think Southampton is also in the mix, can't rule them out. 

[st albans fox]

Could do with Bristol, brum and milwall getting wins in their next games. 
 

want their coaches to see our game as an opportunity to rest players rather than needing the points so much that they can’t afford to do that. 

[Tim1974]

If you are a fan of your team you can applaud them whenever you want to.

Win,lose or draw.

Because they are your team and nothing will change that.

Even through the bad times and really bad times you can applaud your team and should be able to do so without fear of criticism or accusations of rewarding failure or whatever else flies your way.

 

[UniFox21]

I think the international break will be absolutely crucial to us.

 

Large amounts of the squad will have 2 weeks to rest, recover and reset. Enzo has 2 weeks to rebuild the buggers ready for War. 

 

Daka, Nacho, Faes, Mads and maybe Vesty are the only ones I expect to go away.

[Supergray22]

3 hours ago, Happy Fox said:

They have some tough games on paper more so than us and Leeds, they will drop points.

I’m not sure anything can be taken for granted at this point. I thought we looked at better than Leeds the other week. The main difference is their resilience. Ipswich have also shown this all season on a smaller budget. They are a very positive team and rarely take a backward step. If we show the same level of desire and resilience we are still in pole position for automatic promotion. 

Edited 10 March 2024 by Supergray22

[Tuna]

What a goal

[JayTheFox]

I have been seeing this mention of a huge point lead thrown away a lot, and despite this being true honestly I’m not hugely surprised.

 

Our start and form within the first half of the season was literally record breaking and to maintain that was always going to be tough, but even in the first part of the season while we were creating the large gap I wouldn’t say we were constantly blowing teams away personally.

 

We rode our luck in certain periods, take the Plymouth game at home for example 4-0 on paper seems like a really easy game, Plymouth had a few great chances squandered at 0-0 if I remember rightly. Had they punished us it’s likely we see results such as QPR and Middlesbrough defeats just recently at home. 
 

My point is that the first part of the season mistakes were not being punished due to the quality of the league, our position was made to look a lot stronger due to the oppositions performance rather than our own. The second part of the season we’ve seen a change to this, chances we are giving away are now being punished and we are not just able to get away with sloppy play and grind teams down to win.

 

We are still a great championship team but within the chasing pack I’d say we are all fairly well matched, no way over the course of the season we have ever truly looked a team who should have been 21 clear of third place. The season has evened out with form, luck and other teams generally finding there feet etc.

 

We just need one final push to see ourselves over the line hopefully as champions. But I personally wouldn’t use the term “bottlers”

 

 

 

 

Edited 10 March 2024 by JayTheFox

[Paninistickers]

If I was looking at this from afar, a wobble a team at the top is absolutely normal. 

 

I'd be reassuring the hypothetical nervous fan of said club that, they'll stumble into a win soon, create a mini run and they'll be away. 

 

Oddly enough, I'd almost go as far to say that a wobble on GW -13 to -9 is quite a good thing and leaves plenty of time to pull out of the tailspin. Hitting the buffers 6 games out is much more catastrophic

[Tuna]

Another goal for Johnston, which clueless manager loaned him out?

[Number 6]

14 minutes ago, Tuna said:

Another goal for Johnston, which clueless manager loaned him out?

The guy is on fire!

[KingsX]

15 minutes ago, Tuna said:

Another goal for Johnston, which clueless manager loaned him out?

 

Roughly a goal contribution every 90' when the dwarf played him.

 

Roughly a goal contribution every 90' for West Brom.

 

Who could possibly have seen this coming?

 

[weller54]

Swansea all over Bristol City!...

Hopefully they'll be as poor as this when we play them.

[Happy Fox]

1 minute ago, weller54 said:

Swansea all over Bristol City!...

Hopefully they'll be as poor as this when we play them.

We will be there cup final.