The Championship Thread 2023/2024

[purpleronnie]

Just now, CountesthorpeFox1 said:

Yes, after further looking into Cardiff was 08 and Millwall 04.

 

Championship team is due in the final then…. Let’s hope it’s not Cov

 

West Ham (1979/1980) were the last team outside of the top division to win the FA cup.

[Dan LCFC]

3 hours ago, Lionator said:

Mad prediction but with their trajectory, I bet you could get good money on Lincoln being higher than us next season 

 you know what I agreed with some of the criticisms but I'll draw the line here.

[Foxmeister]

29 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

 

West Ham (1979/1980) were the last team outside of the top division to win the FA cup.

And we were promoted as champions.

[Col city fan]

I know that being a Leicester fan means a constant rollercoaster ride.

But Christ! If we don’t go up automatically this season it’ll be up there with one of the biggest demises I’ve seen in my many years as a fan!

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, Pliskin said:

It’s the same crippling hope we had last season. 
 

Ultimately I think we’ve already thrown it away. We keep saying Leeds and Ipswich will lose, but we shouldn’t  be in this position relying on other teams.

 

The fact we’ve relinquished a substantial lead so frivolously is just evidence in itself that we won’t achieve the goal of top two. We’ve given Leeds and Ipswich an inch, and they aren’t relenting, particularly Ipswich.

 

It’s going to be a horrible 9 games. 

Kin el, make your mind up.

 

Only a few days ago you started the Delia Smith lets be having you thread 

[nnfox]

Christ! Yesterday was pretty sweet: We were heading into the business end of the season ahead of every other team in the league with an FA Cup quarter final to play.

 

This evening I have read the last 5 pages of this thread and even though we haven't kicked a ball and the situation is exactly the same as yesterday, I have literally given up on this season, resigned myself to another season in the Championship, without a manager and I find myself looking for odds on us being relegated to League 1 next season!

[OntarioFox]

5 minutes ago, nnfox said:

Christ! Yesterday was pretty sweet: We were heading into the business end of the season ahead of every other team in the league with an FA Cup quarter final to play.

 

This evening I have read the last 5 pages of this thread and even though we haven't kicked a ball and the situation is exactly the same as yesterday, I have literally given up on this season, resigned myself to another season in the Championship, without a manager and I find myself looking for odds on us being relegated to League 1 next season!

I think it's understandable that large portions of our fanbase expect us to sh*t the bed at the business end of the season after having to endure the past 4 years.

 

Doesn't mean we will, though. Let's see what happens tomorrow, it's a free hit, actually winnable with Chelsea as they currently are, and also raises the tantalising possibility of playing Cov at Wembley. It's win-win, we lose and we can focus entirely on the league, we win and hopefully it gives us a kick up the arse for the league form (ok Hull was a misstep but at least we didn't lose)

 

WINNIT

Edited 16 March by OntarioFox

[FrankieADZ]

16 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

I think it's understandable that large portions of our fanbase expect us to sh*t the bed at the business end of the season after having to endure the past 4 years.

 

Doesn't mean we will, though. Let's see what happens tomorrow, it's a free hit, actually winnable with Chelsea as they currently are, and also raises the tantalising possibility of playing Cov at Wembley. It's win-win, we lose and we can focus entirely on the league, we win and hopefully it gives us a kick up the arse for the league form (ok Hull was a misstep but at least we didn't lose)

 

WINNIT

i can understand that tbh;

but as much as some of our performances of late having been great, think only one of the 3 we lost was poo poo so to speak; and even in them, we take our chances we win or least draw....

where as them past 4 seasons we looked completely shot in every way, and I dont see that atm with this Leicester side

 

tomorrow i fully expect Enzo to change the squad massively and I can understand that, for me its a free hit would love us to win but either way i wont be going OTT if we lose

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Love how the fans talk about players being bottler's

Than you read some of the meltdowns in here.

 

Foxestalk Bottle Jobs…..

"Look back in history, we always bottle it."

 

Different players.

 

Different management.

 

Different tactics.

 

Same fans.

 

[iancognito]

8 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

"Look back in history, we always bottle it."

 

Different players.

 

Different management.

 

Different tactics.

 

Same fans.

 

Yep.

 

Totally understand the comments about the off-field stuff but the chat about us bottling games and the title is coming from supporters who have clearly bottled it themselves. As for blowing 10 point leads etc we're in exactly the same position we were in at Christmas. Swapping places with the team in 2nd. Every team has had their bad run. Leeds were shit in November. Ipswich had a terrible January, Saints lost 4 in 6 after their "title charge". February was our second blip.

 

Strap yourselves in for 8 games in 28 days!

[Tom12345]

5 hours ago, Paninistickers said:

I wouldn't mind as much but Ipswich are crap. Crap players, playing crap, winning crap. It's hugely annoying. 

Yet when you watch them play they play with more attacking intent and more intensity going forward than us, with a squad that is near the same as what they had in League One and is worth some 1/10 of the value of our squad.

Edited 16 March by Tom12345

[Tom12345]

6 hours ago, Twitcher said:

Yes many on here saying about us bottling it. My god there's some bottlers on here. An expected win for Ipswich.

I've said before, after the mess of last season, where we are is hugely impressive. We'd no right to come straight back up. What Enzo has done is superb.

Reading this I'd do one if I was him. Wheel Rooney in. Ffs. 

We have the best squad in the Championship. Many thought with our squad we should not have even come down. In any event, with our squad we should really be smashing it.

 

We were expecting to win against Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the season too, but we didn’t. And also a number of other games. Ipswich’s squad is worth 1/10 as ours and much of it is the same from League One. What it has come down to is their manager, their style of play and yes them punching above their weight. 

 

We have to stop making excuses for ourselves, just like what we did last season, or the seasons before when we bottled.

 

Just look at our squad and compare it to other teams in the Championship.

 

We only have ourselves to blame when we keep giving ourselves excuses and keep creating a weak mentality. Why do we need to game manage when we are 1-0 up against say Rottenham. This created the weak bottlers mentality. This is all down to us fearing to play freely and positively. It may not manifest itself earlier in the season as our players are way way better than others, but after half of year of the same drill even they are now frailing.

 

This is all down to the manager.

 

I am not asking for him to go, but Enzo better sort this out. Stop fearing and play!

 

Edited 16 March by Tom12345

[FOXSE]

9 minutes ago, Tom12345 said:

We have the best squad in the Championship. Many thought with our squad we should not have even came down. In any event, with our squad we should really be smashing it.

 

We were expecting to win against Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the season too, but we didn’t. And also a number of other games. Ipswich’s squad is worth 1/10 as ours and much of it is the same from League One. What it has come down to is their manager, their style of play and yes them punching above their weight. 

 

We have to stop making excuses for ourselves, just like what we did last season, or the seasons before when we bottled.

 

Just look at our squad and compare it to other teams on the Championship.

 

We only have ourselves to blame when we keep giving ourselves excuses and keep creating a weak mentality. Why do we need to game manage when we are 1-0 up against say Rottenham. This created the weak bottlers mentality. This is all down to us fearing to play freely and positively. It may not manifest itself earlier in the season as our players are way way better than others, but after half of year of the same drill even they are now frailing.

 

This is all down to the manager.

 

I am not asking for him to go, but Enzo better sort this out. Stop fearing and play!

 

There is a lot of talk about 'our squad shouldn't have gone down so should win the championship easily'

 

We didn't start the season with anything like the squad that went down!

 

 

[Tom12345]

23 minutes ago, FOXSE said:

There is a lot of talk about 'our squad shouldn't have gone down so should win the championship easily'

 

We didn't start the season with anything like the squad that went down!

 

 

We still have way more proven Premier League quality players and internationals than all other teams, including Leeds and Southampton.

 

Ndidi

KDH

Winks

Coady (PL player not even in starting five)

Vardy (and still rotating for us only)

Nacho (and still rotating for us only)

Daka (and still rotating for us only)

Faes

Vesty (ok, we thought he was crap seasons before)

Justin

Praet (though he keeps getting injured)

Souttar

Albrighton

Yunas (he is a Turkey international in case we forget)

 

Then you also have some borderline ones that other teams would love to have like:

 

Hamza

Fatawu

Mavididi

Doyle

 

PS. Yes we had a massive exodus end of last season and even with that we still have the above, so the other point that we should not have come down remains valid.

Edited 16 March by Tom12345

[Corky]

We are generally absolutely fine. Our points tally is one of the highest on record.

 

We have two other teams with similar returns. This isn't a normal season. Wrapping up a league in March when four sides are going at over two points a game is nigh on impossible. We've all had poor runs and currently ours is happening.

 

There is still more than enough in this squad to finish the job. 

[Lambert09]

5 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

I don’t worry about stuff I can’t control.

very jealous mate. I worry the most about things out of my control 

[coolhandfox]

31 minutes ago, Lambert09 said:

very jealous mate. I worry the most about things out of my control 

Not a healthy thing to do, master it and life is a lot better.

[Trent Steel]

Even though we have a bunch of "premier league" players our recent form is crap. I am not saying we will fold completely but it is slightly worrying considering we had a huge points gap and now it's gone. Now he we are at the business end we need to string some results together. 

 

 

[Chrysalis]

16 hours ago, Ricey said:

Bad for us as it means their match against Ipswich is moved.

Thats good for us, it regains our match in hand on that date so chance to get points on board over them assuming we lose to Chelsea.  At this stage of the season I would rather have points on board than game in hand, its better mentally for the squad.

Cov have done us a favour.

[Chrysalis]

I managed to get 39/1 odds to appear for both ipswich and leeds top two, in any order, but when I logged in the option vanished and wont come back.

Yeah they locked it out for me personally, that seems pretty dodgy, not logged in 39.8/1, log in and the option goes away.

Edited 17 March by Chrysalis

[iancognito]

8 hours ago, Tom12345 said:

We have the best squad in the Championship. Many thought with our squad we should not have even come down. In any event, with our squad we should really be smashing it.

That's not how the Championship works and the reason I feared relegation was because it's a quicksand league, it pulls you down you lose a few games lose your confidence and PL arrogance and end up scrapping with the other fallen giants. It's never straightforward.

 

Even with that said with our points total you'd expect us to be well clear of the pack. Ipswich have lost 5 games all season. Leeds and Saints have kept their nerves. We may have the best squad but that chasing pack aren't your usual WBA, Norwich and Hull.

 

We could be 3rd on 100pts with our "best squad".

[Sly]

Still lots of games to play. 
 

They’ll be more twists and turns yet, however I expect Leeds to take top spot today. 

[BertFill]

8 hours ago, Tom12345 said:

We still have way more proven Premier League quality players and internationals than all other teams, including Leeds and Southampton.

 

Ndidi

KDH

Winks

Coady (PL player not even in starting five)

Vardy (and still rotating for us only)

Nacho (and still rotating for us only)

Daka (and still rotating for us only)

Faes

Vesty (ok, we thought he was crap seasons before)

Justin

Praet (though he keeps getting injured)

Souttar

Albrighton

Yunas (he is a Turkey international in case we forget)

Is KDH really 'proven Premier League quality?

Vardy is probably too old now. He certainly isn't going to be a dominant force at that level.

Nacho is wildly inconsistent.

Daka is certainly not proven Premier League quality.

Ditto Faes.

Souttar's hardly played in the Premier League.

Albrighton's getting on a bit now.

Yunus is indeed a Turkish international. Wasn't Ünder also a Turkish international?

 

And I'm possibly being generous in letting you have Justin and Praet!

 

Don't get me wrong, we do have a strong squad for this division. But it certainly isn't packed full of 'Premier League players.' And the feebleness of our bench in recent weeks shows that.

 

[nnfox]

11 minutes ago, Sly said:

Still lots of games to play. 
 

They’ll be more twists and turns yet, however I expect Leeds to take top spot today. 

100% this.  The league isn't going to be decided today regardless of results.  The top four will still have to collectively play 35 games between now and the end of the season - plenty of room for mis-steps and unexpected results.

[Matt]

2 minutes ago, nnfox said:

100% this.  The league isn't going to be decided today regardless of results.  The top four will still have to collectively play 35 games between now and the end of the season - plenty of room for mis-steps and unexpected results.

This can been seen as a positive and a negative though. It's a case that can been made for and against us  

 

A few weeks ago when our dodgy spell started we were ticking games off, the games can't be ticked off quick enough, we're searching for the finish line.

 

PTSD, Anxiety and what we've seen certainly in recent seasons has scarred mentality us as fans.

 

As I said yesterday, we've had dodgy games going into every international break this season (I think?), this recent run has been a more sustained dodgy spell, but we've always came back after those international breaks stronger, I just hope that trend continues.