Championship 2025/26 Season

[Finnegan]

Were they all offside? 

[egg_fried_rice]

Neither of these teams are very good are they.

 

that third goal looked offside to me.

[JimJams]

Nah he's well on.  Norwich holding a diagonal line....

[Noahfence]

Not really been impressed by Ipswich. 

[TheGoldenGod]

8 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

Yeah Daka has really made those people look stupid hasn't he!

So you think cause our strikers aren't great that you'd want him back? If the answer is "no" as it should be then I'm still right👍

[foxfanazer]

Just now, TheGoldenGod said:

So you think cause our strikers aren't great that you'd want him back? If the answer is "no" as it should be then I'm still right👍

If the choice was to have kept him and not signed Daka I'd have taken that. We'd certainly be no worse off and wouldn't have wasted quite as much money 

 

But he is shite ill give you that

[Ric Flair]

4 hours ago, Pliskin said:

I don’t think that’s particularly fair, I think we can’t underestimate what mess Martin inherited. This is a completely different challenge to Enzo’s. 
 

Probably the worst relegation in history for us, and the worst season we’ve probably had in modern history, it was nothing short of pathetic last season, and we’re carrying that into this. It takes an age to appoint him, so we’ve had a very long hang over from last season, he then isn’t able to bring anyone in until deadline day, and that’s three loans. 
 

We’re only just starting to really come to life, this should have been happening by week 4 of the season, not 9…. So he’s had a really tough start and I think he’s done well. 
 

There are some red flags appearing, but yesterday proved that he does learn, he got it absolutely spot on, and we looked a constant threat all game, and comfortably beat a side that hasn’t lost at home for a long time. 
 

The balance of the squad was much better, the energy was much better, and there was probably only a 10-15 minute spell after they scored that Swansea looked any good, other than that, we kept them at arms length for 90 minutes. 
 

It seemed like something clicked yesterday for us.

 

Yes the 9 is an issue, we know Ayew and Daka aren’t getting you double figures, but I was slightly encouraged by Carranza yesterday, he took up some good positions, and looked much sharper. 
 

What will be interesting, is to see what Evans could achieve in a confident team playing upfront. I’d like to think Marti might give him a go, because I think confident Evans in a confident Leicester team scores goals. 

I'm not writing off Cifuentes, i'm just pointing out the current weaknesses that I agree he has inherited in part (lack of capable strikers) and a toxic culture that he's trying to alter. The former though, whilst it's no surprise we aren't getting goals from our strikers, we aren't creating many chances for them either which is a system issue as much as anything.

 

As i've said, his QPR and Hammarby teams didn't seem to have strikers that scored very regularly. You could argue thats as much personnel as it is coaching but it's worth us keeping an eye on.

 

Yesterday aside, I don't think we are improving YET. The Wrexham 2nd half, the Oxford 1st half, pretty much the entire West Brom game was mediocre at best and no better than the struggles in the first 4-5 games.

 

We are still a team of individuals a little too much but at the same time it's great to see such brilliance of Fatawu, James etc for those moments. The international break has come at a good time for us. Hopefully we can spend the break improving set piece delivery which is nothing short of a disgrace and work out some other patterns of play that need a boost.

 

I'm a huge fan of Jordan James and whilst results haven't yet improved significantly, him and Winks are a potential pairing that hopefully compliment an all energy and menacing front four. Daka gets the nod right now up front for his pressing but how does this team create more? We badly need to find a solution.

[CosbehFox]

Hinchcliffe given Ipswich’s squad a good rimming this arvo 

[TheGoldenGod]

1 minute ago, foxfanazer said:

If the choice was to have kept him and not signed Daka I'd have taken that. We'd certainly be no worse off and wouldn't have wasted quite as much money 

 

But he is shite ill give you that

But when we signed Daka was Hirst even with our U21s? He was deemed only good enough for League One when Ipswich signed him! If he was the answer, what was the question?

[TheGoldenGod]

Just now, CosbehFox said:

Hinchcliffe given Ipswich’s squad a good rimming this arvo 

Always does. Horrid to listen to!

[Leeds Fox]

1 hour ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Of the two situations, I think the side are creating the chances but it’s the taking of chances that is currently hurting us. Take the last 3, we’ve created chances by opening up the opposition. Mavididi v Cov. Against Wrexham, not only the goal but two for Daka which he should’ve taken. One of them his anticipation was too slow. And yesterday. Carranza was the obvious one (which we didn’t take) but also a couple of others. When we move the ball quicker, we are, in parts, cutting teams open. I think more so when we do it than we did under Enzo (but we had the finisher). 
 

We are by no means flowing and with the “seniors” in place, we should be but there’s enough there to have a lot of hope. If someone upfront finds their shooting boots, we sit here on 3 wins not 2 draws and win.

Whats frustrated me in the past is ALWAYS passing to the closest man, but ending up with the ball where it needs to be.

 

We either seem to miss out someone now or pass sharper. This exploits the space when it’s there. Before, we’d allow the opponent to close any space out wide before we got the ball there.

 

Regardless of how our CBs defend, they can pass well. We’ve used them to shift the ball quicker and with purpose more often.

[Jattdogg]

Ipswich will be above us once they make up the called off game. 

[Number 6]

I'm not sure I've seen a player cross a rivalry divide with quite so much glee before.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Of the two situations, I think the side are creating the chances but it’s the taking of chances that is currently hurting us. Take the last 3, we’ve created chances by opening up the opposition. Mavididi v Cov. Against Wrexham, not only the goal but two for Daka which he should’ve taken. One of them his anticipation was too slow. And yesterday. Carranza was the obvious one (which we didn’t take) but also a couple of others. When we move the ball quicker, we are, in parts, cutting teams open. I think more so when we do it than we did under Enzo (but we had the finisher). 
 

We are by no means flowing and with the “seniors” in place, we should be but there’s enough there to have a lot of hope. If someone upfront finds their shooting boots, we sit here on 3 wins not 2 draws and win.

I still don't think thats anywhere near enough as you can't expect teams to bury every good chance. Whilst I am not huge fan of xG it is an indicator of teams creativity of good chances and we are way down the table on it.

[Number 6]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

I still don't think thats anywhere near enough as you can't expect teams to bury every good chance. Whilst I am not huge fan of xG it is an indicator of teams creativity of good chances and we are way down the table on it.

I think this is a fair worry at the moment. It feels obvious that the striker area of our team is weaker, but not sure there's much value in us having a quality striker when we create so very little. Or you go for a big striker who can impose himself on the defence and hold the ball up.

[sm1]

18 minutes ago, Leeds Fox said:

Whats frustrated me in the past is ALWAYS passing to the closest man, but ending up with the ball where it needs to be.

 

We either seem to miss out someone now or pass sharper. This exploits the space when it’s there. Before, we’d allow the opponent to close any space out wide before we got the ball there.

 

Regardless of how our CBs defend, they can pass well. We’ve used them to shift the ball quicker and with purpose more often.

100%, us needlessly passing the ball around is why we create so little. Even when we have a chance to counter we rarely show any urgency. 

[Pliskin]

38 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

Ipswich will be above us once they make up the called off game. 

Our fanbase would give miserable morrisey a run for his money…..

[Dan]

42 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I still don't think thats anywhere near enough as you can't expect teams to bury every good chance. Whilst I am not huge fan of xG it is an indicator of teams creativity of good chances and we are way down the table on it.

We're a huge outlier - bottom half for both chances created and denied.

 

Stolarczyk going under the radar. Possibly my POTS so far.

[StevieH]

To be fair to Daka he's never had a proper run of games. Far better option  than Ayew upfront. Works far harder and pressures the back four which stretches tye opposition. Ayew is so deep all the time the opposition push up and close up the play.

[Mickyblueeyes]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

I still don't think thats anywhere near enough as you can't expect teams to bury every good chance. Whilst I am not huge fan of xG it is an indicator of teams creativity of good chances and we are way down the table on it.

You’re not wrong at all. I don’t think we are firing or even close to it. The hope I have is the few times it has clicked, we seem to “get in”. That is a good sign (would be a very good sign if he happened more often).

 

I do believe the next month or so is quite key for Marti and this team. Those chances need to increase and the strikers need to start earning their salaries. However, the base of winks and James suggest we will get better rather than going into the opposite direction

[moore_94]

We are currently on the same amount of points as Leeds were after 9 games last season, just a slight difference in the goals scored and conceded

 

Hopefully the rest of our season goes as theirs did

 

 

[AjcW]

Just don't think you can argue it's anything other than a positive start to be honest.

Yeah some team selections have annoyed me, but i've been saying for seasons and seasons now the most important thing is to not lose, we've become so so shit at drawing games in the last few years and as long as you keep the balance of wins and draws you'll always be in good shape in this league. 

 

Being able to make quick impactful subs has been one of the biggest positives for me, as this is often the difference between a defeat and a draw or being able to hold on to a win.

 

We lost 11 games under Enzo, i'm going to stick my neck out right now and say we will lose less than that this time round.

Edited 6 October 2025 by AjcW

[brookfox]

21 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

We are currently on the same amount of points as Leeds were after 9 games last season, just a slight difference in the goals scored and conceded

 

Hopefully the rest of our season goes as theirs did

 

 

Say what you want about Frank Lampards managerial credentials, but +20GD after 9 games is very impressive.

[Tommy G]

2 minutes ago, brookfox said:

Say what you want about Frank Lampards managerial credentials, but +20GD after 9 games is very impressive.

He has the benefit of a very settled squad, man for man they aren't the best in the division ability wise, but as a team they are clicking at the moment, be surprised if they keep it up and hopefully that doesn't bite me on the arse.

[Ric Flair]

32 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

We are currently on the same amount of points as Leeds were after 9 games last season, just a slight difference in the goals scored and conceded

 

Hopefully the rest of our season goes as theirs did

 

 

Whats the distribution of goals by team this season? We surely are bottom of the league for goals from strikers.