Championship thread 25/26! (65 Viewers)

[stupot07]

so you think they practice getting sent off a minute into the 2nd half and kitching practices giving the ball to a centre forward to score, players have absolutely shit it, assnte makes the difference and we go back to 433, it works with him, Lampard might be a bit stubborn but im not slating him when players can’t even do basics anymore

433 works without Assante, it was proven last half of last season with the play off push. The results throughout 2026 are really strong, less than half have Assante in the team.

Assante was fantastic before he got injured, and yes losing him in that form was a big loss, but it's a lot more than just him being out for our massive drop off in form over the last 13 games. And the majority of that has to be on Lampards shoulders.

 

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[Sky Blue Pete]

Exactly what Boro fans were saying about us when we smashed them in November.

I still believe so many players are below their level that it’s possible they could find their level but it’s getting a bit late

 

[Londonccfcfan]

I was reading the Wrexham thread the week leading up to our game there.

Guess what they were all predicting they would be getting smashed.

Same vs Birmingham and Norwich/qpr.

 

[quinn1971]

433 works without Assante, it was proven last half of last season with the play off push. The results throughout 2026 are really strong, less than half have Assante in the team.

Assante was fantastic before he got injured, and yes losing him in that form was a big loss, but it's a lot more than just him being out for our massive drop off in form over the last 13 games. And the majority of that has to be on Lampards shoulders.

So what team would you of picked if you were Lampard, wer“e missing our top scorer and one of our best players , it’s that simple

 

[Gynnsthetonic]

I still believe so many players are below their level that it’s possible they could find their level but it’s getting a bit late

A third of the season to go Pete

 

[quinn1971]

So if you're exonerated the manager for our shit away form would it be fair to say he doesn't get credit for our excellent home form?

i Give Lampard credit all the time, he’s managed to get that squad to stay top of the league for 4 months, what’s he supposed to do when some of the players can’t handle the pressure of being there, we can add onyeka, assante and EMC to that team Saturday and it’s a Very different result, he’s getting the best out of what he’s got,

 

[clint van damme]

i Give Lampard credit all the time, he’s managed to get that squad to stay top of the league for 4 months, what’s he supposed to do when some of the players can’t handle the pressure of being there, we can add onyeka, assante and EMC to that team Saturday and it’s a Very different result, he’s getting the best out of what he’s got,

So to summarise, down turn in away form, not managers fault.
Cracking home form, great work by the manager!!

 

[quinn1971]

So to summarise, down turn in away form, not managers fault.
Cracking home form, great work by the manager!!

Not my words yours, maybe read replies , I’ve said I give Lampard credit all the time

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

To all those on here who have followed the City over the years ..........




There will be next season to obsess over, and the one after that, and the one after.......

 

[clint van damme]

Not my words yours, maybe read replies , I’ve said I give Lampard credit all the time

What are you on about?
I never said you didn't. You give him credit when it goes well but you exonerate him when it goes wrong, that's my point.

You can't have it both ways.

 

[Shannerz]

I was reading the Wrexham thread the week leading up to our game there.

Guess what they were all predicting they would be getting smashed.

And the three quarters of our back four weren't fit enough to start, and we had two central midfielders available.

Sometimes circumstance affects outcomes.

All that game highlighted was that if you take half of our team away, we'll struggle, even if in form.

They were justified in being pessimistic, just as we are now. Let's hope half of Middlesbrough's team is unavailable!

 

[stupot07]

So what team would you of picked if you were Lampard, wer“e missing our top scorer and one of our best players , it’s that simple

We've dropped 17 points from winning positions, most of which BTA wasn't in the team. That's nothing to do with missing BTA.

Grimes form has dropped off the cliff yet plays every minute, that's nothing to do with BTA being out injured.

MVE has been flogged all season and is not shattered and out of form, that's nothing to do with BTA being out injured.

Poor game management, squad rotation and subs and no plan B is nothing to do with BTA being out injured.

We play the same open way away as we do at home, despite poor results, thats nothing to do with BTA being out injured.

Getting your fullbacks to play in the 10 leaving massive gaps at the back, is nothing to do with BTA being out injured.

Not trusting your squad and rotating players or using subs earlier has nothing to do with BTA being injured.

In fact BTA was still fit in the run of games when we started to get done at the back and Rushworth had 6-7 games straight where he pulled off worldies and getting man of the match.

I'll say again, BTA was fantastic early in the season, but it's not due to him being out that our form has fell off the cliff. Simms has the best minutes per goal (107) yet got bombed out the side when he was scoring for fun. If you look at his career this first half of the season is a bit of an anomaly in BTAs career, it's unlikely he'd have kept up that form anyway.