Championship thread 25/26! (30 Viewers)

Ccfcisparks said:

Soft at the back against us

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That's not what David stated though is it?

For the record I'd agree with you on that as Ayling was clearly the wrong selection. Against a side with as much firepower as you have we ideally should have employed him in a CB 3, or at the very least had Fry start in his place. Still, it's a learning curve and at least Hellberg has learned from that as we saw against Brum.

In the same way you were utterly useless upfront against Ipswich. But I'd hardly dismiss you full stop as "utterly useless up front" (and doubt many Ipswich fans would either tbh) as the rest of your championship stats say you're very potent up front.

Ipad Boro said:

That's not what David stated though is it?

For the record I'd agree with you on that as Ayling was clearly the wrong selection. Against a side with as much firepower as you have we ideally should have employed him in a CB 3, or at the very least had Fry start in his place. Still, it's a learning curve and at least Hellberg has learned from that as we saw against Brum.

In the same way you were utterly useless upfront against Ipswich. But I'd hardly dismiss you full stop as "utterly useless up front" (and doubt many Ipswich fans would either tbh) as the rest of your championship stats say you're very potent up front.

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TBF mate we've scored 3 or more goals against you in 5 of the last 6 games.

Shannerz said:

No, I don't! And neither do you.

I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a little sceptical, but I'm not going to make ridiculous pronouncements either.

I'm not denying anything, I'm reserving judgement, which, call me old fashioned, seems the more rational path to take.

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The rational path is not pretending EMC and Kitching and Sakamoto are relevant comparables. It’s saying “huh this guy is not following the normal path first team signings of that expenditure make”.

DACMAC said:

I know this isn't news, but a lot can change over the last 10 games of the season. Look at last year for range of outcomes.

	After 36	After 46	Points final 10
Leeds	76​	100​	24​
Sheff Utd	76​	90​	14​
Burnley	74​	100​	26​
Sunderland	68​	76​	8​
Coventry	56​	69​	13​
West Brom	55​	64​	9​
Bristol City	53​	68​	15​

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I read this with my fingers in my ears. Just believe.

shmmeee said:

Maybe you can name players we’ve signed who had played eight minutes after a month and then went on to become a regular.

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Don’t think Ian Wallace did that much until 6 or 7 weeks.

shmmeee said:

The rational path is not pretending EMC and Kitching and Sakamoto are relevant comparables.

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You asked for players who didn't feature much on arrival but went on to be regulars; I gave you a couple of examples.

I'm hardly going to compare them to a player I haven't seen play in any meaningful sense. It's you who's doing that.

shmmeee said:

The rational path is not pretending EMC and Kitching and Sakamoto are relevant comparables. It’s saying “huh this guy is not following the normal path first team signings of that expenditure make”.

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Did he cost £4.5m? That seems high. I assumed £1m or so. How do we know this?

curly_tom said:

Did he cost £4.5m? That seems high. I assumed £1m or so. How do we know this?

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I think it was reported in the Swiss media, but may have been based on comments from the selling club's chairman.

Derby, Wrexham and Stoke fan tonight. Charlton tomorrow.

fernandopartridge said:

TBF mate we've scored 3 or more goals against you in 5 of the last 6 games.

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Indeed. However, the majority of those games are as valid to our side's overall defensive abilities now as the two nil nils prior to those being valid to your current strength of attack.

We have different LBs and RBs, two new CBs, and a completely different manager.

Again though I'd refer you to my original point; in no way shape or form do two games against you act as an accurate benchmark of whether we can fairly consistently defend or not. We're nowhere near Burnley last year levels, I'll grant you. But we're certainly not shabby at the back, overall.

Unless of course you want to accept a 3 goals scored total from your last 5 meetings with Ipswich Town as a fitting benchmark of your team's current strength up front, as it's about as good am indicator as that.

Both of which are ridiculous notions full stop.

Liquid Gold said:

Never did I think I’d see posts saying they don’t want premier league football or if we do get there to barely spend any money.

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Who has said barely spend any money? Not seen that myself.

How much do you think we should spend without a big cash injection?

Nick said:

Derby, Wrexham and Stoke fan tonight. Charlton tomorrow.

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Not holding out much hope for other results tonight and tomorrow ad think Boro have a fairly decent looking few,weeks ahead.
Hopefully things start to get interesting in couple of weeks when Millwall play Ipswich and,we take care of our own results.

Evo1883 said:

Its not true at all , when i was younger going to watch coventry city against the best teams i had butterflies going to the stadium

How can watching teams like oxford united at home be better than watching us compete in the premier league against the worlds best players


I know its edgy to pretend the championship is peak football .. but its not

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Last like sums it up perfectly

Anyone saying they prefer championship to the premier league is just trying to be edgy as you put it.

Always cringe when people say they wanna be a yo-yo team rather than a mainstay in prem

Ipad Boro said:

Heard it all nowWe made a mistake playing Ayling when Fry should have started tbf.

But to counter your claim, we've got the joint best defence in the champo. Or the best outright when you consider Ipswich have conceded the same goals as we have in a game less. In which case every single side is soft as anything at the back.

It would be like an Ipswich Town fan claiming Cov were utterly useless up front, with their games against you as the only metric for comparison, when clearly you're the opposite.

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He doesn't know anything about football. Just swears blind everything he says is true.

Agent Robins will do us a favour tonight!!

Ipad Boro said:

Heard it all nowWe made a mistake playing Ayling when Fry should have started tbf.

But to counter your claim, we've got the joint best defence in the champo. Or the best outright when you consider Ipswich have conceded the same goals as we have in a game less. In which case every single side is soft as anything at the back.

It would be like an Ipswich Town fan claiming Cov were utterly useless up front, with their games against you as the only metric for comparison, when clearly you're the opposite.

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Historically speaking, the Top 4 are conceding a lot more goals than they usually would in most seasons.

Our defences are have conceded 38 and 35 goals respectively, last season 3rd place Sheff U conceded 36 goals in 46 games.

It’s a pattern that’s relatively consistent going back 4-5 seasons. The final league table is shaping up to look something like 21/22, although we ought to hit around 93-94 points based on current PPG, weighted for away and home form.

fernandopartridge said:

In relation to your last paragraph I think that's what we have been doing in recent away games. I think we've got the attacking potency to do it.

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Agree with that, there’s no really scary away games left. Swansea is the toughplace to go but when you’ve beat Millwall and Boro away, it’s not that scary.

Hull are 10th in the home form table so not as good at home as the league table suggests. Watford are 6th, then there’s Blackburn. Hull will probably be out of automatic contention by the time we play and Watford, similarly, will probably be out of playoff contention.

The job obviously isn’t done but the Opta stats stating 90-97% chance of automatic promotion says it all. We’re in an unbelievably strong position.

Ipad Boro said:

Indeed. However, the majority of those games are as valid to our side's overall defensive abilities now as the two nil nils prior to those being valid to your current strength of attack.

We have different LBs and RBs, two new CBs, and a completely different manager.

Again though I'd refer you to my original point; in no way shape or form do two games against you act as an accurate benchmark of whether we can fairly consistently defend or not. We're nowhere near Burnley last year levels, I'll grant you. But we're certainly not shabby at the back, overall.

Unless of course you want to accept a 3 goals scored total from your last 5 meetings with Ipswich Town as a fitting benchmark of your team's current strength up front, as it's about as good am indicator as that.

Both of which are ridiculous notions full stop.

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The lady doth protest too much!

Mucca Mad Boys said:

Agree with that, there’s no really scary away games left. Swansea is the toughplace to go but when you’ve beat Millwall and Boro away, it’s not that scary.

Hull are 10th in the home form table so not as good at home as the league table suggests. Watford are 6th, then there’s Blackburn. Hull will probably be out of automatic contention by the time we play and Watford, similarly, will probably be out of playoff contention.

The job obviously isn’t done but the Opta stats stating 90-97% chance of automatic promotion says it all. We’re in an unbelievably strong position.

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1/500 with SkyBet and Paddy Power to get promotion probably tells us everything we need to know about the likelihood of us going up.

There is a promotion chat on the Ipswich forum where they are comparing upcoming fixtures. They go into detail about Millwall and Middlesbrough. We're not even mentioned.

It's on. It's happening. And we just need to enjoy the ride.

Mucca Mad Boys said:

Agree with that, there’s no really scary away games left. Swansea is the toughplace to go but when you’ve beat Millwall and Boro away, it’s not that scary.

Hull are 10th in the home form table so not as good at home as the league table suggests. Watford are 6th, then there’s Blackburn. Hull will probably be out of automatic contention by the time we play and Watford, similarly, will probably be out of playoff contention.

The job obviously isn’t done but the Opta stats stating 90-97% chance of automatic promotion says it all. We’re in an unbelievably strong position.

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Went to Brammall Lane and won too. In fact, I actually much prefer our remaining away games to the home ones.

SomersetSB said:

Agent Robins will do us a favour tonight!!

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They've been dire - a draw is probably the best we can hope for.

Shannerz said:

I think it was reported in the Swiss media, but may have been based on comments from the selling club's chairman.

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Yeah maybe it’s all a conspiracy and he was £2.50.

Keep this stuff coming it’s genuine gold.

shmmeee said:

The rational path is not pretending EMC and Kitching and Sakamoto are relevant comparables. It’s saying “huh this guy is not following the normal path first team signings of that expenditure make”.

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Were they coming into a team in the midst of an intense promotion push?

SafeAsMilk said:

The lady doth protest too much!

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Au Contraire.

I think you'll find that the gentleman doth speak common sense.

Brighton Sky Blue said:

Went to Brammall Lane and won too. In fact, I actually much prefer our remaining away games to the home ones.

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Southampton and Wrexham - tricky home games (especially the former). Swansea, Hull and Watford, I'd settle for 3 points from them (provided we win at Blackburn). Still thinking 15 - 18 points from our last 10 games. The higher should get us over the line, whereas the lower end may be tighter.

Sick Boy said:

They've been dire - a draw is probably the best we can hope for.

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They got soba Thomas suspended aswell. Think we can write this game off as an Ipswich win, they’ve got Sheff Wed on Saturday aswell

Sick Boy said:

They've been dire - a draw is probably the best we can hope for.

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Hopefully it rains for the "can they do it on a rainy tuesday night at stoke"

Evo1883 said:

I know @CCFCAnalysis is on here .

Mate i cant understand this mindset , this is why we follow countrywide to see them get back to the top .. without this whats the point in going ?

This will be incredible for us , our kids and our city

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See, I understand the points made in this.

But for a club to flourish, it HAS to spend some season(s) in the top flight.

In the enjoyment sense, accepting that you're going to have to put up with VAR is certainly a fair trade for the money your club gets and the better players it can normally recruit as a result, pain in the arse though it is.

As for not seeing your team win nearly as much, it's about managing expectation and adjusting your buzz factor accordingly. You're obviously going to treat a complete hammering as you would a loss in this league. Treat a close loss with an encouraging performance as you would a draw. Treat a draw as you would a win and treat any win like it's a 6 pointer.

Lamps said:

Sorry but this is nonsense.

Spurs are a fully integrated Premier side. They have gambled big time on making the top 6 and it's gone wrong. Their expenditure on wages well goes against their income. We're hitting the point where the better run clubs have the advantage. All we have to do is keep being a better run club to take advantage of all the gambled that have gone wrong.

Leicester from Premier champions to League One within 10 years? Just run us within our means and we will benefit.

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Oh dear, there's a lot to unpack here.

A high wage bill generally correlates to higher league positions and better, more consistent performance. In the PL in particular, data shows there's a strong relationship between wage-per-minute for top earners and points accumulated.

Spurs have consistently had the lowest wage bill of the top 6 and by a long distance. In fact I think it's top 7 according to their most recent accounts it was lower than Villa's in the most recent set of accounts.

Btw, that's despite being 9th (in the world) in last year's Deloitte money table - that also puts them 4th in the PL in terms of revenue generated.

Also, expenditure on wages categorically doesn't exceed their income if that's what you mean - just rewinding back a bit to 2024, Spurs' wages to revenue ratio was the lowest of the top 20 highest earning clubs in the world at 42%.

They've been fairly handy with transfer fees but that's a weaker correlation and less of a barometer of success, in the short term anyway.

But ultimately, saying they've gambled with top 6 is objectively wrong. Operationally they're entirely set up for a top 6 finish, however their inability to budge on their wage structure until really now, along with successive poor decisions on the field, has caused them to regress - hence why they've only finished in the top 4 once in the past seven years.

It all really starts when they didn't sign a single player in 18/19. Which was explainable due to their financial constraints but still, was a huge risk that backfired.

Their inability to attract top talent to the club because of this and instead continually persist with a transfer strategy that hasn't really worked for years now - i.e. largely signing prospects that might come good in 2-3 seasons rather than proven players ready to be integrated into the Starting XI straight away (with the exception to perhaps Solanke, Kudus and Gallagher) - is why they're now at real risk of relegation.

Leicester isn't a great example. King Power took the club over in 2010. It took probably 10-12 years before real issues started arising which is a fair amount of time and there's so many mitigating factors to that on top of overspending. You'd do well to replicate that shitshow.

I'd be absolutely shocked if Stoke got anything, awful team with their 1 attacking threat out.

Best case is they absolutely shit their way to draw

shmmeee said:

Yeah maybe it’s all a conspiracy and he was £2.50.

Keep this stuff coming it’s genuine gold.

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It was a caveat, nothing more.

I think you're on quite thin ice if calling anyone else 'comedy gold'.

Shannerz said:

It was a caveat, nothing more.

I think you're on quite thin ice if calling anyone else 'comedy gold'.

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If he genuinely doesn't think he will play a part why does he think we signed him?

Does he think we accidently spent £4.5m on a player, with us top of the league and likely in the Prem next year.

David O'Day said:

I'd be absolutely shocked if Stoke got anything, awful team with their 1 attacking threat out.

Best case is they absolutely shit their way to draw

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Stoke are lucky they had a good start. Robins is on borrowed time there, he doesn't have the credit he had with us.

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

Stoke are lucky they had a good start. Robins is on borrowed time there, he doesn't have the credit he had with us.

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They've had a lot of injuries I believe. Not that they've got a fantastic squad anyway.