Gotta Love the Championship

[Port Said Red]

Basket case Reading thrashing Blackburn after their perfect start is just one of those results that the Championship seems to throw up week on week. Last night we had the equally under the cosh Birmingham City getting a draw with everyone's runaway winners Watford. It never really changes does it? 

[sephjnr]

Similarly Sunderland, after their strong start to the season, made a mistake and got pummelled for it. Nice recovery close to the end to keep it interesting though.

Edited August 17, 2022 by sephjnr

[2015]

I'm also annoyed with Swansea taking our limelight by conceding two goals in the last minute to draw. That's what we do 

[Dr Balls]

7 hours ago, 2015 said:

I'm also annoyed with Swansea taking our limelight by conceding two goals in the last minute to draw. That's what we do 

Oh I think we could have managed to lose against Millwall in similar circumstances. The Jacks are Johnny-come-lately amateurs at injury time collapses by comparison with our long-standing record of late capitulations!

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

Oh I think we could have managed to lose against Millwall in similar circumstances. The Jacks are Johnny-come-lately amateurs at injury time collapses by comparison with our long-standing record of late capitulations!

The game management against Luton was excellent and a delight to see given our record of conceding late goals. Usually with City leading going in to the last 5mins I and the guys I sit with all have raised anxiety levels - not so on Tuesday night I’m happy to say.

Hopefully it’ll be the same on Sunday.

[Port Said Red]

7 hours ago, 2015 said:

I'm also annoyed with Swansea taking our limelight by conceding two goals in the last minute to draw. That's what we do 

 

19 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

Oh I think we could have managed to lose against Millwall in similar circumstances. The Jacks are Johnny-come-lately amateurs at injury time collapses by comparison with our long-standing record of late capitulations!

We've even done the 2 own goals thing in the Sunderland 3 -3 draw, they are so 4 seasons ago.

[Bris Red]

7 hours ago, sephjnr said:

Similarly Sunderland, after their strong start to the season, made a mistake and got pummelled for it. Nice recovery close to the end to keep it interesting though.

Really enjoyed Sunderland v blades last night - Sunderland showed decent character to almost pinch a draw.. Cannot stand Alex Neil or his teams but they are my darkhorses for the play-offs this season.

[cidercity1987]

The relegation battle is going to be interesting, the pre season favourites such as Rotherham and Reading have started quite well.

Luton and Huddersfield might be fearful?

[Super]

28 minutes ago, bris red said:

Really enjoyed Sunderland v blades last night - Sunderland showed decent character to almost pinch a draw.. Cannot stand Alex Neil or his teams but they are my darkhorses for the play-offs this season.

Thought they were superb. I think the same as you.

[robin for life]

Why was that a red for Sunderland last night, even a yellow would have been harsh!

[Robbored]

20 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

The relegation battle is going to be interesting, the pre season favourites such as Rotherham and Reading have started quite well.

Luton and Huddersfield might be fearful?

There’s a long way to go - it’s way too early to tell yet.

Teams do go on a unbeaten runs and shoot up the table and the the opposite applies when teams hit a run of no wins going into free fall.

Against Luton City made them look poor. They couldn’t cope with the pace up top and Citys pressing.

[LondonBristolian]

I still feel free things will settle to a more predictable shape after ten games or so. Norwich, Burnley and Boro will start moving up, Rotherham and Reading will move down and Blackburn will settle somewhere in the middle of the table.

Having said that, West Brom appear to have carried their mediocrity over from last season and there are reasons to think Luton and Huddersfield could have much poorer seasons this time around. Nice to have the unpredictability whilst it lasts and it would be nice if - at the very least - there are no runaway teams in the top two places who steamroll the league. (Unless its us!)

[italian dave]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

The game management against Luton was excellent and a delight to see given our record of conceding late goals. Usually with City leading going in to the last 5mins I and the guys I sit with all have raised anxiety levels - not so on Tuesday night I’m happy to say.

Hopefully it’ll be the same on Sunday.

That's true - although it helped that we were 2 up! If that deflected shot had gone in, or Bentley had pushed it to their striker instead of Atkinson, then I suspect we'd have been into heart attack territory......

[Packman]

31 minutes ago, robin for life said:

Why was that a red for Sunderland last night, even a yellow would have been harsh!

Really? I honestly thought it was a clear red. Last man, stopped a clear goalscoring opportunity. You could tell by the look in the defenders face he was off. 

[TheReds]

52 minutes ago, robin for life said:

Why was that a red for Sunderland last night, even a yellow would have been harsh!

Why would you think it wasn't?

O'Nien should have got a straight red as well for his awful challenge, surprised it isn't on the highlights I have seen. Another shocker from a ref who gave a yellow for it, so he obviously seen it.

[PHILINFRANCE]

1 hour ago, cidercity1987 said:

The relegation battle is going to be interesting, the pre season favourites such as Rotherham and Reading have started quite well.

Luton and Huddersfield might be fearful?

Luton, especially so; I thought they were absolutely awful on Tuesday night.

I know City played extremely well - their speed of thought and movement, both up front and in midfield, was exceptional - and whilst I should like to believe this was entirely of City’s own doing, I can’t help but think they were helped by a woefully poor and ill-prepared Luton side.

I suppose the next few fixtures will give us a better idea of what to expect this season, but I do fear for Luton.

[cityexile]

1 hour ago, Port Said Red said:

 

We've even done the 2 own goals thing in the Sunderland 3 -3 draw, they are so 4 seasons ago.

And even the two in injury time at home, to lose to Forest last year. Still get the shakes even thinking about it. The second felt worse than an unfortunate own goal as he put it in with his hand!

[Alex_BCFC]

It’s early doors but if the league is going to be this tight then could be very interesting. West Brom, Boro and Norwich on just 3 or 4 points after 4 games is unexpected. Hope it stays that way and the league is more interesting that the usual yo yo teams dominating. 

[headhunter]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

There’s a long way to go - it’s way too early to tell yet.

Teams do go on a unbeaten runs and shoot up the table and the the opposite applies when teams hit a run of no wins going into free fall.

Against Luton City made them look poor. They couldn’t cope with the pace up top and Citys pressing.

Not a feature of our game so much when CM is playing?

[Kid in the Riot]

10 hours ago, 2015 said:

I'm also annoyed with Swansea taking our limelight by conceding two goals in the last minute to draw. That's what we do 

Credit to Millwall, who had 1 shot on target, but managed to score two goals. 

[spudski]

Cardiff getting another clean sheet at WBA.

Took another injury in defence, where Odowda came on and played LB.

Apparently excelling again. Cardiff fawning over his performances.

Seems Cardiff have a tactic of playing out from the back. And sometimes it gets them in sticky situations.

I'm hoping we start with the same front 3 as we did against Luton and press them hard.

[Robbored]

Just now, headhunter said:

Not a feature of our game so much when CM is playing?

It’s not, nor was it when Famara was playing in the same role. LJ repeatedly said that Famara was ‘good in both boxes’ and the same could be said about CM although I accept that Famara’s goal return was better than CM’s

Nige will have a tough decision to make when Semenyo becomes available again and I predict that that CM will find himself on the bench and used as an impact player when opposition defenders are tiring or when City are under the cosh.

I can’t see Nige leaving Conway or Wells out if they both keep scoring goals. They’re both pacy and diminutive when compared to CM and that enables the creative players like HNM and Scott to play telling thru balls. Add to those two we have Weimann just behind them and City have a formidable strike force.

The first half against Luton was best I’ve seen City in ages and the game management in the latter stages was excellent as well - it was a really good performance all around and let’s hope we can repeat the same on Sunday.

[headhunter]

2 minutes ago, Robbored said:

It’s not, nor was it when Famara was playing in the same role. LJ repeatedly said that Famara was ‘good in both boxes’ and the same could be said about CM although I accept that Famara’s goal return was better than CM’s

Nige will have a tough decision to make when Semenyo becomes available again and I predict that that CM will find himself on the bench and used as an impact player when opposition defenders are tiring or when City are under the cosh.

I can’t see Nige leaving Conway or Wells out if they both keep scoring goals. They’re both pacy and diminutive when compared to CM and that enables the creative players like HNM and Scott to play telling thru balls. Add to those two we have Weimann just behind them and City have a formidable strike force.

The first half against Luton was best I’ve seen City in ages and the game management in the latter stages was excellent as well - it was a really good performance all around and let’s hope we can repeat the same on Sunday.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you have written here particularly the highlighted paragraph.

[TheReds]

10 minutes ago, spudski said:

Cardiff getting another clean sheet at WBA.

Took another injury in defence, where Odowda came on and played LB.

Apparently excelling again. Cardiff fawning over his performances.

Seems Cardiff have a tactic of playing out from the back. And sometimes it gets them in sticky situations.

I'm hoping we start with the same front 3 as we did against Luton and press them hard.

Multiple times in the first half last night. Just hope they keep doing/trying it on Sunday. 

[Offside]

2 hours ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Luton, especially so; I thought they were absolutely awful on Tuesday night.

I know City played extremely well - their speed of thought and movement, both up front and in midfield, was exceptional - and whilst I should like to believe this was entirely of City’s own doing, I can’t help but think they were helped by a woefully poor and ill-prepared Luton side.

I suppose the next few fixtures will give us a better idea of what to expect this season, but I do fear for Luton.

Completely agree. City were superb on Tues, but based on that game Luton look very poor. They created hardly anything. 

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, headhunter said:

 

9 minutes ago, Offside said:

Completely agree. City were superb on Tues, but based on that game Luton look very poor. They created hardly anything. 

It was down to City sniffling them and stopping them playing. They barely managed to make three consecutive passes and that made them look a poor side.

[Red-Robbo]

2 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Credit to Millwall, who had 1 shot on target, but managed to score two goals. 

 

Went over the line, bounced out, then bounced back in again, a la Alan Partridge football commentary.  

[2015]

31 minutes ago, Offside said:

Completely agree. City were superb on Tues, but based on that game Luton look very poor. They created hardly anything. 

They didn't look good. I think they looked toothless if anything, no goal threat at all, their strikers looked League 1 standard. We pressed them very well, they then reverted to diagonals after 20 minutes, could be a long season for them. 1 goal in 4 games for them

[Northern Red]

Across the 2 rounds of games this midweek and last weekend, none of the teams won both games and only Luton lost both.

So far the only team to win consecutive games all season is Blackburn, who won 3 before losing last night.

[Port Said Red]

Here we go again.....

Swansea 0 - Luton 2 (how?)

Rotherham get a point at QPR 

Reading beat Boro.