Championship Season Preview

With the new season upon us and squads gradually taking shape ahead of the transfer deadline at the end of the month, C offers a view on the final Championship table...

Champions: Middlesbrough

I don't know, eh! All these other Championship clubs crying foul at QPR's spending ought to sit up and take notice of Middlesbrough's financial clout - over £5m splashed out on Stewart Downing, £2.5m on a striker from Espanyol, the vast majority of last year's playoff finalists still in the squad and even an EIGHT figure bid for Jordan Rhodes!! I genuinely thought Boro were going to win the playoff final this year and definitely think that Aitor Karanka will ensure they don't "do a Derby". Many of the bookies' favourites, and easy to see why.

Runners Up: Hull City

Another club flexing their financial muscles, this time using parachute payments following their relegation. Moses Odubajo is an excellent signing and I can't help but think that they got a better deal in going for him than Norwich managed for Robbie Brady. Andre Gray is also linked and it does look likely that Hull's business for the Summer isn't finished just yet. Defence is just a bit too suspect for me to have them down as champions - losing James Chester was a big blow. They'll be back up in the Premier League come May I am sure.

Playoffs: Derby County

I still don't see these guys as the finished article. Paul Clement is an appointment I am definitely jealous of, but it feels like the same calibre of players as last year and the year before that have finished up as bridesmaids (or capitulated in the case of last season). They are what Cardiff were for many years - stuck in a rut. Maybe the playoff lottery will deliver for them this year. At least they feel like a cert for the playoffs this time around. Predict that they will lose fewer than five home games at the iPro, but it's the Tuesday night away game problem again that will trip them up. Carlo Ancelotti won't be able to advise you on those, Paul.

Playoffs: Wolves

This is a solid outfit that is hard to beat. They will miss Bakary Sako but Dicko and Afobe will be banging the goals in and there were no further losses to the squad which took the Championship firmly in its stride after winning the League One title the year before. They look capable of taking the next step but are not good enough for automatic promotion.

Playoffs: Burnley

Burnley have lost some but recruited adequate replacements in Matt Lowton and Jelle Vossen. Crucially, they have kept Sean Dyche on to manage them and he found an excellent formula to Championship success which made a little go a very long way last time around. I predict the same again, albeit with some better teams to compete with this time. 

Playoffs: QPR

I can't help but think there is a great deal of unknown about QPR this year under Chris Ramsey, with some solid Championship signings made and it not being clear yet if there will be any high profile departures before the transfer window is out. Let's hope this time we've not decided on one formation to use for the season, bought players to play that formation and then abandon it after two matches of the season. That's what happened to the 3-5-2 wing back formation Hoddle and Redknapp recruited for last Summer!!!

Tjaronne Chery is highly rated in his home land as a free kick specialist and creative midfielder but how will he cope on a Tuesday night away to Blackburn?

Jamie Mackie and James Perch have brought much needed professionalism and determination to the QPR squad and I am certain our defence against Charlton is still not the fully assembled defensive lineup for the new season.

I do think QPR can make the playoffs - just because I think there are as many as 18 squads worse than ours in the division!

Relegation: Rotherham United

This isn't only because I hate Steve Evans, by the way! I toyed with the same three going down that came up but I am convinced that MK Dons will be hard enough to beat to stay in the league. Evans has signed a couple of Sheffield Wednesday cast offs and Emmanuel Ledesma, who in spite of a number of spells at Championship clubs and his obvious talent, hasn't managed to deliver the goods on a sustained basis in his career thus far.

I sure am glad they stayed up last year though - The New York Stadium is required!

Relegation: Bristol City

These guys stormed to the League One title last year however there were a number of players let go and the Championship really does require strength in numbers. As it stands going in to the opening day they have just eighteen senior players on their books, including highly rated Ryan Fredericks, signed in the week from Tottenham. That size of squad will not cope with the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday demands of the Championship, as Blackpool found last year. I have real concern for Cotterill's paper-thin side.

Relegation: Preston North End

Simon Grayson has a solid League One outfit that appears to have accidentally pitched up in the Championship after buying a winning lottery ticket in the playoffs. Jermaine Beckford will score goals but the supply line to him doesn't look of the standard of the new division they are in. Will Keane has made a career out of having Manchester United on his CV so far, and failed to impress in spells at QPR and Sheffield Wednesday. I hope I am proved wrong as Preston and Bristol City do feel like Championship clubs, but I can see them both returning to League One after one season in the sun.

Predicted table:

1	Boro
2	Hull
3	Derby
4	Wolves
5	Burnley
6	QPR
7	Ipswich
8	Brentford
9	Blackburn
10	Foolham
11	Forest
12	Birmingham
13	Cardiff
14	Leeds
15	Sheff Wed
16	Bolton
17	Charlton
18	Brighton
19	Reading
20	Huddesfield
21	MK Dons
22	Rotherham
23	Bristol City
24	Preston

So there you have it! Straight to the Bookies now I presume!

Match Review - Wolves bite back to beat Leeds at the Death

J was in attendance at Molineux on a glorious Monday evening to witness a spectacular match that encapsulated this madcap Championship season.

Wolves 4 - 3 Leeds



Wolves have been on a great run at the moment, but if this season has taught anyone in the Championship it is that there are no easy games (except Blackpool) and that one result can change so much (see Middlesbrough's fall from 1st to 4th with one result on Monday).

Wolves came into the match unbeaten in 5 and having won their last 3 games and sitting just outside the playoff places. In contrast, Leeds were languishing in mid-table, and had lost their last game to Blackburn. Leeds have been again mired in controversy off the pitch - Neil Redfearn said that he was considering his position after his assistant, Steve Thompson, was fired in the week; Redfearn had also been requested not to play striker, Mirco Antenucci in their game against Blackburn as it is reported that he will be automatically given a new contract with 2 more goals this season; and there have been more rumours about takeovers from Red Bull amongst others.

However, at this stage of the season the pressure of a promotion chase can either make or break teams (note: Derby for 'break'). This pressure appeared to get to Kevin McDonald. He allowed himself to be pressured into slamming his clearance straight into Richard Stearman right in front of his own goal in the 11th minute, gifting Charlie Taylor his first senior goal for Leeds with a relative tap-in.

The goal came completely against the run of play and Wolves seemed confident in their game and continued to play as they had before, dominating possession and constantly looking for their deadly trio up front - Dicko, Sako and Afobe.

This paid off in the 19th minute as Afobe got the ball from the adventurous Dominic Iorfa on the right hand side. Afobe took his man on and flashed a shot across goal which was going wide until Dicko stole in at the back post to finish from an extremely acute angle.

J has been to a couple of Wolves games this season now and a key feature in their game is the directness of the passing that looks to feed one of Sako, Dicko or Afobe. When there is pace to burn in all 3 it is a very effective tactic. Just before half time a similar through ball from Sako played in Dicko. He was one on one but still around 20 yards out but chose to hit it early hard and low at the goalkeeper's near post. It took him by surprise and it flashed in off the post. Silvestri will probably think that he should have saved it, but it meant that Wolves went into the break in high spirits.

This showed from the outset and they scored again 3 minutes into the second half. A cross caused mayhem in the Leeds box and it looked for all the world that Danny Batth would score when he struck a shot from about 12 yards out until it hit Dicko in the six yard box, luckily the ball rebounded to Benik Afobe who gobbled up the rebound for his 29th goal of the season.

Afobe now has 10 goals in 16 games for Wolves and has been worth the money spent on prising him from Arsenal. Wolves upturn in fortune has coincided with his capture and he now has more goals than Harry Kane in total this season. According to whoscored.com he has 2.4 shots on average per game for Wolves, proving he has a keen eye for goal with a goal in every other game for them so far this season on average.

At this point in the game it looked like Leeds were there for the taking, but Wolves seemed to be struck by nerves and sat back. They invited pressure from Leeds who duly obliged with Alex Mowatt seemingly at the heart of all their good moments. Mowatt was based in the middle but also on the right hand wing with licence to roam inside as and when he wanted to put the ball on his favoured left foot. One such foray inside the pitch brought Leeds a way back in as his cross was turned into his own net by Batth. Carl Ikeme in goal must not have given him a shout as he came out to collect the cross and it was a comical own goal that invigorated Leeds.

They pushed forwards in search for an equaliser and were getting increased control in the middle of the park. Kenny Jackett responded by throwing in Dave Edwards to go into midfield in place of Dicko. It was a bold choice and Jackett clearly wanted the numbers in midfield and added defensive protection that Dicko just wouldn't provide.

It didn't stop Leeds equalising when Mowatt again cut inside on his left foot taking on the defence before curling a glorious left footed strike into Ikeme's right hand post, sending the travelling Leeds fans wild.

The game was then anyone's and it seemed like Wolves were happy to settle for a point having weathered the storm. But then on 88 minutes up stepped Dave Edwards to gloriously flick a header into the far corner sending Molineux into raptures. Kevin McDonald atoned for his earlier error with the beautiful in-swinging cross which was begging to be headed in. This was McDonald's 11th assist of the season meaning he has the joint second highest number of assists in the division.

Wolves held on for the win and look like they are peaking at precisely the right moment for a tilt at the play-offs. But then again, we all know how quickly things can change...

Man of the Match - J will give this to Dicko for his brace with special mention to Afobe who was given MOTM by whoscored.com. Leeds couldn't deal with Nouha Dicko in the first half and his finish for both goals showed that he has a lot of quality. Wigan should be kicking themselves for offloading him given their travails this season!

J

Weekend Preview: Have You All Got Over The COCup last week?

After a midweek round of the COCup (Capital One Cup) which included an incredible 36 goals we're in the uncomfortable position that the Premier League might not be able to live up to the League Cup!

Reading and Arsenal played out a thriller at the Madejski where Reading went 4-0 up before half-time, before Arsenal pulled it back to 4-4 at the end of 90 minutes with 2 goals in injury time. There was a definite shift in momentum by this point and Arsenal ran out 7-5 victors in an extraordinary game after extra time. Sky must have thought that their luck was in this week as the next televised game on Wednesday night between Chelsea and Man Utd and featured a further 9 goals! United were 3-2 up in the 92nd minute but a last minute Eden Hazard penalty again saw the momentum shift. Chelsea had by this point essentially thrown on their full strength team against a Man Utd substitute and reserve team with only really Rafael a first teamer in their XI. Chelsea eventually won 5-4 after extra time. Amazingly there were more goals in each of those two games than there were penalties scored between Wigan and Bradford. The Bantams, with their German-esque record in shootouts (six shootout victories in a row going into this one) clearly knew that the strategy here was to hold Wigan out for 120 minutes before dumping them out with their nerves of steel from the spot. The quarter final draw has pitted Leeds and Chelsea against each other (two clubs which deserve each other) and Bradford have a money-spinning tie at last at Valley Parade as they host Arsenal. The COCup has fast become one of the most entertaining competitions this season amazingly! Still, it's a mickey mouse cup that nobody's bothered about, right?

This weekend's action:

The Championship kicked us off with another 'cracking game' (Warnock, 2012) last night as Brighton and Leeds shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw, with Paddy Kenny producing some fine stops including one from the spot and one deep into added time to deny the Seagulls all three points in front of over 26,000 at the Amex (again!). I noted that Lee Mason refereed the match last night and incredibly has now given six penalties in three days (he also took charge of the Chelsea v Man Utd league cup tie).

Fulham v Everton - This looks like it could be a decent tie, given their respective good starts to the season. Everton's sparkling early form has tailed off a little with three straight stalemates, but they've still shown plenty of quality in those draws to suggest that they aren't about to embark on any kind of slump (and, Stevie G, I can verify that Everton most certainly do not play long ball football!). As we've come to expect with the Cottagers, they've been strong at home and Berbatov and Petric have certainly hit it off with three goals each so far this campaign and we can't overlook the incredible goalscoring form of Bairdinho from the back so far this year! Everton have an excellent recent record against Fulham with five wins and a draw from the last six meetings, but for us all roads lead to a score draw this time around.

Prediction: Fulham 2-2 Everton

Norwich v Stoke - We don't feel like we've featured either of these teams too much this season so we're going to give them some attention now! This is a game between two sides out of form - they've each only won one in their last 6 league games. Stoke haven't won in 3 while Norwich did win recently against Arsenal but showed their lack of clinical edge this season in their draw against Aston Villa last weekend. In the last 6 games between the two teams Stoke definitely have the edge with 4 wins against the Canaries. In that period they've scored 10 goals to Norwich's 3. However, you can almost guarantee the game will be feisty with a total of 14 yellow cards in this period and 3 reds. Stoke haven't won in 14 attempts away from home so Norwich will be feeling that this could be a good chance for them to pick up another 3 points at Carrow Road. Both sides have averaged under 1 goal a game this season in the league (Norwich have 7 goals in 9 games, while Stoke have 8 in 9). But while Norwich have been leaking goals at over 2 a game, Stoke don't concede a lot with 9 in 9 for them. It could come down to the performances respectively of Stoke's forwards. If Stoke's forwards have a good day they should win, but if they misfire it could be Norwich's day.

Prediction: Norwich 0-1 Stoke

Crystal Palace v Blackburn - Game of the week in the Championship promises to be a real treat in South East London as 4th plays 5th. Hot on the heels of the news that Ian Holloway is set to take over at Sel'urst and on the back of an excellent run of form which continued with a fantastic 2-1 win away at Leicester last week, the Eagles host the mad chicken farmers who themselves will have new boss Henning Berg in the hotseat and have shown signs of recovery again lately by grinding out victories against struggling Sheffield Wednesday and Watford. I have been incredibly impressed by the Championship's surprise package this year so far: Palace have not lost in the league since August 25th and as well as at Leicester have claimed  victory over Cardiff, Bolton and Wolves in recent weeks. With 26 goals having been scored at Selhurst Park this year, I'm expecting more of the same here. Blackburn do not roll over easily though and they are the only Championship side unbeaten on the road this year, albeit having drawn 5 of their 6 away games. We fancy another 'Desmond' here!

Prediction: Crystal Palace 2-2 Blackburn

It's the FA Cup 1st round proper this weekend in the lower echelons of the football league, and there are some intriguing encounters. Among them, Chelmsford City take on Colchester United in an all Essex derby, whilst there is the always feisty encounter of Hereford versus Shrewsbury on Sunday. Crawley Town will be glad they don't have corruption king and general criminal Steve Evans still at the club as the Met Police come to the Broadfield Stadium in an attempt to arrest the Sussex club's recent series of cup runs. Gillingham host Scunthorpe today without any detailed scouting reports on their opponents - after their scout joined the opposition's staff this week! Last night saw Cambridge City force a replay out of MK Dons. 

Our teams:

Saturday's game at Gresty Road sees the FA Cup start properly for Crewe Alex as they take on Wycombe Wanderers. Both sides lost their last league outing and will be hoping to try and begin a cup run this weekend. Wycombe are however, without a win in 3 and they are the underdogs going into the game a division down from Crewe. Interestingly both sides would have been in opposite positions last year when Wycombe were relegated from League One while Crewe were promoted from League Two. Crewe have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between these sides, however, they have lost their last 4 matches in the FA Cup.

QPR take on Reading in the battle of the hoops, which ought to be viewed as a 'win or bust' for Mark Hughes. He's had plenty of mitigating circumstances with injuries and suspensions and the team have played better football than their league position suggests at times, but ultimately football is a results business and results are dictated by goals - which QPR don't score enough of, but concede to many of. I really hope Hughes goes for it in this one and stops pissing around playing one man up top at home. This has to be 4-4-2 for me.

Saturday's early game sees Man Utd host Arsenal. None of the last 6 games between the sides have ended in a draw, so our tip is not to bet on that outcome! United have won 5 of the last 6 meetings between the two and it has always seemed that they have had Arsenal's number when it comes to these games. The same fixture last season saw United run out 8-2 winners in a thrilling game, but I think you'd go a long way to get odds on that score again! United have scored 16 goals in their last 6 games against Arsenal and they will be hoping that run continues on Saturday.

Union Berlin have a massive derby game with Dynamo Dresden on Sunday. The last 2 games between these 2 have ended in a 4-0 victory for either team so that could be a decent score to bet on! Both sides are mid to lower table in II Bundesliga and Union actually sit 2 places and 3 points better off than their hosts. Union have won 5 of the last 6 games between these two teams so they will be hoping to keep up that run. Dynamo haven't won in their last 3, and both sides lost their last game so it should be an interesting battle between two sides fairly low on confidence.

Enjoy this weekend's football everyone! C is off to Loftus Road to watch QPR take on Reading on Sunday while J is travelling to the world famous Highbury Stadium to see Fleetwood Town take on Bromley in the magic of the FA Cup First Round. Look out for match reviews and the weekend review over the next week or so!

C&J

Week Review: Round Two

Hello all, we hope you've had a good bank holiday weekend. We are back up to full strength this week after last week's staff shortages so we've got a lot to review from this weekend's action...

Balls-ups

Our main talking point this week has to be the abnormal number of goalkeeping and defensive errors we've seen in the Premier League since the start of the season. Several of the Premier League's most experienced custodians like Petr Cech, David De Gea and Rob Green (can I really place him in that sentence along with those names?!) have found themselves on the receiving end of criticism from fans, managers and the press alike for misjudging long range shots or crosses, whilst we've seen Skrtel and Collins send woefully short backpasses to their respective keepers. Is it sheer coincidence that these keepers are all making dreadful mistakes at the same time or is there something everyone is missing? Well, we think the latter. Specifically, we think the ball is to blame. The new Nike Maxim ball looks as though it will take some getting used to and is swerving all over the place. Several strikers and midfielders are trying their luck from innocuous looking distances and it is really causing goalies to panic and parry what seem like straight forward catches, or in some cases inadvertently they've even ended up help divert the ball into their net. Saturday’s game at Villa Park saw both Shay Given and Tim Howard appear to misjudge the flight of the ball in mid-air and end up letting in tame shots they would usually have snapped up. Rob Green let in a really harmless daisy cutter from Michu, while Adam 'Butterfingers' Federici has let in 2 howlers already this season from fairly innocuous shots on goal, and Petr Cech’s mistake was in the same game as Federici’s second mistake of the season. Meanwhile David De Gea and Pepe Reina both lost themselves in the flight of crosses to allow their opponents to score an absolute gift. These are not all bad goalkeepers and there have been an extraordinary amount of errors for such a short period of time. Therefore, the common factor would seem to be the new ball.

Chelsea: Genuine title contenders?

Chelsea have started the season like a house on fire and as many pundits have remarked, Roman is finally getting the exhilarating football he has apparently craved at Stamford Bridge for so long. Eden Hazard looks magnificent, and it seems more and more likely he will be the next Premier League world superstar after Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry. Fernando Torres seems to have hit on some form, and he must be carrying through the confidence he gained from his golden boot winning exploits at Euro 2012 with that tremendous 2 goal haul. Juan Mata was a class act last season but now he has some equally gifted and classy team-mates Chelsea look incredibly potent going forward. However, I don’t want to come off as biased but I am really not that impressed with them defensively. They conceded 2 against Reading and looked on the rack in that game for a period. They kept a clean sheet against Newcastle, but as far as I could tell, Newcastle had some very decent chances, which you would normally expect Ba and Cisse to put away. Papiss Cisse in particular had 2 very good chances and had he been sharper this could have been a very different result. I think Chelsea could come undone against more clinical teams really as David Luiz always looks like he has a mistake in him, while John Terry looks like he’s over the hill now. With Victor Moses going in to sit on the bench, Marko Marin still not playing and Daniel Sturridge in reserve though, Chelsea appear to be going with the mantra ‘attack is the best form of defence’ so irrespective of whether it works or not, it should be bloody exciting at the Bridge this season!

Stoke City RFC have a non-controversial game v Arsenal!

Is it me or do Stoke save their very roughest for Arsenal? Stoke fans, players and management alike appear to have a vendetta against Arsenal and their combative style turns into borderline GBH. I am sure it is this fixture which leads to Stoke being frowned upon so much by other clubs and the football purists. I remember coming across this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGmJrfAAKyE a while back - this game is usually a carbon copy of it. These bully-boy tactics have paved the way for a player with absolutely zero football ability, Andy Wilkinson, to play regular Premier League football and 'shine' on occasions like this. Once again, this brute who Pulis has clearly groomed to play 'the Stoke way' was flying in to tackles, some reckless and most needless, and, like team mate Robert Huth, deserved his customary yellow card. Though for all their full-bloodedness, the rest of the Stoke team weren't as fiery as usual for this one and didn't look like they could score in a month of Sundays. Fortunately for them, Arsenal were reduced to hopeful long punts that went miles wide or over the bar. There were only the two bookings mentioned, 14 shots in total (Stoke managed just three and no corners) and the game finished a bore 0-0 draw.

Championship pacesetters

Early days and all that, but Blackpool have made an extremely impressive start in the Championship this season. Ipswich were their latest victims this weekend, who they demolished 6-0 at Bloomfield Road on Saturday. Nouha Dicko has had the same impact he had when on loan at Blackpool from Wigan last season, whilst Tom Ince has shown what a class act he is in the opening three games. Promisingly, Ince has also started to show the consistency he struggled to find last season. Blackpool fans will be hoping he is still a Tangerine on Saturday morning. Next up in the league for the Seasiders is a tough trip to the King Power stadium to take on Leicester City, where I expect they'll be given a more thorough examination of their promotion credentials.

Usual roundup:

Similarly to Chelsea I think Manchester United’s season will be chock full of attacking excitement, but defensive openness. The summer signings have been mainly attacking and Shinji Kagawa looks like a real bargain at £12m and an absolute class act. His partnership with RVP up front for United this season should be really exciting and I think that those 2 signings are sending a message to Wayne Rooney. For years he has been indispensable and when fit, has played. He has been United’s only top class player in reality since Ronaldo left and he has perhaps become lackadaisical due to this. He doesn’t look like the hungry Rooney of old (unless of course you count the extra few pounds he seems to have put on this summer!), and now he will have to perform week in week out, or he can be replaced by players at least as good as him. I hope he responds well to the message rather than sulking but only time will tell. His injury lay-off could be a good chance for him to regroup and come back stronger, but he will probably have a real fight on his hands when he gets back just to get in the starting XI.

A marked improvement for QPR this week, who recovered sufficiently from their drubbing last week to gain a point at Norwich, traditionally a ground on which they have had some awful luck over the years. Whilst I wasn't at the game (probably a blessing), I gather that yet again Grant Holt gave the QPR defensive duo of Clint Hill and Anton Ferdinand a torrid time and both were given yellow cards. Clint Hill struggled so much that Hughes saw the need to replace him with Onuoha whilst Anton Ferdinand's yellow card was specifically as a result of Holt's standard tactic of dragging the man to ground with him when he falls over and convincing the referee he was fouled. The only surprise this time around was that Holt didn't score a 99th minute winner against us!

Oh, and a message for Chris Hughton if I may: Yes, it was a foul on Cisse for the penalty, and yes there was encroachment on Zamora's behalf, but how many encroachment incidents go unspotted every week? It seems to me that the fuss about encroachment only ever surfaces when the rebound is tucked away by an onrushing attacker. So seeing as the rule is not properly policed, I don't really see a problem. However, you can guarantee that because Mr Hughton kicked up a fuss this week, some poor bugger in League Two next week is going to have to retake his spot kick because the FA will have sent out a memo to referees to watch for it this week.

Union Berlin went down 2-0 to 2. Bundesliga new boys SV Sandhausen. It's not been a great start in the league for the boys from Köpenick and the same travel sickness bug suffered last season seems to have carried into this one. Next week: home to Hertha in the Stadtderby. It doesn't get any easier!

And the less said about Crewe's game at Brentford, the better!

What we learned this week: 
-  Everton are flying
-  Whilst they are good at creating chances, Southampton's defence is a huge cause for concern
- Wigan's summer recruits seem to be very shrewd, particularly Arouna Kone.
-  Swansea's result v QPR wasn't a one-off, but Sunderland promise to provide a sterner test next week
-  City look vulnerable at the back - Sparky take note!
- Zonal marking is a hated system. No-one seems to like it, so why do managers play it?
-  MK Dons can't keep 11 men on the pitch, whilst the real Wimbledon have shipped 11 goals in 2 games. Sort it out Dons!