Championship 2018-2019

[Dave P]

Championship Form Guide last 6

1   Leeds United   18pts
WWWWWW

2   Hull City   14pts
DWDWWW

3   WBA 14pts
WDDWWW

4   Birmingham City   13pts
WWLDWW

5   Norwich City   12 pts
DWWDWD

6   Stoke City 11pts
WDWDWL

7   Q P R 10pts
DLLWWW

8   Sheffield Wednesday   10pts
WLDLWW

9   Sheffield United 10pts
WLWLDW

10   Bristol City   10pts 
LWDWDDD

11   Aston Villa 9pts DWDDLW

12   Derby County 8pts
LWWDDL

13   Preston North End 7pts
DLWWLL

14   Swansea City 6pts
LLWWLL

15   Nottingham Forest 6pts
DWLDLD

16   Millwall   5pts
LDDLLW

17   Brentford 5pts
LDLLWD

18   Middlesbrough 5pts
DLDLWL

19   Blackburn Rovers   5pts
LWDDLL

20   Bolton Wanderers 4pts
LDLLLW

21   Ipswich 4pts
LLLWDL

22   Wigan 4pts
WDLLLL

23   Rotherham 3pts
DLDDLL

24   Reading   2pts
LDLDLL

Lambert in his wet dream position of one outside the bottom 3.

[eamonn]

Martin O'Neill now being linked to Forest

Hahahaha...poor eejits.

[old man villa fan]

'75 repeat and beating Norwich last match of the season (although it didn't matter then).

[SoccerHQ]

Criminal result today when we see what the top 3 did.

Worth noting though the amount of goals Norwich are conceding.

WBA also not winning again when Dwight Gayle is injured.

We simply though have to win on games when Norwich or Leeds drop points. Today was nowhere near good enough against Preston's B team.

[Steve67]

We are nowhere near ruthless enough.  Urgently need reinforcements.

[mr underhill]

us 'dropping' 2 points and Derby snatching an unlikely victory cost us big time today, especially with favourable results elsewhere. A gap of three points between us and 6th would have been so much better going into the already tough QPR game

[Matt Collins]

Whoever goes up this year is going to find it a fairly distressing experience next season. Nobody can defend

[Neil Hawkes]

Whoever goes up this year is going to find it a fairly distressing experience next season. Nobody can defend

This is one of the reasons I am not keen on us getting promoted this season - would prefer to have the team strong in all areas, be top of the division throughout the season with confidence in abundance; on present form this would probably take the summer to fully address. Should we go up we would be languishing in the relegation zone without significant improvements, unless the January window additions are exceptional. Was this not what our CEO was alluding to a few weeks ago?

[Brassneck]

1 win from the last 4 games has prompted me to reassess our promotion chances.

We are not the side I thought we were and the fluent, attacking football seen a few weeks ago has disappeared.

I've formed the conclusion that it's more about the manager than it is the players.  Rafa showed it in 2016/17, Nuno last season and Belisa this season.  Other teams promoted have their manager to thank as well (Cardiff, Huddersfield, Brighton).  We are a much better side on paper than Leeds but the gap between us is immense. 

If we can sneak play offs this season, I will be happy.  There are some good sides in there though and we need to improve consistency.  The loss of Jack has shown (again) just how important he is.   January is big for us now but if (which is looking likely) we don't go up this season, the summer will be even bigger.  This time next season, we will have a clearer view of how good a manager Smith is.  Being the eternal optimist, I am hoping we'll be in Leeds position, given our spending power and the attraction to players that we have.

I haven't written off this season but we need to get a winning run going pretty soon and after that, we need to ensure that we don't have a bad run, as we did in the spring of the previous 2 seasons.

[mr underhill]

OPR  really is a must win if we are to have a chance of the play offs. We have to give Smnith at least two windows before we have any real idea as to how his team might look. For me I don't  expect anything from this season, it's next that will really show who and what we are.

[robleflaneur]

I don't think that you can have the luxury of choosing when you go up.What might be the implications of FFP ? A hefty fine ? I think that the owners might have budgeted for that .A transfer embargo would be damaging if it included loans.
Would Grealish or McGinn be lost at the end of the season ?
Momentum or confidence  can be lost because of the break for a new season.
.Under Saunders in 75 we won our last 8 games,signing off the season by hammering Norwich 4-1 away.
 3 games but nearly 4 months later it was our turn to be hammered by Norwich and we had 1 point from our opening 3 games.

There is also a limit to our short term potential as Purslow pointed out the top 6 in the Prem look fixed for the next few years.The gulf between them and the rest looks huge. But below them the Division looks uninspiring.Watford,Bournemouth and newly promoted Wolves are prospering.Burnley finished 7th last year.Next year finish above Brighton and we should have another financial bonanza to improve the team.
Even the worst case scenario of relegation would really be just a temporary setback as we would be back in this league with a far better squad and no FFP.
It's a no brainer,you  just don't refuse the £80m plus that they give you for being in the top division.

[robleflaneur]

OPR  really is a must win if we are to have a chance of the play offs. We have to give Smnith at least two windows before we have any real idea as to how his team might look. For me I don't  expect anything from this season, it's next that will really show who and what we are.

With our depleted squad,I can see QPR being a difficult game but it's more of a must win for an automatic spot.We are only 5 points behind Boro and Derby and they have to come to VP.

[Pvb1968]

In Dean we trust, come on villa let's win 4 of the next 6 and get in those play off spots, onwards and upwards.

[Ad@m]

Deary me. Talk of 'must wins" in December!!

[Richard]

Exactly 2 months ago we were 17th 7 points off the play offs so we have edged slowly closer if nothing else. Interestingly the Top 6 are the same now as they were then, albeit in a different order.

The challenge is to break into those play off positions - I've given up on automatic - and carry a Fulham like momentum into late May.