Championship 2022/23

[Plissken]

Yeah, if you took every team on their best day then Clarets are absolutely at the top, but the Championship isn't like that.  We're a ridiculous outfit who are quite happy to go out and try to win 6-4.  Last night, Ashley Barnes almost scored with a scorpion kick.  Ashley Barnes.  Or course, it might actually be that he was falling over to try to get a penalty but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

Manuel Benson is absolutely ridiculous though.  If you see the equaliser last night, he's the perfect impact sub to run at a defender who is already knackered.  The classic winger, utterly unplayable for 45 minutes, not the same when he gets the full 90. 

 

We'd get smashed in the Premier League playing like this though.  Even though the two centre backs are going to be absolute stars when they are old enough to start shaving.  Shame they are both on loan though (Man City and Moechengladbach respectively).

[Yobo Ahoy]

It's a crazy league. Watford put together back to back wins for the first time this season on Saturday (almost into November!), made it 3 last night and suddenly we are in the playoffs. I couldn't possibly predict where we will end up. 

 

Edit: and somehow 4 points off 2nd place with a game in hand. Ridiculous. Don't want to get carried away, but all rather reminiscent of 20/21 where they won 14 out of the last 18 games and Bournemouth bottled it spectacularly. Ah, good times!

[Yobo Ahoy]

Well, you did call it @Plissken ... What happened there? 

[Plissken]

To be blunt (ha!), we came up against the right team to exploit our weaknesses.  Basically, we've got a young attack-first defence, not the tallest or most physical by any means, who've been playing twice a week for a while (inc 100 minutes on Weds) coming up against an experienced, physical (in a fair way), savvy and - above all - good side playing at home who got a rocket up their arse at half time.

 

Outworking and bullying (again, in a good way) more talented sides was what we did for several years and I have no complaints about someone doing it to us.  Didn't expect the wheels to fall off quite so spectacularly as they did in that second half, but they did to us what we did to Sunderland a few weeks ago. 

 

That's the beauty of football, really, especially in the Championship.

[Shimmyhill]

8 minutes ago, Plissken said:

To be blunt (ha!), we came up against the right team to exploit our weaknesses.  Basically, we've got a young attack-first defence, not the tallest or most physical by any means, who've been playing twice a week for a while (inc 100 minutes on Weds) coming up against an experienced, physical (in a fair way), savvy and - above all - good side playing at home who got a rocket up their arse at half time.

 

Outworking and bullying (again, in a good way) more talented sides was what we did for several years and I have no complaints about someone doing it to us.  Didn't expect the wheels to fall off quite so spectacularly as they did in that second half, but they did to us what we did to Sunderland a few weeks ago. 

 

That's the beauty of football, really, especially in the Championship.

 

You had just scored for 1-2 when I stopped watching and checking the score later on was a bit of a surprise  

 

[Yobo Ahoy]

Well Watford lost today after all my bluster up there so who the fuck knows. Best not to analyse this shit. 

 

 

[Plissken]

Ridiculous.

 

 

[Plissken]

Currently gathering every lucky charm I can find. Also already sacrificed three virgins to the Football Gods.

 

The oldest English derby (though not the most played) and this feels like the highest stakes ever.

[Plissken]

Fucking demolished them.

[Plissken]

He’s a shithouse but he’s our shithouse. And he can’t ever stop doing it even when interviewed by the BBC.

 

 

 

[wullie]

A month ago we were dead last and I just wanted to go into the World Cup break anywhere but 24th. Instead we're 11th with one or two games in hand on everyone else still and one of the form teams in the division

 

 

Wasn't expecting this. Terrible time to halt all momentum where I was previously looking forward to a break from the misery

[AfromB]

Fuck me. This time yesterday Coventry were still owned by Sisu while the ground was still sort of owned by ACL after the demise of Wasps (boo!). Now we’re owned by some bloke from Stratford that no one knows and the stadium is owned by Mike Ashley. Why can’t it ever be simple?

[AfromB]

The fun never ends.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63858805

 

[Plissken]

At Turf Moor. It’s not the best weather to be sat watching one side camping on their halfway line and not challenging for the ball and the other failing to do anything about it.

[Ork1927]

Not the best day for Cardiff today -should have been out of sight at half time against a poor Blackpool team, then our former mega flop, Gary Madine gets their equaliser and we were lucky they didn’t make the long drive north with all 3 points.

 

And we are now confirmed to be under a transfer embargo as Tan refuses to pay up for Sala despite us losing all the appeals.

[Shimmyhill]

As Norwich were on sky, shit weather and playing terribly….. we didn’t go and having watched it that was a good decision 😱

[Plissken]

I've said before that we're a very silly team.  Bitterly cold Turf Moor, and with the visitors on a run of four wins in the last five it seemed like we were set up for an intriguing encounter.

 

Which for the first half, we got.  Intriguing as in "nothing happened".  Boro set up camp just inside the halfway line, with 24 yards between the front line of forwards and the back line of defence.  Burnley passed it around the back and no Boro player made a single attempt to challenge for the ball.  The gameplan was to wait for the defender to give the ball away to a forward and then charge at goal.  That was it.  Boro must have crossed halfway with possession maybe three times in the opening half hour.  They were aided by a number of misfiring Burnley players, with Brownhill, Cullen and Benson all having their radar very badly calibrated.

 

Second half start with more of the same, until suddenly Benson tried to hook a backpass from halfway and sold it way, way too short.  Watmore ran onto it and finished into the corner.  Cue celebrations like they had won the Cup and some noise from the away supporters.  "Top of the league, you're having a laugh".

 

Steffen in the Boro goal got booked for time-wasting and the cumulative effect on the home crowd and players was "Screw this". Benson cut in from the right and scored at Steffens inside post, his celebration a mixture of joy and apology.  Five minutes later, he stands at the right hand corner of the penalty box and does his favourite thing, curls an inswinger aiming to hit the far post, where an attacking forward can nod him.  We've scored twice from this at least so far this season, and Steffen being rooted to his line made it three as the ball bounced off the inside of the post and in.

 

A few minutes after that, Brownhill swings a corner in and a Boro defender flicks it into his own net.  "Top of the league, we're having a laugh".

 

The away side have a novel challenge in front of them, which is to score a goal without us gifting it to them.  They show little sign of being able to do so, although Steffen has realised that he's allowed to take goal kicks without waiting for permission in writing.  As the clock ticks down, Muric comes out for a ball, misses, a bit of chaos, it loops up, hits the top of the bar.  A few seconds later, the ref blows.  Has he had the Hawkeye watch notification thingy? Nope... he's pointing to the spot.  Linesman is waving for a handball.  It's down the other end from me, so it must have hit somebody but... when?  Then the red card comes out for Connor Roberts and he goes mad.  Straight dismissal for handball preventing a goal.  Having seen a replay, the ball comes down and hits the bar, Roberts arm is up but... it doesn't go near it at all. The officials have messed up.  VAR would sort it, but no VAR in the Championship (for which I'm grateful).

 

Ball on the spot, striker does the stuttering run-in and places a weak shot bottom left, which Muric gathers in.  Justice.

 

Time enough for Scott Twine to come on after spending all season out injured, get very heavily fouled twice and substituted himself - Kompany said  it was tactical, I genuinely think it was because the Boro players had lost their heads a bit and were taking out their frustrations.  Final whistle blows, top of the league, six points clear.

[Moodmon]

Not as exciting, but in the Black Country some bloke showing just what a sack of shit Steve Bruce is.

 

Losing to Sunderland and looking terrible you say?  Time to make some some half time changes and alter how the team is playing.

 

West Brom fans: "Wait a manager can do that?  That's illegal."

 

Five on the bounce, four clean sheets. Absolutely nuts.  Helps we we have finally got our US striker Dike fit, and he looks a handful.  Going to see the Reading game on 2nd Jan, first time in ages I'll be going up.

 

Couldn't stand to watch Bruceball, even on the TV.  I've even tolerated Pulis, so for the man who had a terribly slow start at Huddersfield to get this reaction immediately is great.  Something daft like six points off relegation zone and six off play offs.  Got not right to be that close after how bad we have been for most of the season.

 

 

[Rsdio]

It's almost like the negligent melted clownshoes in charge of us should've given him a few quid to spend, isn't it.

[Yobo Ahoy]

@Plissken that handball penalty was bizarre. Weirdly it seemed like the player was preparing to handle it but changed his mind, either way not a red.

 

It's so jarring going from the World Cup straight back to the Championship. It's not even a question of quality, a smattering of these players were still around in the knockout stages after all - but the officiating is just night and day. Boro's earlier penalty claim was absolutely stonewall in modern terms but the refs know no-one really gives a shit about the championship so the most scrutiny they'll get is a few angry posts on twitter. 

 

 

[Rsdio]

To be fair it's probably similar for half the Premier League as well. I don't think it's necessarily conscious but they know they won't get that much shit for a bad decision unless it's one of the biggest clubs with a larger media presence (traditional and/or social) that's fucked over by it.

[Plissken]

Having seen the replays, it is clear that Roberts would have happily handled it - and tried to do so - but the crossbar got in the way. So my sympathy for the player is limited.  Don't give the officials the opportunity to make the wrong decision.

 

I've starting doing a bit more blogging, well, vlogging really.  I've already done one saying that I don't want VAR back, even though we lost out on Saturday and as @Rsdio said, it's because it has been set up to remove risk for the BRCs and if it doesn't affect them, then they don't give a shit.

[Plissken]

Dean Smith didn’t make it to 2023 in charge of Norwich. I thought he would do a job there.

[Naysonymous]

He should have signed Jack Grealish. 

[Shimmyhill]

3 hours ago, Plissken said:

Dean Smith didn’t make it to 2023 in charge of Norwich. I thought he would do a job there.

 

2 hours ago, Naysonymous said:

He should have signed Jack Grealish. 

 

Commented in the main other thread but same point… wrong man for wrong club and this season the football has been dire, clear he lost the fans a long time ago and the players looked lost especially at home, even watching last night it was clear the end was nigh with dreary sideways football with the better players getting nose bleeds in the opposition half.

 

While im not really a fan of swapping managers all the time it was inevitable - shame they didnt stick with Farke really.

[Naysonymous]

I’d just like to take this opportunity to say I’ve always liked Burnley, especially their players Anass Zaroury & Connor Roberts.  

[Plissken]

50 points should see us safe from relegation now.

[AfromB]

Praise the lord!

 

 

[Plissken]

Excellent game at Turf Moor. Can see why Coventry were on such a good run, probably the best visitors so far. Clarets got a rocket at half time and were just irresistible.

[Ork1927]

Hudson sacked for us.

 

Not really a surprise after we were terrible against a terrible Wigan side and then threw away the one goal lead we somehow managed to get in the 95th minute after failing to make any attempts to stop Wigan’s injury times attacks.

 

Not really his fault - inexperienced manager inheriting a bit good enough side.