20/21 Matchday Thread

[That Fat Centre Half]

Think the prediction of 4/5-0 would have been pretty accurate with some calmer finishing from Luton, utterly shambolic from us. Horrendous at the back and barely threatened the Luton net at the other end aside from the hit post early on. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think Sluga made a save all night.

You had 3 real good chances in the first half i felt, Biamou hit the post, he had another 1v1 that he really should have done better with that he put miles wide and then another on a pullback centre of the goal that Pearson luckily got a block on. Second half was a right off really with you at 10 men though.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Luton are safe - 22 teams will not be getting to the 47 point mark.

 

[Super_horns]

Excellent performance.

Nice 1st half with great goals then saved a penalty and got our 4th straight after Rotherham scored.

Also handy scores elsewhere.

 

[SF_]

So Preston have refused to agree to move our post-international break fixture with them to Easter Saturday, meaning that we are likely to be without several first team players due to their likely involvement in internationals on the Wednesday night. At the very least, we'd likely end up without Hanley, McLean, Giannoulis, Aarons, Skipp and Placheta as they'll almost certainly be involved and it'll be a big ask to get them back in the country, get the needed negative test results and give them a chance to rest before playing on Good Friday.

It's a pretty stupid situation again, but not of our own making this time like it was against Luton in the League Cup at the start of the season. Don't suppose you can blame Preston for refusing to move the fixture, as it gives them the best possible chance of getting something out of the game against what will be a depleted side for us, but on the flipside we'll just have to make do for that one game as it shouldn't have too much of an impact in the grand scheme of things.

It really doesn't matter, you'll stroll to 3pts

 

[Kenneth E End]

Some definite #teamslikeluton action on social media last night, despite being higher up in the division all season, our club being consistently higher in the league tables for 4 years, our club very much on a stable footing and actually having a stadium.

I feel last night was some make up for the bad luck we've had of late. We are for sure building something up at the Kenny.

I'd like to think after the international break, Jonesy will experiment a bit and be a bit more expansive to see what we're really capable of.

 

[SF_]

Some definite #teamslikeluton action on social media last night, despite being higher up in the division all season, our club being consistently higher in the league tables for 4 years, our club very much on a stable footing and actually having a stadium.

I feel last night was some make up for the bad luck we've had of late. We are for sure building something up at the Kenny.

I'd like to think after the international break, Jonesy will experiment a bit and be a bit more expansive to see what we're really capable of.

Fancy you to pump us in the next game.

If it wasn't for the away form at the start of the season we'd be going down this year.

 

[Atavistic]

Forest away tonight, and as they did last time I'm sure they'll provide stubborn opponents but we should eventually be able to grind our way past them. No changes on the injury front as far as I'm aware, so am only expecting to see one change to the starting XI based on how Sunday's game went: expecting and hoping to see Dowell start in the number 10 slot in place of Rupp, as we looked so much better after making that change early in the second half on Sunday.

 

[Atavistic]

Only change to the XI tonight sees Dowell replace Buendia, as his wife apparently gave birth overnight. Gives him a bit of a rest before the weekend at least, but it's still not great to be without the best player in the league. We'll just have to make do and hope Dowell can step up to the task in his absence.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Fancy you to pump us in the next game.

If it wasn't for the away form at the start of the season we'd be going down this year.

I can’t say I’ve been that surprised, with Preston having lost players and not replacing them. They are probably in the bottom quartile when it comes to budgets too.

 

[Atavistic]

Don't think we could have possibly asked for a better start than this. Forest standing off and trying to stick all 11 men behind the ball, but that's making it far too easy for us and they've barely even touched the ball so far. Typical Pukki for the first goal, but a class volleyed finish from Dowell for the second after a neat one-two with Rupp.

Dowell is certainly staking his claim here, that's for sure. A good show from Rupp as well after his disappointing performance on Sunday.

 

[thewwfc]

Well beaten by Barnsley tonight, they're like a better version of us, highly physical, aggressive, not that pretty to watch, but they were better drilled than us defensively and took their chances, and we didn't.

It was a bit like the shithouse derby though and unsurprisingly, given the amount of "enthusiastic" tackles going in on both sides, plenty of cards were shown.

 

[Craig]

Well beaten by Barnsley tonight, they're like a better version of us, highly physical, aggressive, not that pretty to watch, but they were better drilled than us defensively and took their chances, and we didn't.

It was a bit like the shithouse derby though and unsurprisingly, given the amount of "enthusiastic" tackles going in on both sides, plenty of cards were shown.

I thought it was just shite, mate.

 

[Super_horns]

Norwich are now only 1 point behind the total West Brom got in their promotion season last term.

Kind of shows how dominant they have been.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

West Brom really we’re not that good last year I thought. But Norwich certainly the best team in the league by a distance. Think it’s going to be a fairly “boring” top 2 with Norwich and yourselves going up. Squad depth of both just too much for the level.

 

[Super_horns]

Hopefully but got Swansea and Brentford plus Norwich still to play .

And you ofcourse !

 

[CCFC_Charlie]

Think this'll probably end going down as one of the worst Championship seasons since the dawn of the Premier League era when all is said and done. Looking increasingly likely that promotion is going to be 2/3 relegated teams with relegation being 2/3 promoted sides and not much of any interest going on in between it all. Barnsley's run the only real eye-catching thing so far.

 

[Super_horns]

Yes - we have been rubbish for most of it till Deeney got injured and we had to play 433 using pace and having Hughes in central midfield rather than out wide.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Think this'll probably end going down as one of the worst Championship seasons since the dawn of the Premier League era when all is said and done. Looking increasingly likely that promotion is going to be 2/3 relegated teams with relegation being 2/3 promoted sides and not much of any interest going on in between it all. Barnsley's run the only real eye-catching thing so far.

Alongside what you are saying in terms of the story of the season, It feels noticeably lower quality wise from last season too. Schedule can’t be helping that and maybe it’s us assimilating to the level but I think goals are down across the board as well. I’ve seen fewer standout players this year it feels like and most games seem to come down to who makes the mistake rather than a moment of quality.

 

[Atavistic]

This is definitely the weakest Championship I can remember in recent times, no other standout teams and so many teams just sticking ten men behind the ball against us. I reckon it's at least in part cos of covid, as teams generally haven't spent much money to improve their squads and there's less pressure on some teams without fans. That goes some way to explaining why all three relegated sides are firmly in the promotion and play-off picture, while all three promoted sides are seriously struggling to stay up.

It's a weird season, for sure, and I would not have believed you if you'd told me we'd be this dominant. In and around the promotion picture, sure. But ten points clear with nine games to play? None of us saw that coming.

 

[CCFC_Charlie]

Alongside what you are saying in terms of the story of the season, It feels noticeably lower quality wise from last season too. Schedule can’t be helping that and maybe it’s us assimilating to the level but I think goals are down across the board as well. I’ve seen fewer standout players this year it feels like and most games seem to come down to who makes the mistake rather than a moment of quality.

Yeah, it’s been a really unenjoyable season from a viewing perspective, which I’m sure mainly comes from having to watch it all on a screen at home, but it feels like every game we play is a really tedious slugfest lacking in any real quality aside from the few standout sides. Was quite looking forward to seeing the football this season on the basis that I’d heard the quality of the Championship had really stepped up since we were last in it but it’s been a big disappointment. Although in truth I probably shouldn’t be complaining seeing as the overall low quality of the league means that we should probably survive this year.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Think this'll probably end going down as one of the worst Championship seasons since the dawn of the Premier League era when all is said and done. Looking increasingly likely that promotion is going to be 2/3 relegated teams with relegation being 2/3 promoted sides and not much of any interest going on in between it all. Barnsley's run the only real eye-catching thing so far.

Standard is massively down on last season I’d say. Not that I’m complaining too much as it allows us to establish ourselves even more. Having not seen us in the second tier in the mid 90s, this is my 4th season of viewing Championship football since 2005 - this is easily the worst of the 4 seasons.
As has already been said, I just can’t believe the negativity and the war of attrition in some games. I don’t necessarily believe it’s a money thing - teams are still spending a lot of cash that they haven’t got.

 

[Super_horns]

Maybe the lack or crowds and volume of games really has taken it toll on many squads?

A lot of wins are scrappy 1/2-0 results with the odd exception.

Teams playing within themselves to save energy for the next mid week etc

 

[SF_]

I can’t say I’ve been that surprised, with Preston having lost players and not replacing them. They are probably in the bottom quartile when it comes to budgets too.

We haven't replaced our best players for the last 4 years so yeah, definitely no surprise.

Huge summer.

 

[Atavistic]

Rupp will miss tomorrow's game for us as he's picked up a hamstring strain, but him and Idah should hopefully both be back for Preston after the international break. Besides that, Buendia will be available after missing Wednesday's fixture, but wouldn't be surprised to see him come on from the bench with Dowell starting in his place again; I think a front midfield three of Cantwell, Dowell and Buendia would be unbalanced. In the absnece of Rupp, I'd expect to see Vrancic slot in at number 10 again after having to settle for a place on the bench the past few games.

Blackburn looked very good when we played them just before Christmas, but their season seems to have really petered out since then and they've lost Dack to injury again. Should be able to get another professional 2-0 win I reckon, and it would be nice to hit 10 wins in a row.

 

[chicowintry]

Think this'll probably end going down as one of the worst Championship seasons since the dawn of the Premier League era when all is said and done. Looking increasingly likely that promotion is going to be 2/3 relegated teams with relegation being 2/3 promoted sides and not much of any interest going on in between it all. Barnsley's run the only real eye-catching thing so far.

I don't think it's unique to the Championship. I've watched a fair few Premier League games and the quality isn't really there either. Honestly, Norwich's defending last season wouldn't have looked out of place there this season. Likewise League One appears the weakest it's been in a while eg Town have been utterly pathetic this season yet they sit one point off the play-offs with games in hand.

Lots of factors at play. Squeezing season into a smaller period thus more injuries, no fans/atmosphere at games giving a lot of games more of a pre-season friendly feel, standard of refereeing at what seems an all-time low, etc.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Alex Mowatt's red card for Barnsley was rescinded whilst Kyle McFadzean's for Coventry wasn't.

Seems to be a lot more red cards being overturned this season than normal, but I think the standard of refereeing is improving compared to 10 years ago.

 

[Super_horns]

That is interesting because most people feels it’s worse really - certainly with VAR in the Premier league .

But there are more instant relays and slow mo pictures to judge decisions on when in reality refs in the EFL at least still get one real time look to make a decision often with both sets of players screaming in his ear or on the floor .

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

We were in the conference 10 years ago and the standard there was....well not great! But I feel like people have been complaining about declining quality of referees forever. I dont recall a season where fans have come out of it praising them thats for sure!

Its getting a lot harder to be a ref these days because of all that but some of them dont help themselves with a bit of an unnecessarily pompous attitude but i guess you need something to get you through the abuse. Some of the rules are becoming confusing as well, handball has got silly, players are encouraged to try and win free kicks and penalties over minor contact as well putting refs in awkward situations.

 

[Super_horns]

Good point - the guys on here always say officials in the National leagues is rubbish .

Everyone complains when a decision goes against them I guess.

And like you say we have all these rules that seem to do the game no good really in terms of the flow and entertainment factor.

Watched BT the other week and 2 high profile ex players pretty much admitted part of their job was to get in the refs ear and influence them as if it was just part of the game like scoring a goal is.

And the ex ref on the programme just agreed and went along with their view so basically admitting players could get away with things like that.

Some probably aren’t that fit now as the game is quicker with as you say more conning and gamesmanship going on.

Particularly who can scream the loudest!

 

[Kenneth E End]

We were in the conference 10 years ago and the standard there was....well not great! But I feel like people have been complaining about declining quality of referees forever. I dont recall a season where fans have come out of it praising them thats for sure!

Its getting a lot harder to be a ref these days because of all that but some of them dont help themselves with a bit of an unnecessarily pompous attitude but i guess you need something to get you through the abuse. Some of the rules are becoming confusing as well, handball has got silly, players are encouraged to try and win free kicks and penalties over minor contact as well putting refs in awkward situations.

I don't really agree with this. Yes, there are some referees in the level below who weren't up to standard, but I would argue the standard was better generally in the Conference than those on the National List. The reason, in my opinion, is that those referees are up and coming whereas many on the NL seem to have a job for life and there isn't enough churn.

In the Conference, we had a number of referees who are now operating in SG1 and SG2 - the game that ended our 27 game unbeaten run in our promotion season was referred by Chris Kavanagh, who in my opinion will become #2 behind Oliver eventually. We also had David Coote, Tim Robinson, Tony Harrington, Jeremy Simpson (ref in that PO final) - some of those already in SG1, the others will be in future.

Referees are under so much pressure and are criticised despite pundits needing a dozen angles to decide themselves. They get one look at it. I take a dimmer view of those officials acting as VAR who still don't make the correct decision.