2024-25 Championship Match Day Thread

[BarrieOwl]

I watched most of it, Plymouth were an absolute mess. It was like they were playing at half-speed and the body language after the first goal was a joke. It was very laboured which must've been the most frustrating thing for the fans. Not tracking runners, shirking challenges, etc. very poor.

It's hard to truly dominate a game at Championship level, typically they're fairly competitive even if the score line says otherwise. This was dominated and got the score line. Leeds dominated the game against Portsmouth but didn't get the score line.

We will find out soon enough about both teams, ultimately Plymouth fans are going to be worried sick and Wednesday fans are going to be, rightfully, very excited for the coming season and what might happen.

Here she is.

 

[91SPP]

Here she is.

Not used to a bit of credit, Baz?

 

[SF_]

yea..........Heard Evatt is top of your wish list
Holloway coming in as his assistant

Wouldn't have Evatt managing our reserves.

About time we went abroad for a manager.

 

[SF_]

I flicked between the two last night but from what I saw PNE were really poor. Didn’t look a threat at all, slow, predictable play. Similar to us before Rohl took over but not as bad.

Guy has just sapped the life out of the squad, any positivity in possession seems a sub-able offence.

Including our end of season implosion, we've now lost 6 league games in a row without scoring.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Sounds like Mengi is fit, so we’ll likely go with the following…

GK Thomas Kaminski
RWB Chieo Ogbene
LWB Alfie Doughty
CB Teden Mengi
CB Reuell Walters
CB Tom Holmes
CM Shandon Baptiste
CM Jordan Clark
AM Tahith Chong
FW Carlton Morris
FW Elijah Adebayo
Subs: James Shea, Cauley Woodrow, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Joe Taylor, Andros Townsend, Aidan Francis-Clarke, Zack Nelson, Joe Johnson, Jayden Luker

Lot of interesting questions for us tonight, think you wont be far off with that team however he might fancy Johnson just because he’s left footed and he might value that in build up, although I think that would be a mistake.

I’m a little worried if we continue the tactical approach of last season especially the 2 man midfield and the very aggressive man for man defence. We had 2 quality players there last season and even then they sometimes got over run and half decent sides could exploit our shape.

We also tried Chong in midfield to start last season and it didn’t really work, he has natural attacking tendency and will also drift wide a lot which puts pressure on the other midfield players, so he faded to become a back up piece despite obvious promise. I just worry that despite being a good player, he just doesn’t actually fit what we are trying to do.

For me we should be going back to a proper balance midfield 3 however as we haven’t recruited any there and with Nakamba injured I’m concerned the midfield is going to look unbalanced out of possession again which was an enormous issue pretty much all last season, only saved often by Barkley being unbelievable

 

[SF_]

He's fucking gone!!!

Praise Jesus.

If only we could get rid of that old, useless twat Ridsdale too.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

He's fucking gone!!!

Praise Jesus.

If only we could get rid of that old, useless twat Ridsdale too.

The fact they have sacked him so early sort of shows it was on the mind the whole summer doesn’t it? Appreciate he wasn’t well liked but if you are decided to start the season with him you’ve sort of got to give it a proper go rather than have one game then pull the trigger.

As it is it looks like a summer has been wasted on a manager the club hierarchy weren’t really sure about. Unless something happened after the game that was really egregious

 

[SF_]

The fact they have sacked him so early sort of shows it was on the mind the whole summer doesn’t it? Appreciate he wasn’t well liked but if you are decided to start the season with him you’ve sort of got to give it a proper go rather than have one game then pull the trigger.

As it is it looks like a summer has been wasted on a manager the club hierarchy weren’t really sure about. Unless something happened after the game that was really egregious

Sounds like Lowe quit. The guy is an ego-maniac so clearly couldn't hack being booed and abused.

Supposedly he said he 'enjoyed monday-to-friday, but not saturdays'

I could see him getting a gig on Sky Sports, he's not a manager.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Concerned for us looking at the team. Another injury with Clark seemingly now the latest and so we bring in Nelson who is a youngster making his first professional start.

Must rate him to go in over Pelly.

Meanwhile Burnley have Weghorst who played in the Euros on the bench which shows there strength and depth

You really have to start asking questions about the injuries now, it’s really getting ridiculous and it can’t just be bad luck

 

[SF_]

Dingles will probably walk this league without breaking a sweat.

Less than 12 hours after sacking Lowe and we move up a place in the table.

 

[Bartonyellow]

Dingles will probably walk this league without breaking a sweat.

Less than 12 hours after sacking Lowe and we move up a place in the table.

I remember when tables were not produced until 3 games in.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Eek. Well that’s gone about as well as I expected when I saw the team sheet. For me Edwards has done a few of them no favours tonight. He’s got to recognise we simply do not have the players, through injury and lack of transfer activity, to try and play the exact same way as we did last season.

He’s got 3 teenagers making their professional debuts, adapt it, try and protect them and see if you can nick something from the game. Instead he’s gone full on 2 man midfield, aggressive man for man 3 at the back defensive and it’s all gone a bit wrong. Warning signs were there in the Vigo friendly where Johnson and Walters struggled with balls in behind them and he’s just rolled out the same approach again.

Either he has to bring someone in, which going off the programme notes tonight the recognise has been really difficult, or you have to adapt things in the meantime whilst we get players back

 

[91SPP]

We’ve been flying up the league since Friday. I’d bite your hands off for 18th at this moment in time!

Burnley’s quality has to be a huge concern for teams looking beyond 18th this season.

 

[Kenneth E End]

I’m not sure where to start with that. What I’m really frustrated about is that lessons aren’t being learned. I fully agree with TFCH above.

I feel for Johnson, Walters and Nelson. You could count their professional appearances on one hand, yet they are being thrown into a game like that. All three clearly have ability but they’re in need of walking before they run. It’s not acceptable.

Ever since we beat Brighton 4-0 on Jan 30th our run has been horrific. This 1v1 defending is absolutely killing us. I remember us trying to do it vs Neto and Cunha at Wolves… head in hands moment.

The injury situation cannot be all bad luck. We’re still down a S&C coach (how can that happen at the end of pre-season?) We need to adapt the way we play.

What was the point of us spending 6 weeks in pre-season… for the second season in a row Luton are underprepared. It’s not acceptable. It’s the same result as last year on day 1.

I’m trying to convince myself that Burnley will be the hardest team to play against this season. I don’t think I’ll be wrong on that… it felt like we were playing against a lower end PL side. But to not even compete is not acceptable.

 

[91SPP]

I’m not sure where to start with that. What I’m really frustrated about is that lessons aren’t being learned. I fully agree with TFCH above.

I feel for Johnson, Walters and Nelson. You could count their professional appearances on one hand, yet they are being thrown into a game like that. All three clearly have ability but they’re in need of walking before they run. It’s not acceptable.

Ever since we beat Brighton 4-0 on Jan 30th our run has been horrific. This 1v1 defending is absolutely killing us. I remember us trying to do it vs Neto and Cunha at Wolves… head in hands moment.

The injury situation cannot be all bad luck. We’re still down a S&C coach (how can that happen at the end of pre-season?) We need to adapt the way we play.

What was the point of us spending 6 weeks in pre-season… for the second season in a row Luton are underprepared. It’s not acceptable. It’s the same result as last year on day 1.

I’m trying to convince myself that Burnley will be the hardest team to play against this season. I don’t think I’ll be wrong on that… it felt like we were playing against a lower end PL side. But to not even compete is not acceptable.

I know it was a big defeat, but wouldn’t say it wasn’t competitive. In fact, I came on here to say that all but two games this weekend have been competitive from a statistical point of view - the quality in both boxes proving to be the difference in most games.

Leeds with 70% possession and 22 shots. 39 touches in the opposition box. Sheff Wed with 60% possession and 31 shots. 64 touches in the opposition box. They’re the only teams to really dominate games, although Leeds didn’t even get the win.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Really strange post game interview from Edwards. Understand he can’t go all panic stations first game in but was sort of expecting one of those “I’ll put my hand up and take the blame for that” type interviews you sometimes get from managers who have some credit in the bank, but he went with “we only had 4 bad moments and there’s positives to take”.

With the lack of transfer activity and the general low key summer, that won’t go down well with people

 

[SF_]

Swansea away.

We switched to a back four in the second half against Sunderland on Tuesday and it looked a lot better, Marsh has hinted that we might start that way, and Okkels might be thrown in from the start.

I expect Swansea to be a bottom-half side so we could do with getting something from this.

No idea what we'll line up with but maybe something along these lines:

Woodman
Kesler-Hayden - Storey - Lindsay - Hughes
Whiteman - Thordarson
Potts - Frokjaer - Okkels
Osmajic​

 

[BarrieOwl]

We made 11 changes last night and a couple may have played their way into the thinking for Sunderland but I do expect us to start with the same XI in as Plymouth.

Ugbo comes into consideration after getting international clearance.

 

[Tea Towel]

We made 11 changes last night and a couple may have played their way into the thinking for Sunderland but I do expect us to start with the same XI in as Plymouth.

Ugbo comes into consideration after getting international clearance.

Ha I just said on the cup thread I don’t think anyone will have played their way into the thinking! Fusire best player for me last night, a few of them done ok but not enough to be picked over anyone that started v Plymouth

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

At Portsmouth for us tomorrow. Clark still injured, Bell available but not fit enough to start. No one else either returning from injury or signed. Not looking great.

Interested to see what Edwards does because there were big question marks over him tactically after Monday. It’s clear the style he wants but we don’t have the players for it at this moment - will he be dogmatic and double down or adapt his way of thinking?

Got to think about changing the shape for me, simply have to get another body into midfield and provide some protection to the defence. If he names the same 11 as against Burnley I shan’t be expecting much from the game I have to say.

 

[91SPP]

Middlesbrough at home tomorrow, can't say I'm particularly thrilled about the prospect.

Every dog has his day, of course, but I hold very little hope.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Hmm we are a pessimistic bunch this week then. Need SF_ to lighten the mood now his lot are free of the shackles of Ryan Lowe perhaps.

 

[HoxxySoxxyOxxy]

Brutal way to lose that one. On the balance of play they obviously deserved the win, but ref pulls 7minutes out of nowhere and a suicidal pass chucks a hardfought point away.
It's only 2 games so it's still too early to see how we compare, but proud of our start so far.

 

[Bar Carousel]

As predicted we appear to be trying to gain any bonus points between now and the end of the transfer window with a plucky never say die attitude despite being too weak to really compete at this level. Seem to be having trouble getting rid of the squad players we don't want to free up money and spaces in the squad to improve.

We desperately need a break with our injured players, and some signings.

Last time we played Luton at home they absolutely battered us and we came out 1-0 winners. We could need similar again today if we are to win it.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Well Edwards obviously telling a few white lies as Clark and Bell come into the starting 11.

Hopefully that will make us look better but we still persist with the 2 man midfield which I’m not keen on at all

 

[SF_]

Hmm we are a pessimistic bunch this week then. Need SF_ to lighten the mood now his lot are free of the shackles of Ryan Lowe perhaps.

Swansea are going to get proper buggered.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Just a disastrous pre season and first 2 games further compounded by Kaminski getting sent off here. Gets himself booked for taking ages over goal kicks and then comes flying out needlessly and hacks down the attacker (twice in fact).

Worst thing is we’ve played well and but for a wonder save would be a goal up.

Up hill battle from here you’d expect as the crowd are totally on top of the ref who has us very much in his bad books.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Given the circumstances we did well to get the point. Second half we defended really well, Mengi in particular looked imperious at times and limited Portsmouth, who I think will be very disappointed in their second half showing, to very little. Had 2 semi decent opportunities through Taylor and Adebayo the latter I felt really could have done better.

Who knows what would have happened 11v11 but felt we looked threatening and had 3 really decent opportunities before Kaminski went full kamikaze. Ludicrous decision when already on a yellow and really robbed everyone of what looked like it was going to be a really entertaining attacking game.

 

[91SPP]

Well, I’ll be damned!

A gritty 1-0 win against a Middlesbrough side, who have so much strength in depth and quality. Two injuries in the first-half to our back four, a referee who was desperate to give Middlesbrough everything he could, but we made sure to reduce the quality of their chances as much as we could and it worked. Not an easy watch, but in a game where everything was seemingly going against us, it was good to see us be able to make life difficult for the opposition.

We will see how bad the injuries are, but we really need to bring in some quality, particularly upfront and depth in almost every position. It’s startling how thin we are as a squad. Good to get on the board anyway.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Just a disastrous pre season and first 2 games further compounded by Kaminski getting sent off here. Gets himself booked for taking ages over goal kicks and then comes flying out needlessly and hacks down the attacker (twice in fact).

Worst thing is we’ve played well and but for a wonder save would be a goal up.

Up hill battle from here you’d expect as the crowd are totally on top of the ref who has us very much in his bad books.

I think martial arts should become part of the game anyway…