THE CHAMPIONSHIP 2019-20

[Hogmeister]

12 from 12 now for Reading Backs to the wall for the last half an hour by the sound of it from BBC Radio Berkshire. Old man Charlie Adam with Reading's second. Game in hand still too. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year indeed Morganb

Sounds like we are winning games we have no right to, but you can’t knock 4 straight wins, including some very tough away games. Suddenly we are only 6 points off the play-offs with a game in hand ....the season may just be getting a bit more interesting!

[jimmy ching]

Bielsabub Babes 129

The New Year kicked off with a Bielsa/Billic love in. Both teams wanted to steady the ship after their recent poor run of form. Before the match, it felt it would suit both sides if they got their draw.
Nketiah played his last match. He’s got talent and no doubt he’ll be back to haunt us but I hope that would be in the Premier League and not in this seasons play off. I shouldn’t have written that, should I? It looks like Forest or Bristol for him.
Casilla wobbled then put in a great performance. Bamford came on at half time, his use of weight was the difference with that of Nketiah. Overall Leeds put in a standard performance but WBA do look the better side at the moment.
It’s the FA Cup weekend. By the time Leeds come to visit Arsenal, they’ll both know their 4th Round opponent. Bielsa has already named his team. I used to get excited for the FA Cup but it’s lost it’s allure for me. This match though is something to look forward to.
I’ll be visiting my villages Highbury, (he’s an old Arsenal fan) as an away supporter. With me will be a man from Lorient. The three of us will be watching with interest. This is the big day for Illan Meslier, a Breton man, from Lorient who will play between the sticks. No doubt a dream realised for the 19 year old who would have watched Wenger's Arsenal on TV in his younger years. There will be a few more French eyes watching this match. He has already been touted as a future French National team goalie. This is where he has to prove it. Not asking much are we?
Gotts is another player who will start his first match. He will be taking over Dallas’s role. It should be interesting. 19 times he’s been an unused substitute this season. Splinters or what?
It will also be a debut for the Whites with the VAR system. A touchy subject at the the moment.
I’m a purist on this one, I want football to stay human. It’s a game between humans. A game of deceiving humans. A game of impressing humans. It’s all about human emotions. Interrupting a surge of emotion with an analytical computer assessment seems to be upsetting a few. I say let’s keep the decisions human. The reason? I can forgive a human but not a computer, just ask my bank. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a #keepfootbalhuman yet.
Anyway, back to the Emirates talk, I’m going 2-1 Arsenal.

[forestfan]

If Leeds had a striker they would be 15 points clear...

[jimmy ching]

Bielsabub Babes 130

An entertaining match. An acceptable result and a few eyebrows raised.
Another London match lost, so no surprise there. Just a question though, what do they use VAR for?
Locally, we were very pleased with Meslier’s debut. The defenders looked to have confidence in him. A good first sign. The Arsenal goalie Martinez put in a good performance as well.
Gotts, the other debutant played his part. A good team performance.
Arsenal’s goal was a bumbler. They all get counted though. 1-0 it finished.
It’s back to the Championship now. It’s time for heads down, concentration up and the desire to do it. Back to the grinder.
It’s Lotto time though. It’s best to keep smuck about the FFP rules time. It’s transfer window time. After last nights match most would say Leeds need a striker. Who could they attract though? Nketiah wasn’t happy being number two and a few strikers would see that as a reason to take a large curve around the situation. Add to that Bielsa’s usual bedding in time for a new player before they even get a sniff at a first team place. It looks like hard work. No slackers please. Watkins and Bowen would be the ones I’d want. No chance though. What I do know is, if Bielsa decides on a player, all other teams start taking interest, James being the example last January. White this season. Which player will he pull out of obscurity? Some are suggesting Woodrow of Barnsley. He looks the kind of option that Leeds could manage financially. He might be somebody Bielsa would be tempted to work on. The worst it can be if no one comes in is relying on Ryan Edmonson as a back up to Bamford, or an injury free Roberts to cover. If it be, so be it.
It’s Wednesday on Saturday and the visit of Monk. Both teams are in a slump. Leeds have one win in six, the Owls have lost their last three league games but managed a win at Brighton in the Cup.
Expecting a close tight game as derbies usually are, with Leeds taking the honours, 1-0.

[jimmy ching]

Bielsabub Babes 131

On Thursday I watched the first Wednesday game of the week. It was the FA Youth Cup. As many in football know only a small percentage of those playing will make a good career out of football. The clubs, managers and coaches are still trying to guess which ones. We must remember the players are not yet adults or fully grown. Those with their adult body already must learn that the boys they are playing will be bigger soon and they must adapt to it. Their early advantage in school football with their physique equals out over time.
One player looked particularly good. He has been turning out in the U23’s throughout the season. He’s another son of a footballer that could rise up through the ranks. Stand up Charlie Cresswell. There we are, there’s my stab in the dark. I can see the future English defence throwing out their traditional cans of Cross & Blackwell Soup and re-stocking them with White and Cresswell, the new taste on the block. Dreams can be dreams.
The transfer window has just started and the rumours are flying. It was said, Leeds should get another goalkeeper and they just have. Unfortunately, I gather this signing is part of what looks like a ‘Leeds 2030’ plan. He’s an 18 year old Italian goalkeeper, Elia Caprile. I can hear the moans and groans now from the Leeds fans. None of those would be heard if compared to the screams that would happen if Nketiah joins Forest.
We all have those fans that are of the Instant Soup character that would sacrifice quality for that instant hit. The fans of the Yo-yo clubs fully understand this.
I’m more of the build today with tomorrow in mind ilk. I like what they are doing but I think we’ve lost the plot with Nketiah and here’s my ‘told you so’, Jack Clarke shouldn’t have come back, it benefited neither side, nor Jack himself . Everybody involved is jacked off.
There is a lot of talk about Che Adams, the man who tortured the Whites last season being tempted to give Bielsaball a go. Last season it was all Guevara for him but now he’s looking like an Uncle Fester. Worth a gamble? Well he was the Watkins of last season. The problem is the cost now and the seasons to follow.
Billy Sharp is another. He’s after a good bow out of the game as his age catches up on him. He’s produced the goods over the years even though he didn’t when he last played for Leeds. This is a different era though. He would be a short term investment that could benefit both sides. Can he keep putting the ball in the net though?
If only we knew Tyler Roberts would stay injury free, I’d have a different out look in these jittery January times.

[morganb]

Nottingham Forest are pleased to announce the loan signing of Dean Whitestone

Who's he I hear you ask...

The referee in the Reading v Forest game

Absolutely useless. Numerous fouls by the same Forest player, thought their first yellow came in second half stoppage time. The ball went off before they scored but it finished 1-1 thanks to a Forest own goal with the last kick of the game

[Hogmeister]

Nottingham Forest are pleased to announce the loan signing of Dean Whitestone

Who's he I hear you ask...

The referee in the Reading v Forest game

Absolutely useless. Numerous fouls by the same Forest player, thought their first yellow came in second half stoppage time. The ball went off before they scored but it finished 1-1 thanks to a Forest own goal with the last kick of the game

..and at least one FISO-er missed the Reading equaliser! The Forest goal went in when it was already over the 5 minutes added time so we'd given up and were heading home

[forestfan]

The top two getting reeled in now... we could have been in pole position had we not committed the cardinal sin of conceding when still celebrating. Brentford, Fulham (reported Mitrovic injury permitting) and Sheff Wed all looking good for a run at automatic promotion if and when West Brom and Leeds get swallowed up by the pack.

[jimmy ching]

Bielsabub Babes 132

Bamford oh Bamford. They are setting you up and you’re not putting them in. And you Kiko, that was near post shame. And to Costa the blaster, don’t lean back when shooting. As usual the build up was there. The chances arrived but none were taken with confidence.
Yes, Marcelo, the Nation saw what is missing at the Highbury mark II stadium. Shooting practice.
I could write a timed match report but it would start to feel like plagiarism from previous ones. Same old pressing, same old missing, same old conceding. Another circa 70% possession and losing the game. It looks good on paper but not too good when you look at the result. 0-2.
Transfer tension is building among the fans. The chase is on for a goal scorer for most Championship clubs. Brentford are in pole position because they have got theirs. A minor disaster for Fulham if Mitrovic is out after being stretchered off against Hull. Does that mean they want one as well? Oh dear, the competition is increasing.
Two salaries are off the books for Leeds as Coyle’s move to Fleetwood is made permanent and Cibicki has joined a Polish club after Den Haag sent him back. So that’s Che Adams toe nails accounted for.
At the moment it looks like two minor incomings with a third/fourth choice goal keeper Caprile and another Man City midfielder loan, in Poveda. We wait to see what he sees in them. The impatient wait is for our promised attempt of a new striker.

[theo29]

I think Patrick Bamford is giving JC ulcers with his inability to find the net on a regular basis. Wedo not seem to have a Brentford spokesman or Fulham either. morganb is unhappy with one particular referee and actually names him, is that a first ? Rams still too near the bottom but WR has not been in a losing team...yet.They just might be ready for a Cup run, courtesy of the Cobblers.

[forestfan]

Nottingham Forest are pleased to announce the loan signing of Dean Whitestone

Who's he I hear you ask...

The referee in the Reading v Forest game

Absolutely useless. Numerous fouls by the same Forest player, thought their first yellow came in second half stoppage time. The ball went off before they scored but it finished 1-1 thanks to a Forest own goal with the last kick of the game

Time for VAR in the Championship then?

[morganb]

Nottingham Forest are pleased to announce the loan signing of Dean Whitestone

Who's he I hear you ask...

The referee in the Reading v Forest game

Absolutely useless. Numerous fouls by the same Forest player, thought their first yellow came in second half stoppage time. The ball went off before they scored but it finished 1-1 thanks to a Forest own goal with the last kick of the game

Time for VAR in the Championship then?

Respect to the Forest captain:

https://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/foot ... r-17557698

Who said


At the end, it was nice to get the goal but then again I don’t think it was a corner and the ball went out, and there was probably a handball.

[theo29]

Rams under the financial spotlight ! 21 points possibly at stake which could mean League 1. They are not in a good position right now and Richard Keogh is still awaiting his appeal about dismissal.

[jimmy ching]

Rams under the financial spotlight ! 21 points possibly at stake which could mean League 1. They are not in a good position right now and Richard Keogh is still awaiting his appeal about dismissal.

Well if that happens at least you'd be going down with Wednesday.

[forestfan]

Rams under the financial spotlight ! 21 points possibly at stake which could mean League 1. They are not in a good position right now and Richard Keogh is still awaiting his appeal about dismissal.

Well if that happens at least you'd be going down with Wednesday.

Sheff Wed will more than likely have too many points to go down... might just cost them a play-off place.

Derby are a poor man’s Saracens... even by cheating they can’t win

[Malrom]

We are not going up! Bamford missing a pen summs it up unnicely.....
How will he ever score? We need another striker desperately, desperately, desperately

[jimmy ching]

We are not going up! Bamford missing a pen summs it up unnicely.....
How will he ever score? We need another striker desperately, desperately, desperately

Leeds are NOT falling apart, they are Dying a Death ........... again. Laugh or Cry.

[jimmy ching]

We are not going up! Bamford missing a pen summs it up unnicely.....
How will he ever score? We need another striker desperately, desperately, desperately

Leeds are NOT falling apart, they are Dying a Death ........... again. Laugh or Cry.

One win in the last 8 on form, one win in the last 19 in London away games and Brentford away is coming soon and Phillips can forget his England aspirations. It's looking good.

[Smurphy Paw]

Rams under the financial spotlight ! 21 points possibly at stake which could mean League 1. They are not in a good position right now and Richard Keogh is still awaiting his appeal about dismissal.

Well if that happens at least you'd be going down with Wednesday.

Sheff Wed will more than likely have too many points to go down... might just cost them a play-off place.

Derby are a poor man’s Saracens... even by cheating they can’t win

We’re nervous. Derby and half a dozen others will be wishing us well though as we’re taking a robust legal approach and are counter claiming against the League. The Club statement was brief but in essence made clear that the stadium sale was pre-approved by the League as a legitimate approach to staying within expenditure limits
I’m not naively stating therefore that there’s nothing to answer for; or even that that is true, I haven’t personally seen the paperwork.
A peculiarity of the situations are that it was Derby who made the stadium sale first, Wednesday followed suit. But Derby’s case is apparently much more complex because of the way it was structured.

Edit: Plus we’re proving ourselves to be capable of imploding anyway.
So far we’re down to 10 men, three down to Blackburn at half time including an own goal by our keeper. Leeds and The Baggies don’t yet need to look over their shoulders in our direction!

[forestfan]

We are not going up! Bamford missing a pen summs it up unnicely.....
How will he ever score? We need another striker desperately, desperately, desperately

Leeds are NOT falling apart, they are Dying a Death ........... again. Laugh or Cry.

One win in the last 8 on form, one win in the last 19 in London away games and Brentford away is coming soon and Phillips can forget his England aspirations. It's looking good.

Yeah, I predict Leeds won’t go up and Bielsa won’t see out the season.

We were annoyed at our board for selling Bamford to Chelski when he was a raw youngster, looks like we got the better end of that deal.

[Malrom]

West Brom are falling apart.......

[forestfan]

Looks like the top two are going to get swallowed up by the pack shortly, like a couple of marathon pacemakers. Anyone’s guess what happens after that, blanket finish or someone else taking control of it?

[morganb]

Looks like the top two are going to get swallowed up by the pack shortly, like a couple of marathon pacemakers. Anyone’s guess what happens after that, blanket finish or someone else taking control of it?

Just checked and Brentford still have to play two home games against the current leaders. They've the added incentive of moving into their new ground next season and have a decent strike force again this season after offloading Maupay.

[forestfan]

Looks like the top two are going to get swallowed up by the pack shortly, like a couple of marathon pacemakers. Anyone’s guess what happens after that, blanket finish or someone else taking control of it?

Just checked and Brentford still have to play two home games against the current leaders. They've the added incentive of moving into their new ground next season and have a decent strike force again this season after offloading Maupay.

They will be hoping those two games are soon, as it’s a gimme six points

I’d probably put my money on a West London double for the automatic places at the moment, given Mitrovic’s injury seemingly isn’t as serious as feared. Of course, we’re suddenly within touching distance of the top two, which is hard to believe given we seem to struggle against anyone who doesn’t dominate possession and take the game to us.

[morganb]

Looks like the top two are going to get swallowed up by the pack shortly, like a couple of marathon pacemakers. Anyone’s guess what happens after that, blanket finish or someone else taking control of it?

Just checked and Brentford still have to play two home games against the current leaders. They've the added incentive of moving into their new ground next season and have a decent strike force again this season after offloading Maupay.

They will be hoping those two games are soon, as it’s a gimme six points

I’d probably put my money on a West London double for the automatic places at the moment, given Mitrovic’s injury seemingly isn’t as serious as feared. Of course, we’re suddenly within touching distance of the top two, which is hard to believe given we seem to struggle against anyone who doesn’t dominate possession and take the game to us.

Leeds next 4 games are massive:

Millwall (H)
Wigan (H)
Forest (A)
Brentford (A)

So 3 games against the immediate chasing pack and an expected home win v Wigan. If they can pick up 7-9 points they will look good again - 4 or less (both equally possible) and they are probably out of the top 2.

WBAs next 4:

Cardiff (A)
Luton (H)
Millwall (A)
Reading (A)

So one "home banker" and 3 tricky away trips for a team out of form. Could really see them slipping out of the top 2 as well.

Millwall halted Reading's 9 game unbeaten run at the Den and are in good form so could have a real say on the promotion race.

Luton and Wigan are in the relegation zone so on paper should be easy but we know it's never like that in reality.

[jimmy ching]

A small reflection on second division football.

Why do I do it? I'm destined to be a second division man. I live in a second division football region with Lorient, Brest and Guingamp routinely yo-yo-ing between divisions.

My German side has been St Pauli since I met the locals in my twenties with my love for Holstein Mai. They worked at the brewery. Forever attached. They are having another typical 2nd division season.

My Spanish side is Deportivo La Coruna after a soft spot for Valencia. I did a club support swap. We have a Galician family in the village and agreed to support each others team. They say Leeds are falling apart. Look at Deportivo, rock bottom of Segunda (2nd division). I’m trying to guide them through their pain. Can’t beat experience. They were in the pits, five points adrift in the league when the New Year started. This weekend they knocked Cadiz off the top and moved off the bottom for the first time. That was their fourth win on the trot. They have a new old coach, who returned after seven years, the Galician Vázquez Pena. Understanding the culture of a club and region pays dividends sometimes. This is the Celts.

The side that lets me down are Juventus. Italian class mates got me interested. But having said that they did have a spell in the wilderness. Any suggestions for Italy?

[theo29]

JC why not give Pordenone a try ? They are currently second in Serie B halfway through the season so pretty much like Leeds at present. If you fancy a Serie A side, Fiorentina would fill the bill or even Udinese but that is outside your Championship orbit. There is always the possibility of bankrupcy in Serie B for any number of clubs, maybe points deduction too !

[forestfan]

If you’re looking for the Serie B-iest team of all time, Brescia have spent a record 61 seasons at that level, and are on track to return there for next season...

I had no idea Deportivo had fallen that far, assumed they were still in the yo-yo state. They feel like a club who should be in Europe, even if that was an expectation only built up over a decade or so.

[forestfan]

And back to the Championship... b*gger, we missed a chance to go third. As did Fulham... does nobody want this?

[morganb]

And back to the Championship... b*gger, we missed a chance to go third. As did Fulham... does nobody want this?

Nottingham Forest...it’s happened again

You went ahead in both games against Reading. The lead lasted for about 4 minutes in total