'Weak league this year'

[ReeceofBDTBL]

1 to 24 I don't agree, this league has a really good standard throughout and birmingham today proved that, in a similar vein to swansea, luton and preston. Can argue that eg Fulham last season were better than us or norwich now, but aside from the odd singular comparison the championship generally gets stronger over the years (and for obvious reasons). Look at the kind of quality boro and west brom have in their first 11, they're certainly not cloggers and currently occupy the 3rd and 4th bottom slots.

Some seasons it might be really open, sometimes you might have a really strong top 3 etc compared to the rest but year in year out we're seeing more championship players go on to perform in the top flight and on the international stage.

High quality and entertaining game today, yeah we weren't at our best but Brum play really well allover the pitch.

We're going up as Champions
Up the Blades

 

[Sheffsteel]

Think the league is quite strong at the bottom...every team in this league is decent.

Maybe I've got used to seeing Premier League football but at the top it seems weaker than normal.
I've not seen a single team to cause us any reason to feel concerned.

 

[Frank the tank]

Typical championship really
Not much difference between the teams but its who can deal with the relentless slog the best who comes out on top and we seem to be affected more than most at the moment

 

[ATL Recs]

Think the league is quite strong at the bottom...every team in this league is decent.

Maybe I've got used to seeing Premier League football but at the top it seems weaker than normal.
I've not seen a single team to cause us any reason to feel concerned.

Birmingham concerned as did Preston and with a finisher Preston could have neem
2 or 3 up by half time same could be sad for Swansea over 90
Minutes
It very finally balanced at the mo we are beatable but not being beaten ( that’s a good start go ) however I expect stronger tests in the next few weeks
We definitely need those left sided players back

 

[10-0 win]

No easy games,we should know by now.......

 

[Frank the tank]

Birmingham concerned as did Preston and with a finisher Preston could have neem
2 or 3 up by half time same could be sad for Swansea over 90
Minutes
It very finally balanced at the mo we are beatable but not being beaten ( that’s a good start go ) however I expect stronger tests in the next few weeks
We definitely need those left sided players back

Prime gerd muller could have been up front for preston and they wouldn't have been 3 up by half time

 

[Harry's Game]

A lot of bog standard teams relying on one or two players.. Pukki gets a long term injury Norwich are fucked, if we loose Norwwod and Ndiaye we are fucked.

The last time the Championship had 10 good teams in it was Bouncing day season.. English football is becoming slowly more and more like Rugby League, The top division and a massive gap to the rest.

 

[Frank the tank]

Why can't anyone spell lose anymore ?

 

[metalblade]

High quality and entertaining game today, yeah we weren't at our best but Brum play really well allover the pitch.

The OP must have been watching a different game to me we were tediously slow in our attacking. As for Birmingham well they could argue the perfect away performance I suppose but for me they never came to play football and were only out to disrupt the game by time wasting, feigning injury and being very niggly trying to cause confrontations all the time. The game bored me to death I'd hate to follow a team playing that way week in week out very similar to the Norwich side a few years ago or the grunters who came with no intention of making it a game after we pasted them at the sty 2-4.

 

[Houston_Blade]

High quality and entertaining game today, yeah we weren't at our best but Brum play really well allover the pitch.

Absolute borefest with 1 team set up for a draw and the other not having the guile to move the ball quickly enough to negate their wank tactics is what I saw. One of the games where sitting behind a post on the kop might have been more fun than my seat in the SS.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Absolute borefest with 1 team set up for a draw and the other not having the guile to move the ball quickly enough to negate their wank tactics is what I saw. One of the games where sitting behind a post on the kop might have been more fun than my seat in the SS.

Or facing the crowd in the stand would be more entertaining for me. I had an endless, incessant, monologue of Chinese agitation from immediately behind me, the most vocal of the four Chinese lads behind me sounded about to have a stroke due to losing his rag, on so many occasions.
Talk about Blades in China? Wow it was fervent, but he never paused for breath in 100 minutes.
To my left were 7 or 8 Dutch lads, the nearest one got into a discussion with the bloke next to me plus the bloke in front of me, about history of Sheffield fiotball and that we are the one United, the first in history, etc.

 

[Isar]

We are in a fantastic position, if we can get the injury list down we will have more than enough to compete with any team in this league.

 

[Overthehills]

When you look at the calibre of player that has dropped down into this league on loan, it’s someone of a no brainier that the quality is very much still present. What I will say however is that a few teams who I consider to be our closest rivals come may…they may have been a little slower out of the starting blocks so far, however they are now showing signs of picking up and entering the mix.

On our performances so far I have learnt that there aren’t many in this league at the would have to fear, IF we play to the best of our own abilities.

 

[Snowflake]

Why can't anyone spell lose anymore ?

Because they are too loose with spelling ?!!

 

[A Storm of Blades]

We looked like a team, that relies on pace and intensity, that didn’t have the energy to hit our levels. I’m not too down, I’m convinced we lose that game last year. The key is getting point(s) when you’re not firing. We did that. Not one team in this league would be anywhere near top with half a squad of injuries. We’re good.

 

[raimond]

Why can't anyone spell lose anymore ?

Makes me loose my shit.

 

[Old Programme seller]

Historically we don’t do well after an international break also we don’t have a brilliant record against Birmingham we aren’t going to steamroller the league, at the moment I’m relaxed we are after all still top of the league and there’s a long long way to go and we’ve found a goal scorer happy days!

 

[Captain2]

Just watching Stoke they are garbage 4 down to Watford at home, pitiful performance hope they play as bad next Satday

 

[BushBlade]

Just watching Stoke they are garbage 4 down to Watford at home, pitiful performance hope they play as bad next Satday

They were shocking; disorganised, couldn’t pass piss, didn’t seem committed. No doubt they play like fucking Real Madrid next week.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Not a good result for us. It indicates what a serious threat Watford will be, and guarantees a strong response from Stoke against us. Makes winning the QPR game even more important

 

[Nightsweats]

Watford and Norwich will be serious top 2 contenders. Burnley maybe, maybe not. We need to maintain our start and if able will kick on when we see influential players back from injury.

 

[Captain2]

Not a good result for us. It indicates what a serious threat Watford will be, and guarantees a strong response from Stoke against us. Makes winning the QPR game even more important

Watford didn’t look anything special got a decent lad in midfield Louza

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Watford didn’t look anything special got a decent lad in midfield Louza

Yep, he's been held back by injury but if he's anything like he'll get in the team and will give them the spark and creativity they've lacked. On paper him and Choudhury could be the best pair in the league

Watford don't need to look anything special. If they can provide a solid platform for their attacking talent to win games then they'll be successful

 

[South Sea Blade]

Not a good result for us. It indicates what a serious threat Watford will be, and guarantees a strong response from Stoke against us. Makes winning the QPR game even more important

Don't forget that Stoke have to play away at Burnley before they play us - hopefully the strong response will be on Wednesday night.

 

[VM198]

They were shocking; disorganised, couldn’t pass piss, didn’t seem committed. No doubt they play like fucking Real Madrid next week.

Thara proper Blade thee, aren't tha.

 

[VM198]

Not a good result for us. It indicates what a serious threat Watford will be, and guarantees a strong response from Stoke against us. Makes winning the QPR game even more important

Not another one!!

 

[Isar]

Stoke made Watford look like Man City. Surprised they got nil.

UTB the next game is always our biggest game.

 

[Flumps]

Makes me loose my shit.

Still wrong ffs. It's 'loyse' get it right people

I'm quite a pessimist unfortunately and I never feel overly confident going in to a game unless we're in a cup draw with a much lower league side. Even then I've seen united lose to teams they should have walked over. In this league I genuinely feel we have a fair shot at every match, there are teams I'm more concerned over of course but I never assume we're winning this regardless.

In the PL I basically had 2 trains of thought going in to a match - "we could just about get something from this" from bottom half teams and "we're likely getting fucked here" from top half teams.

 

[Charlieblade]

I think there is a formula for success in the Championship. There are two, possibly three pillars required to succeed at this level.
One of those pillars is a quality management team. PH may have a chequered history in terms of team management, but he has made the sensible decision to surround himself with a quality support act in McCall and Lester. PH continues to improve as a manager, hopefully accepting, and correcting any errors he makes. (Playing McAtee against Luton was sorted pretty quickly, with decent follow up).
Secondly it takes a quality squad of players with a minimum of two players for every position. Despite a raft of injuries, and international commitments, this has been achieved with a select group of players being sufficiently flexible to adapt to unfamiliar positions. I was surprised by his selection of Khadra at LWB, until he explained his attacking intent in the post match interview.
Most fans will be delighted with the quality of our bench in most games, even with the choice of the odd academy player being included recently, due to the unavailability of left sided players.
The third pillar is probably the supporters, and this suffers from the traditional pessimism of being a long suffering Blade. (I always loved the togetherness of away trips made so special by our faithful away following). PH and his team have assembled and managed a quality group of players, sufficient to inspire more vociferous support, from even the most pessimistic Blades fan at home. Just my opinion, but some individual players will always frustrate!

Thinking about other clubs who can compete with these pillars, I reckon only Norwich come close to our model. Similar management style, but maybe not the better squad when injuries are taken into consideration. Reading are getting results, but rely on a much weaker squad and unproven management. Likewise Blackburn, where the new manager is yet to reach the promise of his past managerial glories. Squad limited by funds perhaps?
Sunderland and Rotherham both lack experience at this level, but both are doing well with limited squads and very new management.
The dark horse in this group is our next opponents QPR, managed by a coach with an interesting background. Mick Beale has done reasonably well in his first appointment as head coach/manager. He reminds me of PH in his approach to academy players, having spent time with coaching youngsters with Steven Gerard at Liverpool, Rangers and Villa.

Strange how teams always start getting better just before they play us?

We have the 3 pillars developing nicely at BDBL!

 

[Sheffsteel]

I think there is a formula for success in the Championship. There are two, possibly three pillars required to succeed at this level.
One of those pillars is a quality management team. PH may have a chequered history in terms of team management, but he has made the sensible decision to surround himself with a quality support act in McCall and Lester. PH continues to improve as a manager, hopefully accepting, and correcting any errors he makes. (Playing McAtee against Luton was sorted pretty quickly, with decent follow up).
Secondly it takes a quality squad of players with a minimum of two players for every position. Despite a raft of injuries, and international commitments, this has been achieved with a select group of players being sufficiently flexible to adapt to unfamiliar positions. I was surprised by his selection of Khadra at LWB, until he explained his attacking intent in the post match interview.
Most fans will be delighted with the quality of our bench in most games, even with the choice of the odd academy player being included recently, due to the unavailability of left sided players.
The third pillar is probably the supporters, and this suffers from the traditional pessimism of being a long suffering Blade. (I always loved the togetherness of away trips made so special by our faithful away following). PH and his team have assembled and managed a quality group of players, sufficient to inspire more vociferous support, from even the most pessimistic Blades fan at home. Just my opinion, but some individual players will always frustrate!

Thinking about other clubs who can compete with these pillars, I reckon only Norwich come close to our model. Similar management style, but maybe not the better squad when injuries are taken into consideration. Reading are getting results, but rely on a much weaker squad and unproven management. Likewise Blackburn, where the new manager is yet to reach the promise of his past managerial glories. Squad limited by funds perhaps?
Sunderland and Rotherham both lack experience at this level, but both are doing well with limited squads and very new management.
The dark horse in this group is our next opponents QPR, managed by a coach with an interesting background. Mick Beale has done reasonably well in his first appointment as head coach/manager. He reminds me of PH in his approach to academy players, having spent time with coaching youngsters with Steven Gerard at Liverpool, Rangers and Villa.

Strange how teams always start getting better just before they play us?

We have the 3 pillars developing nicely at BDBL!

My view is the secret of success in the Championship is consistency, usually revolves around having a solid defence + keeper.

Also helps if a manager and fans can motivate the players to be focussed for every match giving 100% effort.
Also squad depth and not having bad luck regards injuries plays a part.
and finally quality is a factor too, we weren’t playing well against an excellent Preston team the other week, then N’Daeye scores a brilliant goal from nothing,
the goal changes the course of the match, PNE heads drop losing confidence and we end up comfortable and deserved winners.