Rival Watch

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tidus_mi2
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Re: Rival Watch

by tidus_mi2 » 03 Feb 2021 21:58

From Despair To Where?
Zip Fosu wasn’t given a chance. Great debut and never played again.
Absolutely no surprise about tonight’s scoreline. It’s a shame but it will take a much better team than Brizzle to stop them.


He was given a chance on loan in League 2 for 2 years and did fcuk all.

Kind of, he had a poor loan at League One level, dropped to League Two, had another poor spell, then really impressed at League Two the following season.

I can understand why the club might have thought based on his history he wouldn't immediately make the step up to Championship football but I think in hindsight, he had perfected his game enough at Colchester to step up to Championship level based on how his career has progressed since.

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Re: Rival Watch

by Zip » 03 Feb 2021 22:01

From Despair To Where?
Zip Fosu wasn’t given a chance. Great debut and never played again.
Absolutely no surprise about tonight’s scoreline. It’s a shame but it will take a much better team than Brizzle to stop them.


He was given a chance on loan in League 2 for 2 years and did fcuk all.


He had a cracking debut and wasn’t given another chance.

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Re: Rival Watch

by NewCorkSeth » 04 Feb 2021 08:43

I'm not looking to start a debate about the merits of xG or anything but I have kept my eye on it this season and have listened/read a lot of championship opinion pieces and one thing has really stood out when it comes to the metric.

The frequent use of it to point out we are overperforming. It has been used as a stick to beat us with, mostly early on in the season, when the sample size was a lot smaller. But the point I want to make isn't about us. It's about Swansea. A team many "pundits" have talked up as a real challenger and have been called a better team than us. I havent seen any xG slurs thrown at them yet, in an xG table we are in 10th and they are in 15th.

They have 21 points more than xG dictates they should but have not seemed to have attracted the ire of podcasts like we have.

Now, I'm not saying they should have. It just seems odd that we were picked apart for it, so much so that other fans (I remember 2 separate Coventry fans bringing it up on twitter) have picked it up and run with it, while Swansea have just been considered a good team. Odd eh?

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Re: Rival Watch

by leon » 04 Feb 2021 08:56

NewCorkSeth I'm not looking to start a debate about the merits of xG or anything but I have kept my eye on it this season and have listened/read a lot of championship opinion pieces and one thing has really stood out when it comes to the metric.

The frequent use of it to point out we are overperforming. It has been used as a stick to beat us with, mostly early on in the season, when the sample size was a lot smaller. But the point I want to make isn't about us. It's about Swansea. A team many "pundits" have talked up as a real challenger and have been called a better team than us. I havent seen any xG slurs thrown at them yet, in an xG table we are in 10th and they are in 15th.

They have 21 points more than xG dictates they should but have not seemed to have attracted the ire of podcasts like we have.

Now, I'm not saying they should have. It just seems odd that we were picked apart for it, so much so that other fans (I remember 2 separate Coventry fans bringing it up on twitter) have picked it up and run with it, while Swansea have just been considered a good team. Odd eh?


It’s like they hate us - almost as if all the pundits have been on the team board and decided we’re all a bunch of cnuts.

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Re: Rival Watch

by NewCorkSeth » 04 Feb 2021 09:03

leon
NewCorkSeth I'm not looking to start a debate about the merits of xG or anything but I have kept my eye on it this season and have listened/read a lot of championship opinion pieces and one thing has really stood out when it comes to the metric.

The frequent use of it to point out we are overperforming. It has been used as a stick to beat us with, mostly early on in the season, when the sample size was a lot smaller. But the point I want to make isn't about us. It's about Swansea. A team many "pundits" have talked up as a real challenger and have been called a better team than us. I havent seen any xG slurs thrown at them yet, in an xG table we are in 10th and they are in 15th.

They have 21 points more than xG dictates they should but have not seemed to have attracted the ire of podcasts like we have.

Now, I'm not saying they should have. It just seems odd that we were picked apart for it, so much so that other fans (I remember 2 separate Coventry fans bringing it up on twitter) have picked it up and run with it, while Swansea have just been considered a good team. Odd eh?


It’s like they hate us - almost as if all the pundits have been on the team board and decided we’re all a bunch of cnuts.

Well. I mean.. we are?


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Re: Rival Watch

by leon » 04 Feb 2021 09:09

NewCorkSeth
leon
NewCorkSeth I'm not looking to start a debate about the merits of xG or anything but I have kept my eye on it this season and have listened/read a lot of championship opinion pieces and one thing has really stood out when it comes to the metric.

The frequent use of it to point out we are overperforming. It has been used as a stick to beat us with, mostly early on in the season, when the sample size was a lot smaller. But the point I want to make isn't about us. It's about Swansea. A team many "pundits" have talked up as a real challenger and have been called a better team than us. I havent seen any xG slurs thrown at them yet, in an xG table we are in 10th and they are in 15th.

They have 21 points more than xG dictates they should but have not seemed to have attracted the ire of podcasts like we have.

Now, I'm not saying they should have. It just seems odd that we were picked apart for it, so much so that other fans (I remember 2 separate Coventry fans bringing it up on twitter) have picked it up and run with it, while Swansea have just been considered a good team. Odd eh?


It’s like they hate us - almost as if all the pundits have been on the team board and decided we’re all a bunch of cnuts.

Well. I mean.. we are?


Well yes

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Re: Rival Watch

by Hound » 04 Feb 2021 09:13

NewCorkSeth I'm not looking to start a debate about the merits of xG or anything but I have kept my eye on it this season and have listened/read a lot of championship opinion pieces and one thing has really stood out when it comes to the metric.

The frequent use of it to point out we are overperforming. It has been used as a stick to beat us with, mostly early on in the season, when the sample size was a lot smaller. But the point I want to make isn't about us. It's about Swansea. A team many "pundits" have talked up as a real challenger and have been called a better team than us. I havent seen any xG slurs thrown at them yet, in an xG table we are in 10th and they are in 15th.

They have 21 points more than xG dictates they should but have not seemed to have attracted the ire of podcasts like we have.

Now, I'm not saying they should have. It just seems odd that we were picked apart for it, so much so that other fans (I remember 2 separate Coventry fans bringing it up on twitter) have picked it up and run with it, while Swansea have just been considered a good team. Odd eh?


Interesting. Cooper is a bit of a favourite though

yeah I don't really buy into the swansea love in.

Proper dull team. Solid, efficient, hard working and all those other cliches which basically mean dull as shit. Reckon they are due a poor run

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Re: Rival Watch

by NewCorkSeth » 04 Feb 2021 09:47

Hound
NewCorkSeth I'm not looking to start a debate about the merits of xG or anything but I have kept my eye on it this season and have listened/read a lot of championship opinion pieces and one thing has really stood out when it comes to the metric.

The frequent use of it to point out we are overperforming. It has been used as a stick to beat us with, mostly early on in the season, when the sample size was a lot smaller. But the point I want to make isn't about us. It's about Swansea. A team many "pundits" have talked up as a real challenger and have been called a better team than us. I havent seen any xG slurs thrown at them yet, in an xG table we are in 10th and they are in 15th.

They have 21 points more than xG dictates they should but have not seemed to have attracted the ire of podcasts like we have.

Now, I'm not saying they should have. It just seems odd that we were picked apart for it, so much so that other fans (I remember 2 separate Coventry fans bringing it up on twitter) have picked it up and run with it, while Swansea have just been considered a good team. Odd eh?


Interesting. Cooper is a bit of a favourite though

yeah I don't really buy into the swansea love in.

Proper dull team. Solid, efficient, hard working and all those other cliches which basically mean dull as shit. Reckon they are due a poor run

It just seems odd. We are pretty similar results wise. They play solid, defensive football and we play blistering, attacking football. Usually the praise would be reversed.

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Re: Rival Watch

by South Coast Royal » 04 Feb 2021 10:52

On Swansea, it's not unusual for a steady, unspectacular side to get promoted that just wins games-remember Huddersfield.

As for last night's result you can look at it in a number of ways but my take is that it nearly puts Bristol City out of the equation, not necessarily for 6th spot but they are now 8 points behind us and have played one game more.

I have been more inclined to look at the challengers below us and fortunately the likes of Stoke, 'Boro and Blackburn are all typical inconsistent Championship sides.
As I see it we might be able to lose 4 or even 5 games out of the remaining fixtures and still have a good chance of a top 6 finish.

From the early days I thought it would be Brentford and Bournemouth for top 2 but now obviously the picture has changed and it could well be Brentford, the best attacking side in the division, plus one other for the top 2 places.

As with other posters I dread the idea of play-offs (it's taken 25 years to get over the biggest disappointment in Bolton) but 2nd place isn't out of the question as long as you-know-who stays fit.

A strange one is Watford.
By all accounts they have been in 2nd gear all season and yet are bang in the mix so let's hope they carry on playing as badly as they did against QPR the other night.

How good is it to be talking about promotion after so much dross of recent years?


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Re: Rival Watch

by NewCorkSeth » 04 Feb 2021 11:07

It is very exciting. Its actually a very exciting race this season. No runaway favourites yet (Brentford moving into that territory) plenty of quality in the top few teams, some exciting attacking teams like Blackburn who could move up and Boro have a decent chance of keeping pace too.

Real nail biter for a neutral.

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Re: Rival Watch

by Hound » 04 Feb 2021 11:59

other way to look at Brentford is they have had a 19 game unbeaten run, and still well within reach. Quite possible they'll have a blip pretty soon, esp with a number of fixtures to play.

Certainly pleased to be seeing all the upper mid table teams constantly stumbling over themselves. Beat Stoke, and they won't catch us bar a complete turnaround. Its a big gap already from us to Bristol and Boro. Blackburn do now look to be the one to keep an eye on. They've a generally unchallenging looking February but their March is an absolute brute.

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Re: Rival Watch

by royalp-we » 04 Feb 2021 11:59

This weekend is key for us really. If Norwich beat Swansea I think they’ll press on and go up. If Swansea get anything then the race is on!

As I’ve said on another thread if we want to stay in the playoffs and gunning for / keeping pace with the top 2 - we absolutely must beat Stoke on Saturday.

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Re: Rival Watch

by Stranded » 04 Feb 2021 12:06

South Coast Royal On Swansea, it's not unusual for a steady, unspectacular side to get promoted that just wins games-remember Huddersfield.

As for last night's result you can look at it in a number of ways but my take is that it nearly puts Bristol City out of the equation, not necessarily for 6th spot but they are now 8 points behind us and have played one game more.

I have been more inclined to look at the challengers below us and fortunately the likes of Stoke, 'Boro and Blackburn are all typical inconsistent Championship sides.
As I see it we might be able to lose 4 or even 5 games out of the remaining fixtures and still have a good chance of a top 6 finish.

From the early days I thought it would be Brentford and Bournemouth for top 2 but now obviously the picture has changed and it could well be Brentford, the best attacking side in the division, plus one other for the top 2 places.

As with other posters I dread the idea of play-offs (it's taken 25 years to get over the biggest disappointment in Bolton) but 2nd place isn't out of the question as long as you-know-who stays fit.

A strange one is Watford.
By all accounts they have been in 2nd gear all season and yet are bang in the mix so let's hope they carry on playing as badly as they did against QPR the other night.

How good is it to be talking about promotion after so much dross of recent years?


If we continue to win at the current rate throughout the remainder of the season, we'll win another 11 games - that'll give us 80 points. So we could theoretically lose 9 and still make the play-offs comfortably. Even a W9 D5 L6 and get to 79 - which'll likely be good enough for 4th.

Given that our games don't seem to end as draws this year, a total of 4 or 5 losses, could even see us hit top 2 - W12 D4 L4 for example, gets us to 87.


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Re: Rival Watch

by Stranded » 04 Feb 2021 12:11

Hound other way to look at Brentford is they have had a 19 game unbeaten run, and still well within reach. Quite possible they'll have a blip pretty soon, esp with a number of fixtures to play.

Certainly pleased to be seeing all the upper mid table teams constantly stumbling over themselves. Beat Stoke, and they won't catch us bar a complete turnaround. Its a big gap already from us to Bristol and Boro. Blackburn do now look to be the one to keep an eye on. They've a generally unchallenging looking February but their March is an absolute brute.


I imagine there were a lot of fans in 05/06 who said, well they are on a 25 games unbeaten run, they are bound to have a blip at some point :wink:

In response to the other point - we don't "have" to beat Stoke but I would rather go into Wednesday night on the back on a win then a draw/defeat - a draw wouldn't be the end of the world.

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Re: Rival Watch

by South Coast Royal » 04 Feb 2021 12:14

Stranded
South Coast Royal On Swansea, it's not unusual for a steady, unspectacular side to get promoted that just wins games-remember Huddersfield.

As for last night's result you can look at it in a number of ways but my take is that it nearly puts Bristol City out of the equation, not necessarily for 6th spot but they are now 8 points behind us and have played one game more.

I have been more inclined to look at the challengers below us and fortunately the likes of Stoke, 'Boro and Blackburn are all typical inconsistent Championship sides.
As I see it we might be able to lose 4 or even 5 games out of the remaining fixtures and still have a good chance of a top 6 finish.

From the early days I thought it would be Brentford and Bournemouth for top 2 but now obviously the picture has changed and it could well be Brentford, the best attacking side in the division, plus one other for the top 2 places.

As with other posters I dread the idea of play-offs (it's taken 25 years to get over the biggest disappointment in Bolton) but 2nd place isn't out of the question as long as you-know-who stays fit.

A strange one is Watford.
By all accounts they have been in 2nd gear all season and yet are bang in the mix so let's hope they carry on playing as badly as they did against QPR the other night.

How good is it to be talking about promotion after so much dross of recent years?


If we continue to win at the current rate throughout the remainder of the season, we'll win another 11 games - that'll give us 80 points. So we could theoretically lose 9 and still make the play-offs comfortably. Even a W9 D5 L6 and get to 79 - which'll likely be good enough for 4th.

Given that our games don't seem to end as draws this year, a total of 4 or 5 losses, could even see us hit top 2 - W12 D4 L4 for example, gets us to 87.


The only downside to that is "Do we want to get promoted with a side that has lost so many games?"
I do take your point though as it would take title-winning form for the likes of Blackburn , Stoke or 'Boro to get near the top places and for those already in the top 6 to fall away drastically for us not to make the top 6.

It's not going to happen-prepare for play-offs or better. :D ,

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Re: Rival Watch

by Stranded » 04 Feb 2021 12:23

South Coast Royal
Stranded
South Coast Royal On Swansea, it's not unusual for a steady, unspectacular side to get promoted that just wins games-remember Huddersfield.

As for last night's result you can look at it in a number of ways but my take is that it nearly puts Bristol City out of the equation, not necessarily for 6th spot but they are now 8 points behind us and have played one game more.

I have been more inclined to look at the challengers below us and fortunately the likes of Stoke, 'Boro and Blackburn are all typical inconsistent Championship sides.
As I see it we might be able to lose 4 or even 5 games out of the remaining fixtures and still have a good chance of a top 6 finish.

From the early days I thought it would be Brentford and Bournemouth for top 2 but now obviously the picture has changed and it could well be Brentford, the best attacking side in the division, plus one other for the top 2 places.

As with other posters I dread the idea of play-offs (it's taken 25 years to get over the biggest disappointment in Bolton) but 2nd place isn't out of the question as long as you-know-who stays fit.

A strange one is Watford.
By all accounts they have been in 2nd gear all season and yet are bang in the mix so let's hope they carry on playing as badly as they did against QPR the other night.

How good is it to be talking about promotion after so much dross of recent years?


If we continue to win at the current rate throughout the remainder of the season, we'll win another 11 games - that'll give us 80 points. So we could theoretically lose 9 and still make the play-offs comfortably. Even a W9 D5 L6 and get to 79 - which'll likely be good enough for 4th.

Given that our games don't seem to end as draws this year, a total of 4 or 5 losses, could even see us hit top 2 - W12 D4 L4 for example, gets us to 87.


The only downside to that is "Do we want to get promoted with a side that has lost so many games?"
I do take your point though as it would take title-winning form for the likes of Blackburn , Stoke or 'Boro to get near the top places and for those already in the top 6 to fall away drastically for us not to make the top 6.

It's not going to happen-prepare for play-offs or better. :D ,


Oh yeah, I'm thinking play-offs is our celing this year - which given 2 more wins means this is guranteed to be our 3rd best season since our last relegation, I'll take. Anything above that is an absolute bonus.

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Re: Rival Watch

by bcubed » 04 Feb 2021 12:42

South Coast Royal
Stranded
South Coast Royal On Swansea, it's not unusual for a steady, unspectacular side to get promoted that just wins games-remember Huddersfield.

As for last night's result you can look at it in a number of ways but my take is that it nearly puts Bristol City out of the equation, not necessarily for 6th spot but they are now 8 points behind us and have played one game more.

I have been more inclined to look at the challengers below us and fortunately the likes of Stoke, 'Boro and Blackburn are all typical inconsistent Championship sides.
As I see it we might be able to lose 4 or even 5 games out of the remaining fixtures and still have a good chance of a top 6 finish.

From the early days I thought it would be Brentford and Bournemouth for top 2 but now obviously the picture has changed and it could well be Brentford, the best attacking side in the division, plus one other for the top 2 places.

As with other posters I dread the idea of play-offs (it's taken 25 years to get over the biggest disappointment in Bolton) but 2nd place isn't out of the question as long as you-know-who stays fit.

A strange one is Watford.
By all accounts they have been in 2nd gear all season and yet are bang in the mix so let's hope they carry on playing as badly as they did against QPR the other night.

How good is it to be talking about promotion after so much dross of recent years?


If we continue to win at the current rate throughout the remainder of the season, we'll win another 11 games - that'll give us 80 points. So we could theoretically lose 9 and still make the play-offs comfortably. Even a W9 D5 L6 and get to 79 - which'll likely be good enough for 4th.

Given that our games don't seem to end as draws this year, a total of 4 or 5 losses, could even see us hit top 2 - W12 D4 L4 for example, gets us to 87.


The only downside to that is "Do we want to get promoted with a side that has lost so many games?"
I do take your point though as it would take title-winning form for the likes of Blackburn , Stoke or 'Boro to get near the top places and for those already in the top 6 to fall away drastically for us not to make the top 6.

It's not going to happen-prepare for play-offs or better. :D ,

Not sure if that’s tongue in cheek, but the simple answer is yes we do want to get promoted whenever we have the opportunity. You simply can’t pick and choose

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Re: Rival Watch

by andrew1957 » 04 Feb 2021 13:10

I have just noticed something. Over the last 5 game rounds the top 8 sides have won 20 games between them, the middle 8 sides just 6 games and the bottom 8 have won 20 games between them. And so the bottom 8 sides are performing almost as well as the top 8 sides.

What a topsy turvy division the Championship is. There could be some very odd results in the last 20 games if the bottom sides keep winning. As for relegation almost anyone below about 10th place currently could go down - along with Wycombe who already look doomed.

It is likely to be quite a dramatic end to the season.

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Re: Rival Watch

by paultheroyal » 04 Feb 2021 13:15

andrew1957 I have just noticed something. Over the last 5 game rounds the top 8 sides have won 20 games between them, the middle 8 sides just 6 games and the bottom 8 have won 20 games between them. And so the bottom 8 sides are performing almost as well as the top 8 sides.

What a topsy turvy division the Championship is. There could be some very odd results in the last 20 games if the bottom sides keep winning. As for relegation almost anyone below about 10th place currently could go down - along with Wycombe who already look doomed.

It is likely to be quite a dramatic end to the season.


I can see quite a lot of points needed this year to stay up - Cardiff and Millwall will be looking over their shoulders

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Re: Rival Watch

by Hendo » 04 Feb 2021 13:17

paultheroyal
andrew1957 I have just noticed something. Over the last 5 game rounds the top 8 sides have won 20 games between them, the middle 8 sides just 6 games and the bottom 8 have won 20 games between them. And so the bottom 8 sides are performing almost as well as the top 8 sides.

What a topsy turvy division the Championship is. There could be some very odd results in the last 20 games if the bottom sides keep winning. As for relegation almost anyone below about 10th place currently could go down - along with Wycombe who already look doomed.

It is likely to be quite a dramatic end to the season.


I can see quite a lot of points needed this year to stay up - Cardiff and Millwall will be looking over their shoulders


Is the average points to stay up still around 50? I do think it might be slightly higher than that this year.

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