Championship expectations

Callumcafc

Oops didn’t realise that was already posted in the Championship xG thread. :-)

Dave2l

DOUCHER said:

our style isn't a million miles away from the curbishley team that got promoted first time round - we had a midfield that outworked teams (kinsella, robinson, newton etc) and swarmed all over them - it wasn't over pretty and i actually prefer to watch that than this continental keep ball round the back bollox that bores you to death 

Attempting to press up high and keep the ball round the back bollocks never works for Charlton based on what I've witnessed.

EpsomAddick

An incredible post from "glen9mullan" on this Blackburn Rovers summer transfer thread about how toxic Rudy Gestede (Head of Football Operations) is. They are not a happy bunch, and they're all expecting to really struggle this season.

https://www.brfcs.com/forums/topic/37711-2025-summer-transfer-thread-😂/page/751/

NabySarr

EpsomAddick said:

An incredible post from "glen9mullan" on this Blackburn Rovers summer transfer thread about how toxic Rudy Gestede (Head of Football Operations) is. They are not a happy bunch, and they're all expecting to really struggle this season.

https://www.brfcs.com/forums/topic/37711-2025-summer-transfer-thread-😂/page/751/

I put it in the rumours thread but they’ve had a bit of a mare this window. Losing Travis, Brittain and Hyam is 3 key players that are very good for this level . Their recruitment seems to be mostly overseas so I can’t say I know much about what they’ve brought in, but I can definitely see them being down the bottom end and I think end up below us 

bolloxbolder

5 points from 5 games. Should, of course, have been more. However, when we first looked at the fixtures, the opening 6 games were difficult.

The only problem is that 5 of the next 7 are away. We really need to win the two very winnable home games v Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday. Hopefully we can pick up points on the road, specifically on Saturday and maybe Derby?

As I said at the start, if Kelman fires we could be around the play offs. unfortunately my initial concerns about his signing have been magnified by what I've seen in the first 5 games.

ForeverAddickted

Was always going to be happy with Championship survival in whatever shape or form that is this season. So anything better than 22nd will always be the target for me, anything better is a bonus... Next season can be the building stage at this level, the year after go for it more... Luton went down on Goal Difference last season, 49-pts... They got 13-wins / 10-draws

We look much stronger at home than away, so expect most of those points to have to come at the Valley, but already we only need 12-wins / 8-draws to match that particular target. Its a bloody weird Division as well; Coventry beat QPR 7-1 at home... Their next home game, they draw 1-1 with Norwich, but created more shots against Norwich, than what they managed to achieve in the 7-1 win.

NabySarr

Big positive so far is that Sheffield Wednesday look dead and buried already. Oxford also haven’t picked up a win yet. Could just be a case of finding one more team to finish above, and there are a few other contenders that have also started poorly. Beating Blackburn could be a huge 3 points as I think they could be down there 

6 points from the 2 home games is a must and then anything we get from the aways is a bonus 

Callumcafc

MillwallFan said:

follett said:

5-10 years ago a proper investment in the side like this window has been would see a League One club probably cement top half but nowadays the gap between League One and the Championship is so big I still think we will find it very difficult. 

We are giving it a go though and that’s all we can ask, hopefully it’s enough to stay up, unfortunately the two sides we’ve come up with are unlikely to go down so we will have to finish above three other sides

Spot on with that first paragraph. It’s a much bigger jump up these days between L1 and the championship. 

You’ve made some decent signings though and the basket case that is Sheffield Wednesday will finish bottom so you only have to worry about finishing above two others. Even starting the season with minus 4 points I think thats doable. 

Piece of piss this league.

mascot88

Promotion

ForeverAddickted

Just a reminder...

Play-Off Final date Championship. League One, League Two, Carabao Cup Final date, Bristol Street Motors Trophy Final date - The English Football League

Although can see this being a Play-Off Final where people who want a ticket, might not be able to get one

Dave2l

I don't want to speak too early on the subject matter, but I think it is now fairly safe to say that we will be staying up this season.

We have the joint best defence in the league. We have a big squad and the right kind of attitude. 

The priority is still just to stay in this division.

I guess we can review things again after 10 games/20 games.

letthegoodtimesroll

Dave2l said:

I don't want to speak too early on the subject matter, but I think it is now fairly safe to say that we will be staying up this season.

We have the joint best defence in the league. We have a big squad and the right kind of attitude. 

The priority is still just to stay in this division.

I guess we can review things again after 10 games/20 games.

After just 7 games it is far too early to say whether any team is staying up, getiing or not getting relegated or gettting or not getting promoted.

you might find following this guy on X useful

Chris_from_Sidcup

Dave2l said:

I don't want to speak too early on the subject matter, but I think it is now fairly safe to say that we will be staying up this season.

We have the joint best defence in the league. We have a big squad and the right kind of attitude. 

The priority is still just to stay in this division.

I guess we can review things again after 10 games/20 games.

Let's not get complacent as things can change very quickly. We're only 6 points off the bottom 3. 

2 away defeats this week and we'll be looking over our shoulder, half the forum will be slagging off TC and Kelman as the worst attackers since Mike Small and Polish Pete and we'll be in full on panic mode going into the Sheffield Wednesday game.

DamoNorthStand

Dave2l said:

I don't want to speak too early on the subject matter, but I think it is now fairly safe to say that we will be staying up this season.

We have the joint best defence in the league. We have a big squad and the right kind of attitude. 

The priority is still just to stay in this division.

I guess we can review things again after 10 games/20 games.

Well maybe we were until this was posted….. it’s looking good but this league is so crazy nobody from the top 5-6 down can feel safe.

Chris_from_Sidcup

DamoNorthStand said:

Dave2l said:

I don't want to speak too early on the subject matter, but I think it is now fairly safe to say that we will be staying up this season.

We have the joint best defence in the league. We have a big squad and the right kind of attitude. 

The priority is still just to stay in this division.

I guess we can review things again after 10 games/20 games.

Well maybe we were until this was posted….. it’s looking good but this league is so crazy nobody from the top 5-6 down can feel safe.

It's so tight as anyone can beat anyone.

2 wins = play offs here we come.
2 defeats = we're shit and in trouble.

Callumcafc

Here’s what the Championship table looked like after 8 games last season

Teams that have conceded six or fewer this season: Boro (1st), Stoke (3rd), Charlton (9th)

Teams that conceded six of fewer this time last season: Sunderland (finished 4th), Burnley (finished 2nd), Sheffield United (finished 3rd), West Brom (finished 9th), Leeds (finished 1st), Middlesbrough (finished 10th), Swansea (finished 11th).

So we are destined to finish 1st-4th or 9th-11th.

MuttleyCAFC

It isn't the points you look at but the performances. There is no way we are going down and there is a possibility we can be in the top eight. We need to see a bit more of the season to know how strong a possibility that is. 

Chris_from_Sidcup

MuttleyCAFC said:

It isn't the points you look at but the performances. There is no way we are going down and there is a possibility we can be in the top eight. We need to see a bit more of the season to know how strong a possibility that is. 

Still very early days. In the next month we face 3 of the current top 8, go away to Ipswich who are one of the promotion favourites and go away to Wrexham who gave us an absolute pasting last season.

The early signs are very promising, we've been competitive in every game and so far you'd say we'll be nowhere near relegation. However the division is still so tight though, it only takes a couple of injuries and a couple of defeats and suddenly top 8 can quickly turn into bottom 8.

Crispywood

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

It isn't the points you look at but the performances. There is no way we are going down and there is a possibility we can be in the top eight. We need to see a bit more of the season to know how strong a possibility that is. 

Still very early days. In the next month we face 3 of the current top 8, go away to Ipswich who are one of the promotion favourites and go away to Wrexham who gave us an absolute pasting last season.

The early signs are very promising, we've been competitive in every game and so far you'd say we'll be nowhere near relegation. However the division is still so tight though, it only takes a couple of injuries and a couple of defeats and suddenly top 8 can quickly turn into bottom 8.

Injuries won’t cost us this season squad depth is solid, the only player I would be nervous about losing is Coventry but even then that’s without knowing what JRC can offer he could come in and be fine. Macca, Burke, Apter, Knibbs, Tanto, Leaburn have all looked comfortable when they have featured. 

swordfish

We still have 38 games to play, equivalent to an entire Premier League season. Early signs give cause for optimism though, so I'll say 16th to 20th my expectation this far out. 

Chris_from_Sidcup

Crispywood said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

It isn't the points you look at but the performances. There is no way we are going down and there is a possibility we can be in the top eight. We need to see a bit more of the season to know how strong a possibility that is. 

Still very early days. In the next month we face 3 of the current top 8, go away to Ipswich who are one of the promotion favourites and go away to Wrexham who gave us an absolute pasting last season.

The early signs are very promising, we've been competitive in every game and so far you'd say we'll be nowhere near relegation. However the division is still so tight though, it only takes a couple of injuries and a couple of defeats and suddenly top 8 can quickly turn into bottom 8.

Injuries won’t cost us this season squad depth is solid, the only player I would be nervous about losing is Coventry but even then that’s without knowing what JRC can offer he could come in and be fine. Macca, Burke, Apter, Knibbs, Tanto, Leaburn have all looked comfortable when they have featured. 

Lloyd Jones?

North Lower Neil

letthegoodtimesroll said:

Dave2l said:

I don't want to speak too early on the subject matter, but I think it is now fairly safe to say that we will be staying up this season.

We have the joint best defence in the league. We have a big squad and the right kind of attitude. 

The priority is still just to stay in this division.

I guess we can review things again after 10 games/20 games.

After just 7 games it is far too early to say whether any team is staying up, getiing or not getting relegated or gettting or not getting promoted.

you might find following this guy on X useful

Hopefully the big difference this year is strength in depth - I'm optimistic we've got that this time.

philcafc

Far too early to make realistic predictions on where we might finish. A look at the table at this point last season shows Hull with the same record as us, but they only escaped relegation on the last day of the season.

twiggyaddick

North Lower Neil said:

letthegoodtimesroll said:

Dave2l said:

I don't want to speak too early on the subject matter, but I think it is now fairly safe to say that we will be staying up this season.

We have the joint best defence in the league. We have a big squad and the right kind of attitude. 

The priority is still just to stay in this division.

I guess we can review things again after 10 games/20 games.

After just 7 games it is far too early to say whether any team is staying up, getiing or not getting relegated or gettting or not getting promoted.

you might find following this guy on X useful

Hopefully the big difference this year is strength in depth - I'm optimistic we've got that this time.

Also a few of the wins we got early on that season, we were very very much outplayed but knicked it 1-0, Leeds and Brentford are the ones I remember, whereas so far apart from an uncharacteristic spell against QPR and arguably a spell in Tuesday, we haven't been outplayed at all. Much stronger and more consistent squad we've got this time.

Addick Addict

Matches drawn this season:

Premier - 28%
Championship - 36%
League 1 - 18%
League 2 - 24%

So, more than one in three games in the Championship are drawn and it is twice as likely to be that result than it is in League 1. Interestingly, two of the bottom three (Sheffield United and Blackburn) haven't a single draw between them and those three have lost 16 of the 22 matches they have contested. 

How does that help us? Our ability to produce clean sheets means that, worse case scenario, a 0-0 won't, necessarily, see us falling that far behind those in the top half of the table or even those in the Play Off positions. 

Burnley drew 16 games last season, of which no less than 12 were goalless, and still ended up with 100 points. The way they did it was interesting though - they drew 13 of their first 30 matches but once they had, almost certainly, secured their Play Off place, they went all out for the automatics. That should be our template.       

johnnybev1987

I'll wait and see until the half way point, or even a third of the games. This league everyone beats everyone, we have started well and dropped a few points where we deserved better, ill still bite your hand off for a top 20 finish, that's not to say we cant be closer to the playoffs. COYR

Braziliance

Bit concerned how many times we have dropped points or not won games we should have. We will undoubtedly hit a blip and those 4-9 points we arguably should have (Bristol City, Leicester, Millwall & Derby) could come in handy as a lifeline. 

I feel defensively as expected there are no concerns, but attack wise we are worse than I was expecting tbh. One goal in 8 games from all of our forwards combined. Bree has double the goals of all of our forwards combined.

Although we may be up there defensively and undoubtedly one of the better sides defensively, it has come at the cost of our attack in a few games. 

Braziliance

We sit rock bottom for accurate passes per game with 203, 13 behind Sheffield Wednesday 2nd bottom.

2nd from bottom for successful dribbles, 3rd from bottom average possession. 

We are middle of the pack of better for some other important stats like total shots, on target, tackles, interceptions, which shows how combative we are, and that we are always in a game. 

My main concern is I would say at least 7-9 sides below us sit in a false position and most of those will creep up. 

Top10 would be absolutely incredible still.

SouthLincsAddick

Braziliance said:

Bit concerned how many times we have dropped points or not won games we should have. We will undoubtedly hit a blip and those 4-9 points we arguably should have (Bristol City, Leicester, Millwall & Derby) could come in handy as a lifeline. 

I feel defensively as expected there are no concerns, but attack wise we are worse than I was expecting tbh. One goal in 8 games from all of our forwards combined. Bree has double the goals of all of our forwards combined.

Although we may be up there defensively and undoubtedly one of the better sides defensively, it has come at the cost of our attack in a few games. 

Thankfully, who scores the goals doesn’t make a difference to who wins/draws the game. For all we know NJ has decided we can’t compete in recruiting a prolific Championship quality striker and has instead concentrated on a sound defence, and our strikers being a foil for our midfield and wingbacks to score the goals for victory. I wouldn’t put it past him to have had this plan from the moment we got promoted.

Braziliance

SouthLincsAddick said:

Braziliance said:

Bit concerned how many times we have dropped points or not won games we should have. We will undoubtedly hit a blip and those 4-9 points we arguably should have (Bristol City, Leicester, Millwall & Derby) could come in handy as a lifeline. 

I feel defensively as expected there are no concerns, but attack wise we are worse than I was expecting tbh. One goal in 8 games from all of our forwards combined. Bree has double the goals of all of our forwards combined.

Although we may be up there defensively and undoubtedly one of the better sides defensively, it has come at the cost of our attack in a few games. 

Thankfully, who scores the goals doesn’t make a difference to who wins/draws the game. For all we know NJ has decided we can’t compete in recruiting a prolific Championship quality striker and has instead concentrated on a sound defence, and our strikers being a foil for our midfield and wingbacks to score the goals for victory. I wouldn’t put it past him to have had this plan from the moment we got promoted.

Well, Bree is only here till January until otherwise, and let's be honest, even if we do end up signing him, he isn't going to carry on with his form, as not even the best full backs in the world can score or assist at the rate of every game. 

Whichever way you look at it, 1 goal in 8 games across 4 strikers is worrying, but hopefully they start finding their shooting boots soon. 

I understand your logic, but there is no manager in the world who doesn't expect their forwards to score goals. We are currently 31 apps across all 4 strikers with a 1 goal return. There is no way Jones was expecting that.