The Championship 2020-21

That is just rubbish, I've been saying all season that we are good enough to get into the automatics, so long as we don't play Deeney and as long we play something like our potential. Yesterday was the sort of performance I've been expecting for ages.

I understand that for you, yesterday seems like a "one off", but not for me.

 

I too am prepared to hold back until we've played two or three games and see where we are, but I do see a parallel between now and the same point in the 2014/15 season which makes me think it's still possible.

Look at the table on the bottom right of this page with us seven points adrift of Derby with a significantly worse goal difference (in the worst case scenario meaning if Swansea win both their games in hand, we'll be seven points from Norwich with a better GD):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31070467

We'd just beaten Blackburn with a very unconvincing performance (not dissimilar to many of our wins this season) which IIRC a number of fans on here were unhappy about, after a big dent to our promotion aspirations after losing at promotion rivals Bournemouth the previous game. It was looking a tall order like now, but interestingly I seem to remember people were generally more optimistic about making automatic than now.

 

Yes, we all know that if we play our best players and they play to their total potential, but that has literally never happened before yesterday, and you have no way of knowing, or even much of an indication, that that is what Xisco is planning to do, or even that that is what he had planned to do yesterday, considering how much trouble they have all gone to to brief that Deeney's exclusion was purely on injury grounds and that he is such an integral member of the team.

What we have seen up to now, in contrast, is Deeney reintroduced and forced into the starting XI literally any time he is available.

So, logically, we should probably at least wait for some evidence that anything has changed before paying out on our 'going up as champions' bets.

 

I know what you mean, but in reality these parallels are nothing more than coincidental portents; omens and 'signs'. We might as well bring in an augur to read the organs of one of the pigeons that roosts in cornices of the Rookery and declare our promotion divinely approved as a result. We aren't the same team, and we don't have anything like the same Head Coach - we already know this, based on all evidence available to us.

So, as you rightly say, the very very least we must do is hold back until we've played two or three games and see where we are, rather than getting absolutely swept away on a flimsy tidal wave (not that I'm saying you particularly are).

 

I wouldn't waste your time. There's a tiny section of the fanbase that attacked anyone who saw the way things were going last season. They were so sure that we wouldn't get relegated and can't handle the fact that they were wrong to the extent that I'm pretty sure they think we're still in the Premier League.

 

Bookies think it’s a bit under 20% probability.

 

We'll get what we need.

 

I believe the response will be that you are a “fan”.

 

While I like your logic of using one game and ignoring the other observations and then declaring it isn’t a one off, I reckon it might be prudent to check that Deeney isn’t the main man again on Tuesday or Saturday.

 

What's impressive about Barnsley's unexpected win is that it seems, like last season when Brentford were going for automatic and Barnsley needed to win to avoid relegation on the last day, it wasn't a smash-and-grab raid, they look the game to Brentford and showed they're not a team to be feared, hopefully other teams will take note.

Still it shows how weak most of this division is when teams like Cardiff (who have been very hit-and-miss) and Barnsley (who hadn't won in five before today) still have a chance of making the top six.

 

Yes by one bookie, others say 25% or 33%. But that doesn't influence what I think.

I've said all along that we are good enough to go straight up, and others like yourself, GD and Chumlax and a few others think we had little or no chance.

Who is right or wrong will be determined, but to suggest (like Chumlax did) and you did in #3509 that I am basing my optimism on one game is just rubbish.

 

You're making this up as you go along, you fraud - I even wrote a lengthy post comparing our squad positively to the Wolves team that destroyed the league a few years ago, player-by-player, near the beginning of the season.

As the season has gone on, it has become apparent that it is not going the way it should, or that makes it likely that we will go up in the automatic places - it's the difference between observing reality and fantasizing, essentially.

It is still clearly possible that we could go up automatically, but we are not in the automatic places, and we are multiple wins behind anyone who is, all of whom are currently in better form than us.

Therefore, there are a lot of things that still need to happen, despite literally one single morale-boosting victory, for us to have any realistic chance, and to say at this point is a 'strong possibility' is premature at best and laughable at worst.

 

I hope you are right. But it is indisputable that we have been poor far more often than we have excellent. Presumably you agree with that so yes it would seem you are basing things off one game. If we play same lineup excluding Deeney for the next few games I’d be tempted to agree with you.

4-1 is 20% but whatever.

 

It’s a brilliant division and far more entertaining than the PL. The champions and bottom 3 are done and dusted in the PL, but I will say I’ve found the PL more entertaining than normal this season...in part due to a drop in quality or intensity with the fan situation.

 

I'm basing it on what I believe is the quality of our players, not on one games result and not on our general performances. And I have been consistent in my view all season.

 

But it’s irrelevant if the manager doesn’t play the best players in the best positions and is dominated by Deeney. Your view only holds water if you think we are now beyond that mindset.

 

I've not made anything up, you have been one of the main negs on this forum. In itself, nothing wrong with that, every situation needs it's balance otherwise opinions become meaningless.

And I do think it is.

Am I allowed, or is being optimistic not allowed on here?

 

Yes that’s fine of course. But it’s Munoz. And there are games Tuesday and at the weekend. Personally I don’t trust him not to go back to Deeney after his knock. I hope I am wrong.

 

It will be a blow if he goes back, but that doesn't mean that he won't learned something in the process, and maybe Deeney too! The big problem is if he goes back to building the system around Deeney.

 

No one in their right mind would change the formation or selections after being 4 up at HT and 6-0 at FT. Everything worked perfectly. I've personally not seen movement like that from our forwards for ages and to even attempt to change it would be boarder line crazy. It's the old saying of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. ​

 

Yes, but you're strongly misrepresenting my 'neg' - I've explained directly how and why, and even provided reference to evidence that supports it, so don't just dismissively wave your hand and pretend I haven't - at least recognise it.

 

Hold on.

It was you that criticised my positive outlook on our promotion chances with what was a mild personal attack by insinuating that I was only looking at one game, when it has been clear since this season started that I have thought our players are good enough to go straight back up.

Look in the mirror, mate.

 

You're inventing this as a personal attack, and you cannot not be basing it on one game based on all evidence. You can say you believe we will go up automatically, and that is perfectly fine; allowed, even. I'm sure there are others who would express the same. I very much hope we do, for obvious reasons. But that is not the same thing, at all, as saying there is a strong possibility that we will go up automatically. That is an objective measure that, at this time, is not true.

 

Just ***** LOL at all you Brentford fellators.

 

I was basing my reply in defence of your personal post #3521. As I say, look in the mirror, again.

And as I keep saying, I am not basing my beliefs on one game, I am basing them on how good I think our players are on what I have seen over the season. I obviously have a higher opinion of them than you do.

 

Oh look, this learned scholar is right yet again.

I guess they must be getting sick and tired of WINNING by now.

 

I did, and it was fabulous; I got lost for a while.

Anyway, you're continuously ignoring the points I'm making, so fairplay, it is what it is.

 

Can you elaborate on what the finer points of the state of being 'kiddy' are please, RC?

 

FFS.

 

2 games in 4 days though. Might be worth a switch up on Tue or Fri.

 

For me we see how the game Tuesday goes. The next is the most important obviously.

 

BWs spamming up the forum again and ruining a good read, with their petty feuds and arguments.

 

There is another element to be considered, however. It does seem that the players have taken it upon themselves to play at a quicker tempo, moving the ball in a more positive fashion, irrespective of the formation or tactics of the manager. I believe this is exactly what was needed and there is no reason to suggest it will be different in the subsequent games. You might consider it would be somewhat less effective with Deeney and/or Gray in the team but it should still be better than what we have been shown up to yesterday.

 

And yet, as ever, you are the only one desperately trying to start arguments out of nowhere about whatever slight you claim to have perceived from people not talking to or about you.

Have a blessed day, lil'

 

Finally a team stops toney from scoring ,he has over 20 next best for them is 7 ,you stop the supply they dont do so well ,even bristol only lost 3:2 just hope the other teams they play have taken notice