The Championship Thread 2023/2024

[MattFox]

28 minutes ago, Harboro said:

Preston as well, didn’t pay much attention to the league last season but surprised they’re still unbeaten

They weren’t too bad last season tbf just didn’t score many

 

got a pretty solid squad at this level

[Paninistickers]

Haven't seen any other teams but the rhythm of Norwich's results looks the most impressive and Birmingham and Preston must have a decent set up tho id be amazed if either threatened the top 2 (based on nothing other than last performance of hardened 'championship' teams) 

 

Not sold on saints. I think Leeds will win heavily mamy weeks but also, they are the real scalp of the division (not us, we're second)  meaning it's slightly more difficult as there's gonna be 10 occasions where teams have raised up to playing a blinder against them. 

[Guest nathan.]

16 minutes ago, The Bear said:

How are you guys doing without Maddison and Barnes' creativity in midfield?

 

Youve had a couple of late winners, but you can't argue with results. 

Not bad.

 

5 wins in a row.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Early predictions

 

1 leicester

2 West Brom

3 leeds

4 Norwich

5 Southampton 

6 Birmingham / Ipswich (undecided) 

 

[David Hankey]

19 minutes ago, The Bear said:

How are you guys doing without Maddison and Barnes' creativity in midfield?

 

Youve had a couple of late winners, but you can't argue with results. 

Without who? Look at the table, it does not lie.

[MattFox]

12 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

Haven't seen any other teams but the rhythm of Norwich's results looks the most impressive and Birmingham and Preston must have a decent set up tho id be amazed if either threatened the top 2 (based on nothing other than last performance of hardened 'championship' teams) 

 

Not sold on saints. I think Leeds will win heavily mamy weeks but also, they are the real scalp of the division (not us, we're second)  meaning it's slightly more difficult as there's gonna be 10 occasions where teams have raised up to playing a blinder against them. 

I’d argue we’re a bigger scalp than Leeds tbf but guess it’s subjective 

 

They were only up for 3 years and have been championship or lower for the best part of 20 years now 

Edited 26 August 2023 by MattFox

[Paninistickers]

Just now, MattFox said:

I’d argue we’re a bigger scalp than Leeds tbf but guess it’s subjective 

 

They we’re only up for 3 years and have been championship or lower for the best part of 20 years now 

I know what you mean, but the Leeds brand is impressive. It's not like a deluded Forest thing where Leeds fans still think the world has heard of Don Revie and talks about Wembley 73 ....they are just simply big. 

[The Bear]

19 minutes ago, nathan. said:

Not bad.

 

5 wins in a row.

 

16 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

Without who? Look at the table, it does not lie.

Bit salty replies. 

 

I was just wondering what your general play has been like under Maresca, and without those players. Are you trying to play short passing, has it been more direct, or are you still hoping for reinforcements in CM? I genuinely don't know, hence the question. 

[Chelmofox]

11 minutes ago, The Bear said:

 

Bit salty replies. 

 

I was just wondering what your general play has been like under Maresca, and without those players. Are you trying to play short passing, has it been more direct, or are you still hoping for reinforcements in CM? I genuinely don't know, hence the question. 

The simple answer is we are all confused and not sure.

 

The tacticians amongst us are loving the intricate setup and play, the strategists amongst us are excited about the building blocks for the future. Those of us who still haven't come to terms we are not in the Premier League think we haven't got a good enough squad.  And those who like fast and exciting football are really bored with our play. Most of us think that if we played 4-4-2 with Vards & Nacho/Daka up top we would have hammered all these teams 4-0.

 

But, we've won 4 league games and 1 cup game, are top of the table, the players look fit and are grinding sides down. And we aren't emptying our bowels when things get a little tricky. Mostly likely because the standard in the Championship is doggo.

 

We also can't tell if the manager is happy or not. He seems like he might be, but then he does stuff like put 2 keepers on the bench to pi55 off the DoF. We don't know if he's going to walk if he doesn't get everything he wants, or if he is going to be pragmatic because of the situation we find ourselves in.

 

Suggest you check in about a month. We could be mid table and tearing our hair out by then.

Edited 26 August 2023 by Chelmofox

[tom27111]

6 minutes ago, The Bear said:

 

Bit salty replies. 

 

I was just wondering what your general play has been like under Maresca, and without those players. Are you trying to play short passing, has it been more direct, or are you still hoping for reinforcements in CM? I genuinely don't know, hence the question. 

 

They were salty replies 

 

I think we've been pretty underwhelming, but managed to get the job done somehow.

 

A lot of people saying "We haven't clicked yet, we'll be great when we do"

 

I'm still pretty cautious. What if we don't click, this is it and the late winners stop coming?

 

Winks has been class, but more a replacement for Tielemans than Maddison.

 

It would be nice to have someone else in the middle who can get 10 goals and pick a pass.

 

Maddison has turned up at Spurs and is their best player. Southgate nailed on to play him now.

 

Nice to see your lot win at Everton today 

[adam95581]

19 minutes ago, The Bear said:

 

Bit salty replies. 

 

I was just wondering what your general play has been like under Maresca, and without those players. Are you trying to play short passing, has it been more direct, or are you still hoping for reinforcements in CM? I genuinely don't know, hence the question. 

Unnecessary salt. 
 

Maresca has definitely implemented his style and you can clearly see what he is trying to do. The problem is that he is doing it with round pegs in square holes. General feeling is that once we get round pegs in round holes we’re start to see more impressive results as we have had to rely on some last minute winners to keep our streak going. 
 

Winks has been a good signing as he really suits our style but the main gap is on the wings (although hopefully sorted this week if rumours are believed to be true). 

[The Bear]

Cheers guys. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

I know it's only a few games in but the goal difference in the main is so tight. 

 

We're going to have to be absolutely relentless to win it.

[foxes_rule1978]

15 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

I know it's only a few games in but the goal difference in the main is so tight. 

 

We're going to have to be absolutely relentless to win it.

If we win every game by 1 goal my calculations say we win the league 

[shailen]

It's hard to get back to back wins in this league, let alone four in a row. We're only going to get better in this system with more game time so excited with what is to come. 

[Langston]

2 hours ago, The Bear said:

 

Bit salty replies. 

 

I was just wondering what your general play has been like under Maresca, and without those players. Are you trying to play short passing, has it been more direct, or are you still hoping for reinforcements in CM? I genuinely don't know, hence the question. 

 

With all due respect – why do you care?

[when_you're_smiling]

3 hours ago, LCFCJohn said:

Norwich look very impressive, look at how they blew away a Huddersfield side that we struggled past.

 

I reckon they will be right up there. Southampton as well and Leeds will probably catch up somewhat after a slower start. 
 

Surprising to see Middlesbrough and Sunderland struggling as much as they are.

To be fair, Norwich were almost literally gifted a 2-0 lead by Huddersfield mistakes judging by the highlights.

 

[FoxesWalk]

So far Norwich look the the scariest side in the division. We play them and Southampton back to back fairly soon. Will soon find out how good we really are then. 

[StriderHiryu]

2 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

The simple answer is we are all confused and not sure.

 

The tacticians amongst us are loving the intricate setup and play, the strategists amongst us are excited about the building blocks for the future. Those of us who still haven't come to terms we are not in the Premier League think we haven't got a good enough squad.  And those who like fast and exciting football are really bored with our play. Most of us think that if we played 4-4-2 with Vards & Nacho/Daka up top we would have hammered all these teams 4-0.

 

But, we've won 4 league games and 1 cup game, are top of the table, the players look fit and are grinding sides down. And we aren't emptying our bowels when things get a little tricky. Mostly likely because the standard in the Championship is doggo.

 

We also can't tell if the manager is happy or not. He seems like he might be, but then he does stuff like put 2 keepers on the bench to pi55 off the DoF. We don't know if he's going to walk if he doesn't get everything he wants, or if he is going to be pragmatic because of the situation we find ourselves in.

 

Suggest you check in about a month. We could be mid table and tearing our hair out by then.

That’s a pretty good take! For what it’s worth, even as the chief tactical officer of Foxes Talk, I think that a different and less convoluted system would result in the same results, but better performances. It’s our superior quality that’s winning us games right now, not our style of play. However, the potential is that one day these will combine and we’ll be really good and that is the exciting thing. 
 

I expect setbacks along the way and am surprised we’ve won so many so far. I think we’ll get caught out soon. But I also think that around December time we will start clicking. 
 

We will find out in due course!

[CosbehFox]

Every week I watch the highlights teams make so many errors defensively yet we haven’t had them really occur too much within our games. Teams really are over performing against us (arrogantly thinking this). 

[Deeg67]

Next 4 days are going to be huge for Leeds.  They need reinforcements at the back, but their attacking options are impressive.

[LCFCJohn]

7 hours ago, when_you're_smiling said:

To be fair, Norwich were almost literally gifted a 2-0 lead by Huddersfield mistakes judging by the highlights.

 

Maybe so, you have to force the opposition to make these mistakes in the first place and take advantage though. Our goal at Huddersfield was a cock up by their keeper really so works both ways.

 

Give their only points dropped were an away draw at Southampton, they’ve had a very impressive start. Those away games at both them and Southampton next month will be tough.

[James_lcfc]

7 hours ago, Langston said:

 

With all due respect – why do you care?

@The Bear Please stop asking friendly questions about football on a football forum.

 

Very rude.

[James_lcfc]

8 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

That’s a pretty good take! For what it’s worth, even as the chief tactical officer of Foxes Talk, I think that a different and less convoluted system would result in the same results, but better performances. It’s our superior quality that’s winning us games right now, not our style of play. However, the potential is that one day these will combine and we’ll be really good and that is the exciting thing. 
 

I expect setbacks along the way and am surprised we’ve won so many so far. I think we’ll get caught out soon. But I also think that around December time we will start clicking. 
 

We will find out in due course!

This is a very good post.

 

People either seem to be down on the new system and bored by it or completely blinded by optimism and refuse to see it questioned.

 

Refreshing to read some middle ground.

[Matt]

48 minutes ago, James_lcfc said:

This is a very good post.

 

People either seem to be down on the new system and bored by it or completely blinded by optimism and refuse to see it questioned.

 

Refreshing to read some middle ground.

I'm believer i'm on the middle ground.

 

As a self proclaimed hater of playing out from the back and the branches off pure, constant possession based football having had PTSD from everything caused in the last 2+ years, how we were playing vs how we're now playing are like watching 2 different sports, this is a breath of fresh air, it's exciting, fast, and most importantly, forward, possession with purpose!

 

That doesn't mean it goes without criticisms and concerns though.

 

I know people who had absolutely no problems with the past 2+ years (Genuinely and seriously!) yet they're now claiming this is boring, i'm dumbfounded by them, I stand there in disbelief, part of me thinks they're are winding me up.

 

Edited 27 August 2023 by Matt