They nearly had an 87th minute one - would have been harsh on Cardiff. 4 minutes of added time to go - still 0-1. I really don't know how Cardiff have managed to hang on, it's been one way traffic this half.
Wouldn’t it be a crying shame if Bowyer took Brum down from the Championship, with Charlton coming up via the playoffs?
Destiny is in the hands of munoz and the squad , hasn’t looked likely before xmas , while others are faltering , the orns are buzzing !!!!
We can get promoted before the last 2 games on this form which will be good and their games in hand won't mean much.
I think the fourth game after the break will decide the final postions or at ,least show who is going up or in the play offs
If you think that is likely to happen then have a tenner on it. If you win it will pay first a week abroad, always assuming Tubs de Pfeffel will let you go. To save you looking it up you can get 100/1 on us not finishing in the top two.
You have had a superb season and an incredible start to 2021. Having said that, you have managed only two points more than us since your defeat at the Vic on Boxing day. Having given you such a massive head start whilst under our last coach, it's highly unlikely we will catch you. I would point out that if you were to lose Pukki to a lengthy injury in the next game or two, I would fancy you would not finish too very far in front of the second-place team. The Championship has a habit of biting back, something I hope we do not suffer from in our next game.
Fair points, but have you noticed that Brentford and Swansea are both dropping like stones in the current form tables?
A comment I read this morning from a Brum fan, said that Norwich and Watford are really two PL sides playing in the Championship. He pointed out that Watford brought on a second half sub, Gray, who cost more than his entire team. While that may be true, you cannot buy a team unless you are one of the super rich, and even that doesn't always work if the coach and players don't come together. Norwich are well known for being prudent when it comes to buying in players, and some of their fans blamed the tight purse strings for their relegation last season. Their manager has done a great job there, and from what I have seen has not changed much in the style of play for three seasons. He has a winning formula when Pukki is banging them in, and a very good player in Cantwell that they have done well to hang on to. Both teams will have suffered badly with a reduced income being out of the PL. TV income is more important these days than having fans in the grounds at this level. Cardiff and Swansea have played recently in the PL, and have been close to a return, but the longer it goes when it doesn't happen the harder it seems to be to get there. Bournemouth must have a different financial model to both Norwich and Watford as they seem to have sold a number of their better players, and although I never liked Howe would admit he worked well with them.
And long may that continue. Our form up until Xmas was, at best, patchy - even when we we beat you on Boxing Day. Since then, we've had a couple of blips - but are now playing the best we have all season. The law of averages says that we will probably drop points before the end of the season - we just hope that those around us do too.
I think at Championship level, both are way better than most teams in the league. I also think that because they are so much better than most, they will come back from their dip in forms and will finish strongly. We will do well to take decent points from them at the end of the season and may well have to, to achieve our goal.
Well we sold over 10 players did we not? Even so, I saw the value of all Championship squads at the beginning of the season and our value was nearly 4 times the next team. That doesn't mean our team are superior but it gives us a big advantage which always looked like it would pay dividends as the season comes towards the end. I would say that 5 years in the Prem has meant we have benefited with a larger, stronger, more skillful squad. Following on from this Birmingham fan, I noted Sarr costed us more than the whole of Bristol City's team and many other similar sized teams. Quite an advantage.
I agree with Flitton that this is a temporary issue for them, but I agree Farked, it was a shock to see how low in the form table they are. It's mid-table at best. Our 'friends' up the M1 have done better than both, I think.
I also think that the Norwich board deserve credit for holding their nerve and keeping Farke. How many times have decent managers faced the bullet because an ill-educated (in football terms) board demands change, often just to show they are 'doing something'?
Kiko observed, at some point in the first half of the season, that we would do well overall because our squad was a good one which would become apparent in the 2nd half. As it turns out, very pertinent. We have had some significant injuries, (foster Kabasele Deeney) and some irritating ones, (cleverley Perica ) which would have affected other clubs to a greater extent. The other factor is that we have had many scorers - i.e. aren't dependent on 1 or a pair. That has helped us a lot with the injuries in that we can change it around and still be effective. I think we have the best fullbacks in the division, have unearthed one of the best CB's (Sierralta has been the rock on which our game plans have been built) , the tidiest midfield and an unpredictable forward line. I do note that we play in bursts of 10-20 minutes, then either let the oppostion come at us, (or they raise their game ). Whether Ivic would have got us to this situation is debatable. Whatever, I'm enjoying it !
