In the final tranche of his quarterly report, Andy looks at the sides who currently reside in the Championship’s nether regions. Who, if anyone, can escape?
***
Rotherham United
3 wins, 2 draws, 7 defeats.
Brentford 5 – 1 R’ham
R’ham 1 – 0 Ipswich
Leeds 2 – 0 R’ham
R’ham 2 – 3 Hull
R’ham 1 – 0 Millwall
Wigan 1 – 0 R’ham
R’ham 1 – 0 Derby
A Villa 2 – 0 R’ham
Forest 1 – 0 R’ham
R’ham 2 – 2 Stoke
R’ham 0 – 0 Bristol C
Birm 3 – 1 R’ham
Only their form at the New York stadium is keeping Rotherham out of the relegation zone currently and they’ve lost all six games away from home. They’ve lost to the likes of Villa, Birmingham, Hull and Wigan which is not a great sign and they’ve yet to encounter WBA or Middlesbrough. They have beaten both Ipswich and Frank Lampard’s Derby County™ however, so I’d lobby to give them bonus points as a result. It was always going to be a test for the Millers to hang in the division and not bounce back down and despite the away record they’re doing a little better than expected right now. Improve that and it could get even better for Paul Warne’s men.
Verdict: Relegation candidates
Millwall
2 wins, 4 draws, 6 defeats.
Millwall 2 – 2 M’boro
B’burn 0 – 0 Millwall
Millwall 2 – 1 Derby
SW 2 – 1 Millwall
R’ham 1 – 0 Millwall
Millwall 1 – 2 Swansea
Millwall 1 – 1 Leeds
QPR 2 – 0 Millwall
WBA 2 – 0 Millwall
Millwall 2 – 3 SU
NF 2 – 2 Millwall
Millwall 2 – 1 A Villa
Lions fans had to endure a miserable seven game streak of one draw and six defeats which saw them firmly planted in the bottom three. Recent form has improved, and they tend to do better against the big teams with a win against Derby and draws with Middlesbrough, Leeds and Forest. However, they also haven’t helped their cause with defeats to teams like QPR and Rotherham. They have easier fixtures to come however, and Neil Harris has proved himself as a sensible pragmatist who is the right fit for the club so I expect them to pick up further soon.
Verdict: Bottom-half but comfortably safe.
Reading
2 wins, 3 draws, 7 defeats.
Reading 1 – 2 Derby
NF 1 – 0 Reading
Reading 0 – 1 Bolton
B’burn 2 – 2 Reading
A Villa 1 – 1 Reading
Reading 1 – 2 SW
Preston 2 – 3 Reading
Reading 1 – 2 NCFC
Reading 3 – 0 Hull
Brentford 2 – 2 Reading
Reading 0 – 1 QPR
WBA 4 – 1 Reading
The fact that Paul Clement is still in a job is an impressive show of faith by the Reading board, misplaced or otherwise. With only wins against fellow strugglers Preston and Hull to show for the season the Royals are firmly amongst the bottom-feeders. While losses against WBA, Forest, Derby and Norwich are understandable, they’ve also lost at home to QPR and Bolton, and defensively they’ve looked as solid as a politician’s promise. It’s going to be a long old season for Reading fans.
Verdict: Relegation candidates
Preston North End
2 wins, 3 draws, 7 defeats.
Preston 1 – 0 QPR
Swansea 1 – 0 Preston
Preston 2 – 2 Stoke
NCFC 2 – 0 Preston
Derby 2 – 0 Preston
Preston 2 – 2 Bolton
Preston 2 – 3 Reading
Leeds 3 – 0 Preston
SU 3 – 2 Preston
Preston 2 – 3 WBA
A Villa 3 – 3 Preston
Preston 4 – 0 Wigan
Alex Neil’s side have been in sharp decline this term and only boast home wins in the opening day against QPR and in their last game against Wigan.
However, the teams they have lost to include Swansea, Derby, Leeds, Norwich, Sheff Utd and WBA who are all top half so they’ve been up against a more difficult fixture list than many of their opponents. Of the sides languishing at the bottom, Preston look the most likely to me to kick on over the longer haul. That’s not to say they aren’t still firmly in trouble at the moment though.
Verdict: Relegation candidates.
Ipswich Town
1 win, 6 draws, 5 defeats.
Ipswich 2 – 2 B’burn
Rotherham 1 – 0 Ipswich
Ipswich 1 – 1 A Villa
Derby 2 – 0 Ipswich
SW 2 – 1 Ipswich
Ipswich 1 – 1 NCFC
Hull 2 – 0 Ipswich
Ipswich 1 – 1 Brentford
Ipswich 0 – 0 Bolton
Birm 2 – 2 Ipswich
Ipswich 0 – 2 M’boro
Swansea 2 – 3 Ipswich
After a bitterly disappointing victory over Swansea just before the break, Little Ipswich finally recorded their first victory of the season. Bless them. The Paul Hurst era has gone better than could ever have been hoped for, with losses to fellow bargain-bucket sides Rotherham and Hull symptomatic of just how good a job Hurst is doing. With Town yet to face Leeds, Sheff Utd, WBA or Forest, it’s likely that things are only going to get funnier over the coming weeks.
Verdict: Guilty… No, I mean… three stars… no, sorry… relegation candidates.
Hull City
2 wins, 2 draws, 8 defeats.
Hull 1 – 3 A Villa
SW 1 – 1 Hull
Hull 0 – 1 B’burn
R’ham 2 – 3 Hull
Stoke 2 – 0 Hull
Hull 1 – 2 Derby
Hull 2 – 0 Ipswich
Wigan 2 – 1 Hull
Reading 3 – 0 Hull
Hull 1 – 1 M’boro
Hull 0 – 1 Leeds
SU 1 -0 Hull
The only side currently more hapless than Ipswich, they did at least turn them over at the KC stadium. Their only wins came against the starving ponies and Rotherham. On the plus side, the recent cruelties of the fixture list, pitting them against Middlesbrough, Leeds and Sheffield United in back-to-back games now has easier games in store. Whether Hull are capable of picking up points in these games will decide how their season progresses.
Verdict : Relegation candidates
***
In summary, look out for improvement from Middlesbrough, Bristol City, Stoke, Birmingham, Millwall and Preston and dips from Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford, Derby, Blackburn, Wigan and QPR.
As for Norwich, it’s difficult to over-emphasise how key the next four games will be to shaping their season. A Play-Off push is in their hands.
Thanks Andy, good to read your reviews and all your comments on the sides! Not much to argue about, you haven’t gone out on a limb regards any of the sides with respect to their current positioning. However the division is s0 close that I expect to see some surprises in the coming months, either in terms of rises or falls, and contrary to Martin’s somewhat pessimistic view I suspect City could be one of the risers. That is, as long as DF uses his squad properly and doesn’t run players into the ground until they pick up injuries, a la Pukki, when he has perfectly good subs raring to go on the bench. So let’s hope we see some more flexible man management coming up… Regardless, the Championship does make for a really fascinating and hard to predict division.
Hi and Ha! Michael.
I just wonder if we can keep up the good work for long enough tbh.
Only time will tell…
A great read over the 4 parts
It will be harder to suggest who wll be the final relegation candidates in this league than in the Premiership this year and the top six will be just as difficult to predict but I think city will be in the mix for playoff places.