The biggest game of the Championship this weekend sees Stoke City take on Bristol City and it by far both sides most important of the season so far. With Stoke ahead by just one point the result is crucial to both sides. But who will be victorious on the day?
Results in the Championship this season have been unpredictable all season and I do not expect this to change on Saturday. Both sides have not enjoyed the best of form in recent weeks with City only winning once in their last eight games and Stoke have failed to win at home for three games. Tony Pulis’s side did however win away against Coventry last weekend, which will be a huge confidence boost. City, on the other hand have lost their previous two away games and we are struggling to hit the back of the net. But surely our luck has got to change?
Stoke will present one of the sternest tests of the season as they will be desperate to claim second spot and a win against City would go a long way to achieving this. They also have two prolific players who can score goals in Fuller and Lawrence, and they will pose a big threat to our defence. But, although we may not be firing on all cylinders up front, we certainly know how to defend.
Despite them being ahead of us in the league, they are at home and pressure will hopefully be on them to produce a performance. As the away side I expect us to be solid in the first half and frustrate the home crowd. With Stoke anticipating their biggest home crowd of season with 20,000 plus expectant supporters, it is sure to a hostile atmosphere, but we should have 2,000 fans offering their support.
When City played host to Stoke back in October, we won 1-0, a Marvin Elliot stunner winning the game and I would gladly settle for another 1-0 this weekend. But whatever the result, nothing will be decided this weekend. The Championship has offered many surprise results this season and I am sure there will be a few more twists and turns before the final game of the season. It could be that neither side secures one of the automatic places and we may end up playing each other again in the play-offs. Hull, who currently stand between City and Stoke are in fantastic form and they will not give up their place without a fight. The only thing I can be certain of is that it will be great entertainment and with no football to watch in the summer, I don’t want it to end.
ANDY DAVIES
Tuesday 22 April 2008
Monday 14 April 2008
Scoring problems
It has been a problem all season and at the moment we are paying for it. Scoring goals has been much harder this season than it was last year and after 43 games Bristol City have only scored 49 goals, compared to free-scoring West Brom who have managed 82 goals. I know they have had a bigger spending budget than us and have been an established Championship team much longer than we have, but it is a cause for concern. Even at the bottom of the league, already relegated Colchester have chalked up 58 goals, so where does the problem lie with our scoring exploits?
In the summer we spent £1million on Lee Trundle and in return he has netted just four goals, we recruited attacking wingers Ivan Sproule and Michael McIndoe who have scored six goals between them, and we also recruited Darren Byfield who is our top scorer with just eight goals. With these goal scoring ‘exploits’ it is hard to see how we have remained near the top for so long. I can only recall two players who have managed to exceed my expectations with their goal scoring records. Marvin Elliot, although he has only scored six times, he is a tough tackling midfielder and no one expected him to perform so well. The second player is Dele Adebola, who after arriving in January from Coventry after scoring five goals all season for them, has already netted five for us in 14 games.
After Saturday’s game against Wolves, it is hard to see where we are going to score the goals to try and win our final three games. Although the performance on Saturday was a big improvement on the Southampton game, we hardly looked like scoring against Mick McCarthy’s team. So where are we going wrong? I have said previously what a crucial player Lee Johnson is to the team and this has been proved in recent weeks. We seem to lack ideas in midfield and instead of passing the ball on the ground the players are resorting to playing a more direct style of football, which isn’t working.
Some fans have said we should have brought in more attacking options on loan but this hasn’t helped Charlton’s cause. A combination Gary hasn’t tried is Brooker and Trundle up front, which might work, or is that me being optimistic? With Brooker holding the ball up, he could perhaps bring Trundle into play more, something Trundle hasn’t had since he arrived as he has usually partnered Byfield in attack. Anyone think this could work?
Another option would be to play some youngsters like Tristan Plummer, whose energy and pace might bring a change in fortune. But this is unlikely to happen as we are at a crucial stage in the season and I don’t think Johnson will experiment with kids. If we fail to beat Stoke, the only option will be to play three up front. Playing Brooker, Adebola and Byfield together would cause Sheffield United and Preston some problems.
With just three games left I hope we can make the top two, and if we can start scoring there is no doubt we can win the next three matches. With the Championship being so competitive, possibly two wins and a draw can see us snatch second place. All we can do as fans is support the lads.
ANDY DAVIES
In the summer we spent £1million on Lee Trundle and in return he has netted just four goals, we recruited attacking wingers Ivan Sproule and Michael McIndoe who have scored six goals between them, and we also recruited Darren Byfield who is our top scorer with just eight goals. With these goal scoring ‘exploits’ it is hard to see how we have remained near the top for so long. I can only recall two players who have managed to exceed my expectations with their goal scoring records. Marvin Elliot, although he has only scored six times, he is a tough tackling midfielder and no one expected him to perform so well. The second player is Dele Adebola, who after arriving in January from Coventry after scoring five goals all season for them, has already netted five for us in 14 games.
After Saturday’s game against Wolves, it is hard to see where we are going to score the goals to try and win our final three games. Although the performance on Saturday was a big improvement on the Southampton game, we hardly looked like scoring against Mick McCarthy’s team. So where are we going wrong? I have said previously what a crucial player Lee Johnson is to the team and this has been proved in recent weeks. We seem to lack ideas in midfield and instead of passing the ball on the ground the players are resorting to playing a more direct style of football, which isn’t working.
Some fans have said we should have brought in more attacking options on loan but this hasn’t helped Charlton’s cause. A combination Gary hasn’t tried is Brooker and Trundle up front, which might work, or is that me being optimistic? With Brooker holding the ball up, he could perhaps bring Trundle into play more, something Trundle hasn’t had since he arrived as he has usually partnered Byfield in attack. Anyone think this could work?
Another option would be to play some youngsters like Tristan Plummer, whose energy and pace might bring a change in fortune. But this is unlikely to happen as we are at a crucial stage in the season and I don’t think Johnson will experiment with kids. If we fail to beat Stoke, the only option will be to play three up front. Playing Brooker, Adebola and Byfield together would cause Sheffield United and Preston some problems.
With just three games left I hope we can make the top two, and if we can start scoring there is no doubt we can win the next three matches. With the Championship being so competitive, possibly two wins and a draw can see us snatch second place. All we can do as fans is support the lads.
ANDY DAVIES
Black Wednesday
I’m writing this and wishing I was somewhere else. Anywhere with a telly and selling alcohol, ideally. But it wasn’t to be, and like many football fans I have found myself a victim of the grand overlords of Sky TV. This Saturday just gone, April 12th, I had originally intended to attend Plymouth Argyle’s scheduled match at Sheffield Wednesday, our 43rd Championship fixture of the season and potentially (certainly at the time of organising the trip) decisive in our play-off push. I booked my train tickets from my home in Gloucestershire four weeks in advance to avoid the ridiculous cost of on-the-day public transport, and waited for match tickets to go on sale. Alas, it was at this point that Rupert Murdoch’s media machine – generally about as interested in covering Argyle as a vegan is in eating veal – whirred into seemingly aimless action and had the game moved to Monday night for live transmission to subscribers. At the same time when my return travel, already purchased, was due to occur.
Thus here I am, tapping away on my laptop while almost anything could be happening at Hillsbrough. The bleddy train even went through Sheffield on the way down, but with it being nearly 9pm I considered jumping off, watching the rest of the game and spending the night in the station to be a little pointless, especially given recent events.
I’ve been somewhat absent from this site for a couple of weeks, for two reasons. Firstly, my University course has been rather more hectic and difficult than usual, but, far more pertinently, Argyle have managed almost entirely extinguish our greatest ever hopes of reaching the top flight of English football. First there was the embarrassing 3-1 loss at struggling Coventry, with the Greens 3-0 down before the much-maligned Steve McLean grabbed an admittedly impressive consolation. This left us needing, realistically, four wins from our last five matches going into the home tie with Charlton. I travelled down full of hope and expectation and, despite a dire showing by both teams, Jermaine Easter’s second-half goal looked likely to be the difference between them. Then Luke McCormick had one of those spells where everything goes wrong, twice fumbling in his own six-yard box and giving visiting striker Leroy Lita a pair of tap-ins. Heartbreaking.
Since then the crushing, numbing disappointment of losing to two poor sides has got the better of me, and I’ve attempted to hide from football – frequenting the BBC Sport website less often, shunning Focus and MOTD, skipping the sports pages. Still, the ‘beauty’ of the Argyle White Membership I have is you get six home match vouchers to use throughout the season, and I’ve got one left. So I’ll be there for the Preston game on Saturday, when Argyle will in all likelihood have little to play for but pride, and possibly a highest-ever league finish in my lifetime. That, at least, should whet the appetite for another crack next season.
RICH PARTINGTON
Thus here I am, tapping away on my laptop while almost anything could be happening at Hillsbrough. The bleddy train even went through Sheffield on the way down, but with it being nearly 9pm I considered jumping off, watching the rest of the game and spending the night in the station to be a little pointless, especially given recent events.
I’ve been somewhat absent from this site for a couple of weeks, for two reasons. Firstly, my University course has been rather more hectic and difficult than usual, but, far more pertinently, Argyle have managed almost entirely extinguish our greatest ever hopes of reaching the top flight of English football. First there was the embarrassing 3-1 loss at struggling Coventry, with the Greens 3-0 down before the much-maligned Steve McLean grabbed an admittedly impressive consolation. This left us needing, realistically, four wins from our last five matches going into the home tie with Charlton. I travelled down full of hope and expectation and, despite a dire showing by both teams, Jermaine Easter’s second-half goal looked likely to be the difference between them. Then Luke McCormick had one of those spells where everything goes wrong, twice fumbling in his own six-yard box and giving visiting striker Leroy Lita a pair of tap-ins. Heartbreaking.
Since then the crushing, numbing disappointment of losing to two poor sides has got the better of me, and I’ve attempted to hide from football – frequenting the BBC Sport website less often, shunning Focus and MOTD, skipping the sports pages. Still, the ‘beauty’ of the Argyle White Membership I have is you get six home match vouchers to use throughout the season, and I’ve got one left. So I’ll be there for the Preston game on Saturday, when Argyle will in all likelihood have little to play for but pride, and possibly a highest-ever league finish in my lifetime. That, at least, should whet the appetite for another crack next season.
RICH PARTINGTON
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