Rival Watch

[Sutekh]

Any points deductions likely? Over the summer there was talk of half the league being in trouble, but has gone very quiet.

Not expecting anything. Think Bristol City are being perceived as the closest to falling foul of the rules at the moment and then ‘boro. Next season might also be a problem for Stoke and WBA (if they’re still here).

Hull won last night - but then it was at Blackpool who have been sliding downwards very quickly recently.

[Hound]

We are five points off the top having lost three on the bounce.

Yep and 6 off 21st. It is insane this year.

Only 2 clubs have lost more than us. We've lost the same amount as 2nd placed Blackburn and only they and QPR have won more 9 & 8 respectively.

Sheff Utd picked up 24pts in 10 games recently. 1 in 4 now, 3 of those games v teams in 16th, 21st and 23rd.

Can honestly see there being a record low to make the playoffs this year and poss 50 plus to stay up.

It's mad. Worrying teams at the bottom are picking up.

It’s also brilliant. How football should be

Fwiw think we’ll have enough to stay reasonably clear but certainly not fully confident. Really need to get Hutch and Sarr back, and keep the others fit basically. Should then have the squad

I didn’t think we were bad at all against qpr despite that seemingly the narrative (note the way they smashed cardiff), and we played well against Norwich. Do think the results will come again

[paultheroyal]

Any points deductions likely? Over the summer there was talk of half the league being in trouble, but has gone very quiet.

just posted in general football about Watford. There is some dodgy dealings going on. All is not good.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I think it was inevitable we were going to suffer a bad spell somewhere and Norwich (H), QPR (A), West Brom (H) and Swansea (A) is a pretty difficult run of fixtures in the main and I think all would agree are 4 sides with more quality in their squad than our own. Maybe expected something better in a game given our form over the season, but we've not done so well against 4 better sides, it's to be expected. This weekend is massive, 3 points against BC just keeps us ticking over nicely, especially when Burnley is a game we are less likely to get points in.

Something that would put me more at ease is that I wish one or two of the expected relegation candidates, such as Rotherham, Wigan, Blackpool etc, would begin to fall away. Huddersfield look poor, but I was hoping Hull would continue their decline, but they won last night, yes at the expense of Blackpool but they picked up a good home win vs Watford, I thought it was going to be Rotherham but they've claimed back-to-back wins and sit a point behind us etc. Looking at the table and recent form, I'm hoping it's Wigan now that begin to fall into the drop zone, but every time I've hoped someone, anticipated to be near the bottom, begins to show signs of decline, they pick up one or two good results and shoot up the table.

I'm just hoping that one or two of the relegation candidates start struggling as we approach the WC break.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Any points deductions likely? Over the summer there was talk of half the league being in trouble, but has gone very quiet.

just posted in general football about Watford. There is some dodgy dealings going on. All is not good.

I was hoping it was going to be someone like Bristol City. If they suffered a points deduction for breaking FFP rules I'd be confident that we'd finish above them this season, for example.

Sometimes I do think the table can tell a story of a clubs' situation though. Watford struggling in 15th, rumoured that all is not well off the field, Middlesbrough labouring even lower, supposedly being looked into with regards to spending and FFP etc.

[Stranded]

Yep and 6 off 21st. It is insane this year.

Only 2 clubs have lost more than us. We've lost the same amount as 2nd placed Blackburn and only they and QPR have won more 9 & 8 respectively.

Sheff Utd picked up 24pts in 10 games recently. 1 in 4 now, 3 of those games v teams in 16th, 21st and 23rd.

Can honestly see there being a record low to make the playoffs this year and poss 50 plus to stay up.

It's mad. Worrying teams at the bottom are picking up.

It’s also brilliant. How football should be

Fwiw think we’ll have enough to stay reasonably clear but certainly not fully confident. Really need to get Hutch and Sarr back, and keep the others fit basically. Should then have the squad

I didn’t think we were bad at all against qpr despite that seemingly the narrative (note the way they smashed cardiff), and we played well against Norwich. Do think the results will come again

People will write the narrative to suit. Take the Norwich result, it was now a bad point as they have lost 3 since but ignores the fact they were undefeated in 8 or so before. Every team will have bad runs.

For example, we are on the exact same run as Norwich and Sheffield United.

[Zip]

Point very well made Stranded. Hard to believe the top of three of a couple of weeks ago have taken just three points from a possible 36. That’s bizarre.

[Snowflake Royal]

To definitely stay up we need 33 points from 31 games. That's 11 more wins.

I'd like to get the requirement down to less than a point a game as I think we're going to continue to regress, but that's not too tricky.

[South Coast Royal]

Point very well made Stranded. Hard to believe the top of three of a couple of weeks ago have taken just three points from a possible 36. That’s bizarre.

Perhaps it backs up the view made by some of us early on that the standard this season is worse than for a very long time.
People say it every year but this time it looks as though that view might be right.

[Hound]

Point very well made Stranded. Hard to believe the top of three of a couple of weeks ago have taken just three points from a possible 36. That’s bizarre.

Perhaps it backs up the view made by some of us early on that the standard this season is worse than for a very long time.
People say it every year but this time it looks as though that view might be right.

Not sure the standard is worse - just less stand out teams and the teams at the bottom appear better than the usual bottom dwellers

Overall standard is pretty high I’d say, just no Fulham/Bournemouth this time

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I think the top teams are worse this time around, so I'd say the standard isn't as good. If the bottom teams are finishing "closer" (points-wise) to the top teams, good for the competitiveness of the league but not so good for the quality in the league for me.

The 3 teams that go up this season I'd probably bet on coming straight back down again. Whether that's Norwich, Sheff United, West Brom, Watford etc.

[paultheroyal]

Point very well made Stranded. Hard to believe the top of three of a couple of weeks ago have taken just three points from a possible 36. That’s bizarre.

Perhaps it backs up the view made by some of us early on that the standard this season is worse than for a very long time.
People say it every year but this time it looks as though that view might be right.

The amount of times that phrase is used to describe the championship - dreary me.

It is what it is. You could argue standard is higher as more wealthier clubs coming down, more wealthier chairmans (some less so) etc etc....

I would argue that our team is stronger than last year in terms of what is available but that comment means nothing.

[Hendo]

Michael Beale to move from QPR to take over at Wolves for £ 1.2m - set to be agreed and announced at some point after their game v Cardiff tonight.

I wonder where the 1882 Fakes will turn to for a replacement? Chris Wilder? John Terry won’t be happening

Beale turns down Wolves!

[Snowflake Royal]

I think it was inevitable we were going to suffer a bad spell somewhere and Norwich (H), QPR (A), West Brom (H) and Swansea (A) is a pretty difficult run of fixtures in the main and I think all would agree are 4 sides with more quality in their squad than our own. Maybe expected something better in a game given our form over the season, but we've not done so well against 4 better sides, it's to be expected. This weekend is massive, 3 points against BC just keeps us ticking over nicely, especially when Burnley is a game we are less likely to get points in.

Something that would put me more at ease is that I wish one or two of the expected relegation candidates, such as Rotherham, Wigan, Blackpool etc, would begin to fall away. Huddersfield look poor, but I was hoping Hull would continue their decline, but they won last night, yes at the expense of Blackpool but they picked up a good home win vs Watford, I thought it was going to be Rotherham but they've claimed back-to-back wins and sit a point behind us etc. Looking at the table and recent form, I'm hoping it's Wigan now that begin to fall into the drop zone, but every time I've hoped someone, anticipated to be near the bottom, begins to show signs of decline, they pick up one or two good results and shoot up the table.

I'm just hoping that one or two of the relegation candidates start struggling as we approach the WC break.

Biggest concern isn’t the results, but how we've capitulated so easily.

I don’t really think many of those four had to play well to get points against us.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I think it was inevitable we were going to suffer a bad spell somewhere and Norwich (H), QPR (A), West Brom (H) and Swansea (A) is a pretty difficult run of fixtures in the main and I think all would agree are 4 sides with more quality in their squad than our own. Maybe expected something better in a game given our form over the season, but we've not done so well against 4 better sides, it's to be expected. This weekend is massive, 3 points against BC just keeps us ticking over nicely, especially when Burnley is a game we are less likely to get points in.

Something that would put me more at ease is that I wish one or two of the expected relegation candidates, such as Rotherham, Wigan, Blackpool etc, would begin to fall away. Huddersfield look poor, but I was hoping Hull would continue their decline, but they won last night, yes at the expense of Blackpool but they picked up a good home win vs Watford, I thought it was going to be Rotherham but they've claimed back-to-back wins and sit a point behind us etc. Looking at the table and recent form, I'm hoping it's Wigan now that begin to fall into the drop zone, but every time I've hoped someone, anticipated to be near the bottom, begins to show signs of decline, they pick up one or two good results and shoot up the table.

I'm just hoping that one or two of the relegation candidates start struggling as we approach the WC break.

Biggest concern isn’t the results, but how we've capitulated so easily.

I don’t really think many of those four had to play well to get points against us.

Maybe true - I haven't seen all of their games this season though to know whether they did/didn't put in what would be considered a strong performance against us. There was an article on Norwich saying they've been seemingly playing in second gear for much of the season (up until our game) and were still getting points whereas West Brom were performing really well and creating boat loads of chances, but not taking enough, therefore dropping points etc.

I thought Swansea played pretty well against us, we just let some really soft goals in probably down to the way we played and individual errors. Think P.Ince referenced it pretty well himself there, every mistake against us is being punished at the moment, although it doesn't excuse such a performance where we barely laid a glove on them.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

The compressed first part of the season is a leveller, particularly for sides with a few injuries...I'd expect that to change in the new year. Sheffield have a number of key players out atm

The current fixture schedule Is ludicrous, particularly the EFL insisting on the rearranged games following the Queen's death being played before the world cup. There are loads of midweek dates available later in the season, why do we have to be up to Christmas fixture wise before the world cup?

[Sutekh]

Michael Beale to move from QPR to take over at Wolves for £ 1.2m - set to be agreed and announced at some point after their game v Cardiff tonight.

I wonder where the 1882 Fakes will turn to for a replacement? Chris Wilder? John Terry won’t be happening

Beale turns down Wolves!

WLOLves

[Royal_jimmy]

I wonder where the 1882 Fakes will turn to for a replacement? Chris Wilder? John Terry won’t be happening

Beale turns down Wolves!

WLOLves

I think that's a smart move, he's only just become a manager and QPR took a punt on him. He should give them at least 1 year before he moves on.

[Sutekh]

Burnley winning 3-2 at Sunderland after being 2-0 down
Sheffield Utd have fought back from 2 down to level at 2-2 with Norwich
QPR leading Wigan 2-1

[Ascotexgunner]

Baggies fans posting some gems this evening...particularly Ron seems to be a target.

"Appoint a manager you useless fat turd - and not a chum this time you p rick!!!!"