Football League 2018/19 - 2-6th November, 2018

[Stan]

Friday 2nd November
Aston Villa vs Bolton, 19.45

Saturday 3rd November
Blackburn vs QPR
Brentford vs Millwall
Derby vs Birmingham
Hull vs West Brom
Ipswich vs Preston
Nottm Forest vs Sheff Utd
Reading vs Bristol City
Rotherham vs Swansea
Sheff Weds vs Norwich
Stoke vs Middlesbrough, 17.30

Sunday 4th November
Wigan vs Leeds, 13.30

Saturday 3rd November, 2018
AFC Wimbledon vs Shrewsbury
Barnsley vs Southend
Blackpool vs Bristol Rovers
Bradford vs Portsmouth
Charlton v Doncaster
Coventry vs Accrington Stanley
Gillingham vs Fleetwood
Plymouth vs Sunderland
Rochdale vs Luton
Scunthorpe vs Oxford
Walsall vs Burton
Wycombe vs Peterborough

Tuesday 6th November, 2018
Gillingham vs Blackpool, 19.45
Walsall vs Charlton, 19.45
 

Saturday 3rd November, 2018
Cambridge vs Grimsby
Carlisle vs Newport
Cheltenham vs Mansfield
Colchester vs Swindon
Crawley vs MK Dons
Lincoln vs Forest Green
Macclesfield vs Bury
Morecambe vs Yeovil
Northampton vs Crewe
Port Vale vs Notts County
Stevenage vs Oldham
Tranmere vs Exeter

Tuesday 30th October, 2018
Mansfield vs Grimsby, 19.45
Notts County vs Oldham, 19.45

[Pig on the Wing]

Absolutely awful defending for Grealish's opener, and the first 15 it looked like we're playing different sports. 

Grown into the game but I'll be staggered if we take a point here.

[Pig on the Wing]

We're fucking shit.

[Fairy In Boots]

I think Abraham is destined to stay at this level, he has the touch of a trampoline. 

Also think our keeper is that shite he will do an “enckleman” in the Derby

[Pig on the Wing]

6 hours ago, Fairy In Boots said:

I think Abraham is destined to stay at this level, he has the touch of a trampoline. 

Also think our keeper is that shite he will do an “enckleman” in the Derby

Your keeper's aerial ability gave me a tiny strand of hope. What happened to Johnstone?

Alas, not to be, as our attack was laboured, indecisive and ultimately impotent. The likes of Chester are the difference at this level - our best defender goes on a journey 4 minutes in while your centre halves dealt with everything without breaking sweat.

Although at the other end, what the hell gives Kodjia the right to claim an extortionate wage every month? Finishing like that wouldn't look out of place at a disability walking football tournament. 

[Fairy In Boots]

3 hours ago, StefBWFC said:

Your keeper's aerial ability gave me a tiny strand of hope. What happened to Johnstone?

Alas, not to be, as our attack was laboured, indecisive and ultimately impotent. The likes of Chester are the difference at this level - our best defender goes on a journey 4 minutes in while your centre halves dealt with everything without breaking sweat.

Although at the other end, what the hell gives Kodjia the right to claim an extortionate wage every month? Finishing like that wouldn't look out of place at a disability walking football tournament. 

Johnstone is at West Brom, we couldn’t sign him because we were skint so he moved there and then we got rich owners so Bruce brought Nyland who I’ve seen described on twitter as “an overly confident hollyoaks actor at soccer aid”. 

Kodjia is selfish and has no footballing brain at all, we’re very wasteful upfront, if we could I’d recall McCormack now Bruce has gone.

[Pig on the Wing]

4 hours ago, Fairy In Boots said:

Johnstone is at West Brom, we couldn’t sign him because we were skint so he moved there and then we got rich owners so Bruce brought Nyland who I’ve seen described on twitter as “an overly confident hollyoaks actor at soccer aid”. 

Kodjia is selfish and has no footballing brain at all, we’re very wasteful upfront, if we could I’d recall McCormack now Bruce has gone.

With a more clinical striker, you'd have beaten us by a good five or six. We gifted you the ball over and again, and allowed you chance after chance. It actually says it all that that shambles was one of our better performances in recent weeks, ffs.

Great shout on Nyland by the way. 

[AMG]

That Wednesday defence is shocking.

 

How are they top?

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, AMG said:

That Wednesday defence is shocking.

 

How are they top?

They're not utd are 

[Guest]

Scunthorpe were 3.0 down and scored 3 goals in  6 minutes

Edited November 3, 2018 by Guest

[AMG]

8 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

They're not utd are 

 

They arent the same team? 

[BounceAroundTheGround]

This is just so Bristol City.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, AMG said:

 

They arent the same team? 

Yeah like inter and A.C Milan 

[AMG]

Anyways, top of the table for the first time this season.

 

Elated AF.

[The Artful Dodger]

Didn't see that one coming, nice to see to us hold on to leads for considerable lengths in the past two games. Hope springs eternal.

[roversgirl]

Scrappy game, but a win is a win. You don't get more points for performance or goals! Pleased for Leutwiler getting the clean sheet (and having nothing to do!) coming in for the injured Raya - he has had to wait patiently for his chance but he looks very composed and able replacement. The referee had a shocker today (for both sides) - no huge mistakes but he didn't let the game flow and every foul he gave he more often than not booked the player. Our penalty was soft but we had another good shot for a penalty in the first half and we also had a stone wall penalty not given against WBA last week so I like to think they even themselves out!

No idea how QPR were on such a good run of form - they were terrible!!! No quality or ambition. We weren't at our best but we looked the more likely side to score through Graham, Dack or Armstrong. Teams are marking Dack out of the game at the moment and he has gone a bit quiet, but he took the penalty very well considering he is probably third choice behind Mulgrew and Graham. He needs to find another gear to his game, but while teams are focusing on him it means they tend to forget Armstrong who with his skill and pace can be just as much of a threat.

We've had a few 1-0 wins now - so pleasing when we work hard to keep the clean sheet we are finding ways to nick a game.

[Danny]

Finally won and Sergi Canos scores again, two big bonus'.

We've won one game in ten I believe and are just 5 points off the play offs, this division is crazy but also sums up how things can change.

Onto QPR next who thankfully lost to Blackburn so hopefully they'll have no winning streak luck against us.

[The Palace Fan]

I know every year we talk about how open and competitive this league is but for Norwich to be top after 16 games with all their cloth cutting in the last year is absolutely mental. Two weeks can literally change your entire outlook on this season at the minute.

[Stan]

Great stuff by Gally here! 

 

 

[Marc]

Incredible, we are playing such good stuff as well. Wednesday defence shocking and on the flip side i can't see their manager lasting much longer. Although we had some grim times under Farke and stood by him and are now reaping the rewards.

Pukki is a proper goalscorer.

We also didn't have Rhodes or Cantwell yesterday who have been really important during our good run.

[The Palace Fan]

Just now, Marc said:

Incredible, we are playing such good stuff as well. Wednesday defence shocking and on the flip side i can't see their manager lasting much longer. Although we had some grim times under Farke and stood by him and are now reaping the rewards.

Pukki is a proper goalscorer.

We also didn't have Rhodes or Cantwell yesterday who have been really important during our good run.

Pukki seems like a great find, are you confident you can keep him for another season if he keeps this form up?

[Marc]

3 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Pukki seems like a great find, are you confident you can keep him for another season if he keeps this form up?

Well it all depends what division we are in. Tbf I can't see him being head hunted, he's 28/29 and has never done it at a high level. He played for Schalke a 4-5 years ago and didn't really do it.

I'd be more worried about others leaving,.If I was a Prem manager, I'd be looking at Lewis, Aarons, Cantwell - All under 20,  Buendia - 21, Leitner and Hernandez - 25ish. 

It's early days though. By xmas we could easily be back down in mid-table and finish the season there.

I don't think we will, on the evidence of what i've seen so far, i'm having us top 6.

[roversgirl]

16 hours ago, Danny said:

Finally won and Sergi Canos scores again, two big bonus'.

We've won one game in ten I believe and are just 5 points off the play offs, this division is crazy but also sums up how things can change.

Onto QPR next who thankfully lost to Blackburn so hopefully they'll have no winning streak luck against us.

They were very poor albeit without Cameron and Hemed who are important players for them. Solid and hard working but no idea where that recent winning run came from!

[roversgirl]

4 hours ago, Marc said:

Incredible, we are playing such good stuff as well. Wednesday defence shocking and on the flip side i can't see their manager lasting much longer. Although we had some grim times under Farke and stood by him and are now reaping the rewards.

Pukki is a proper goalscorer.

We also didn't have Rhodes or Cantwell yesterday who have been really important during our good run.

Anything is possible for you guys with Pukki and Rhodes upfront!

[Lucas]

Strange season this. I dont know whether we caught Norwich at the right time or they caught us at the wrong time but we obviously cruised that win at theirs.

Anyway, it was nice to get an away win today and get back to the top. Im sick to death of usdominating games and not killing teams off and again this looked like it could be one of those games.

Thankfully we managed to see the game out but I question whether we really have that clinicality/killer instinct in us to really go up. I dont think we take enough chances and we really need to improve on this, especially if we continue to give soft goals away.

On to a tricky tie at West Brom next week, they will be hurting after some of the results they have had of late. Could be a bad time to play them but hopefully we can put in a result.

[Dan]

15 hours ago, Marc said:

Incredible, we are playing such good stuff as well. Wednesday defence shocking and on the flip side i can't see their manager lasting much longer. Although we had some grim times under Farke and stood by him and are now reaping the rewards.

Pukki is a proper goalscorer.

We also didn't have Rhodes or Cantwell yesterday who have been really important during our good run.

Looks to me like Maddison was actually holding you back

[The Palace Fan]

With the table being so close, you must be a little concerned @StefBWFC that Bolton aren't winning games by the odd goal by playing poor football any more given that the football hasn't improved either. On the flip side @Fairy In Boots is this the win that kicks off the new regime? Plenty of time to go for those automatic promotion places.

Blackburn have adapted to this league far better than I ever expected @roversgirl @JOSHBRFC @The Rebel CRS @tlr. It's games like this where your playing a high on confidence side that are playing the best football they will all season where a teams character is tested. So to win a difficult game late on mist be very pleasing.

I couldnt believe on the highlight show when they said its been nine games since Brentford lasr won @Danny. Its difficult to tell if this will be a turning point for Thomas Frank as this isnt the difficult Millwall side to face that it was in the second half of last season.

I thought Derby were going to lose to Birmingham just because after the commotion of a midweek fixture against Chelsea a Garry Monk team is literally the shitest side to face. Credit to Derby though. It shows how much belief they have at the moment. 

Whilst Hull deserve all the plaudits and credit for an unexpected victory against West Brom I cannot believe the West Brom fans booed. The good start they made has spoiled them. Have your feelings towards Frazier Campbell improved @The Artful Dodger?

Paul Lambert must realise the massive struggle he has at Ipswich now. A fixture against Preston at home is literally the perfect opportunity to stamp your mark and increase confidence yet they couldn't win against ten men. I really fear for them.

Lewis Grabban seems to have rediscovered his scoring form noe that hes settled at Nottm Forest so im not surprised to see Sheff Utd lose @DNA. That said, gven the difficulty of playing away to an organised Forest I'm sure this fixture will not affect United's morale going forwards.

Whilst Reading's form has been poor. They have been competitive and playing well. With that in mind i was expecting them to hit somebody with three goals soon. Its just a shame for @BounceAroundTheGround it happened against his Bristol City team.

Rotherham beating Swansea with two late penalties after Swansea pretty much dominated proceedings after playing good football pretty much summed up Rotherham's luck at times this season. All teams below them must be infuriated they can't pick up wins in similar circumstance 

Sheff Weds seem to be in a rut at the moment so i expected Norwich to win this. What I didn't expect was them to win by four. They look like a team that are going places which is quite surprising given the financial restrictions and the fact there was question marks over Daniel Farke last season. Without Jordan Rhodes and Ben Marshall too (who looked like astute signings in the summer) which shows the depth they have to keep going @Marc

Stoke and Middlesbrough on television was always going to be a drab affair given the way they both play. Fingers crossed there's three more exciting teams that get promoted ahead of them.

It must have been weird for @tommy_wafc seeing the end of the Whelan era at Wigan. As a neutral, I'm not too fond of the bloke. However there's no denying he has created that football club appreciated by thousands. It's a shame they couldn't end it all with a positive result against one of England's footballing giants in Leeds. As for Leeds, the fact they're still top after the first quarter with all the injuries they've had @Lucas really shows how much they belief they all have in what Bielsa is doing. Maybe it's finally time for you to start getting excited.

[Smiley Culture]

Went to Charlton v Doncaster on Saturday, which transpired as a pretty routine home win in the end. It was a weird game, both Charlton and Doncaster had good home and away form respectively but both found themselves in the bottom six of the form table before the game on Saturday. 

Doncaster should have gone one up before Charlton took the lead and from then on it was total control for Charlton. 

They have a decent conveyor belt of talent at Charlton that’s seen the likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa move onto bigger clubs at higher levels and I reckon Joe Aribo and Karlan Ahearne-Grant are the two most likely to move on next. They were both equally the stand outs in the Charlton side on Saturday.