So, the Championship season has started **Spoilers**

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Norwich once again refuse to be beaten, incredible! Only 5 points clear of the chasing pack so still theoretically possible for us not to get automatic promotion although we FINALLY should have Buendia back from suspension which will have a huge impact. If he hadn't have been sent off against QPR we'd probably already be promoted.

EDIT: Playoff positions currently held by Leeds, West Brom, Villa and Middlesborough. I can't remember the last time I saw such a strong line up of big clubs all in the playoffs..
 
Soldato
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Leeds throwing the 3 point lead away, gutted. Our fans need calling out, the amount of coins been thrown towards the end of the match was disgraceful.
If there is one team I'd love to see back in the Premiere league it's Leeds. Not sure how they lost at home to Wigan with 36 shots to 8 but hope they can turn it around.
 
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9 wins in a row and we're 1-0 up against Millwall. Never before have Villa won 10 league games in a row.

Loads of Bees fans warned your lot that Dean Smith was a streaky manager. Probably as streaky as you can get... 15 games unbeaten, 10 games without a win, repeat.

Didn't stop a mass of Villa fans calling for him to be sacked when you had a ropey spell a few months back... :rolleyes: very little patience within the fans bases of the larger clubs in this division.
 
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Loads of Bees fans warned your lot that Dean Smith was a streaky manager. Probably as streaky as you can get... 15 games unbeaten, 10 games without a win, repeat.

Didn't stop a mass of Villa fans calling for him to be sacked when you had a ropey spell a few months back... :rolleyes: very little patience within the fans bases of the larger clubs in this division.

Doesn't matter who's in charge, someone will call for the manager's head. When we hit a bad patch there were a few saying just that but most actually defended him and said to give him time. What a time to hit a run though. Guarantees play-offs now.

@Andybtsn must be livid right now :p
 
Don
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Doesn't matter who's in charge, someone will call for the manager's head. When we hit a bad patch there were a few saying just that but most actually defended him and said to give him time. What a time to hit a run though. Guarantees play-offs now.

@Andybtsn must be livid right now :p

It’s not anger, just major disappointment. Proper sickener, although in my my mind it didn’t change much. I always predicted we wouldn’t get anything out of the Brentford game but the Wigan game was a gimme. Sheff U always had the easier run in so the damage was done on Friday. We won’t win over two legs against any of the top six I feel, confidence is shot.
 
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It’s not anger, just major disappointment. Proper sickener, although in my my mind it didn’t change much. I always predicted we wouldn’t get anything out of the Brentford game but the Wigan game was a gimme. Sheff U always had the easier run in so the damage was done on Friday. We won’t win over two legs against any of the top six I feel, confidence is shot.

You've been well off the boil for a while now, so I can't imagine it's surprising - just very disappointing, as you mentioned. The commentators yesterday mentioned that since Boxing Day Leeds' for, would place them 9th in the table. Has part of it been down to Saiz leaving?
 
Don
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You've been well off the boil for a while now, so I can't imagine it's surprising - just very disappointing, as you mentioned. The commentators yesterday mentioned that since Boxing Day Leeds' for, would place them 9th in the table. Has part of it been down to Saiz leaving?

Hard to put a definitive answer on it, one thing for sure it wasn't down to energy levels so at least that one can be put to rest. I think squad depth played a part and not getting the Daniel James signed Swansea proved to be a much bigger issue than anticipated. In the end it's pretty much the same squad that finished 14th last season apart from Bamford and Douglas who have barely played this season. Dominating possession doesn't mean anything in football, it's putting the ball in the net and we haven't scored enough this season and there have been to many individual mistakes at the back that cost us.

Pretty adamant we won't get anything from the play offs even if we play Boro or Derby. Our away performances have just been so poor since Xmas. It's all pretty damning really as I can't see Bielsa staying on and I think with the squad we have no will achieve what has been done, in the end we've overachieved massively but will just be remembered as bottlers/failures. Blah
 
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in the end we've overachieved massively but will just be remembered as bottlers/failures. Blah

Not playing devil's advocate here, genuinely interested - but how would you consider that you've overachieved? Excluding TV revenue, you've got the 11th largest revenues of UK clubs. Are you having to make amends for wild Cellino spending, or looking to fully live within your means, or is there something else? To drop £11m on those two players you mentioned is something many clubs in this division simply can't do - our starting 11 yesterday cost £12.5m...

Personally, I reckon Leeds should always be fighting at the top end of the table given the resources (financial clout, brilliant academy) that others don't have.

Could it be the fatigue issue that has followed Bielsa throughout his career? Not necessarily putting in the miles on the pitch, but mental fatigue that's caused a drop-off? The likes of Clarke look completely spent!
 
Don
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Not playing devil's advocate here, genuinely interested - but how would you consider that you've overachieved? Excluding TV revenue, you've got the 11th largest revenues of UK clubs. Are you having to make amends for wild Cellino spending, or looking to fully live within your means, or is there something else? To drop £11m on those two players you mentioned is something many clubs in this division simply can't do - our starting 11 yesterday cost £12.5m...

Personally, I reckon Leeds should always be fighting at the top end of the table given the resources (financial clout, brilliant academy) that others don't have.

Could it be the fatigue issue that has followed Bielsa throughout his career? Not necessarily putting in the miles on the pitch, but mental fatigue that's caused a drop-off? The likes of Clarke look completely spent!

If you looked at the team last season then you'd have thought the majority aren't fit for League 1 let alone the Championship. Just because a club brings in more money that doesn't really translate on to the pitch. We spent money on Bamford who has been injured for around 4/5 months of the season. Douglas has been injured for the majority of the season since Xmas. We have brought in numerous youth players like Shakleton, Davis, BPF, Haime and probably the worst injury list out of all the clubs in the Championship, maybe this is Bielsa or just pure bad luck.

I judge a club on the players rather than the resource, if we had thrown millions at players like WBA, Stoke, Villa, Boro etc did then yes I'd agree, major underachieving but we didn't.

I think it's more confidence than fatigue but in the end who knows what the mental state of the players are, this is all completely new to them, we have no experience of leaders who have been there and done that, maybe that showed in the end.
 
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Norwich & Sheff United taking top two ahead of the likes of Leeds, WBA, Boro, Stoke etc. shows that you simply can't buy promotion.

Both Norwich & United dominated their opponents today and definitely deserve promotion.
 
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