The big wobble. What does it mean?

[Andy S]

All the teams at the top seem to be having a wobble being beaten by unfancied teams but what's the reason. Could it be that the top teams are not as good as we thought or maybe the teams below them are better than they are given credit for. Either way it makes the job of predicting results almost impossible

[filham]

It is a tough league with anyone able to beat anyone. Just look at our early defeat by Barnsley.

Freedom from injury, squad depth, suspensions and luck are going to play significant parts in who gets promotion.

[Whitesideup]

All the teams at the top seem to be having a wobble being beaten by unfancied teams but what's the reason. Could it be that the top teams are not as good as we thought or maybe the teams below them are better than they are given credit for. Either way it makes the job of predicting results almost impossible

Good question. For me it's the overall standard. Look at Luton and Barnsley  .. rock bottom. But I don't think they are bad sides. They are not easy games. The technical standard has just gone up and up, and most players are comfortable on the ball. Levels of fitness are generally second to none. Games change on moments, and every team is capable of having them.

We sometimes hear people saying that one team or another played badly (funnily enough normally against us!) but your opponents impact the way you can play. Forest seem to be very good, for example, at getting behind the ball and preventing teams from creating opportunities. It's not expansive and not particularly entertaining, but can be very effective. The point is that part of the improvement we have seen is the technical ability of teams to organize themselves to reduce goalscoring chances. We often give them little credit maintaining simply that we didn't create much or that we were poor in the final third.

And how about it being hard for Championship sides to hold on to those individuals who can make a difference? The money and attraction of the Premier League is hard for players and clubs to resist, and this has only increased over the last decade. Bowen at Hull a good example? Hats off to Brentford who have successfully found replacements for high profile departures... not an easy thing to do. (It may be sacrilege to suggest it, but there may also be an element of luck in this.)

These factors combine to make a more level playing field and consequently less predictable results. At one stage last year in the Tipping League I resorted to picking the outcome that I thought was the least likely ... for a while with some success !!

Key therefore is consistency. Yes there will be slip-ups and many teams will be saying "how on earth did we lose that one?" There is a luck factor, big decisions, unlucky moments etc, but overall if you are the better team, you will emerge ahead of the others.

[fcfulham55]

Just down to the quality of the teams being poor this year.

[Sting of the North]

All the teams at the top seem to be having a wobble being beaten by unfancied teams but what's the reason. Could it be that the top teams are not as good as we thought or maybe the teams below them are better than they are given credit for. Either way it makes the job of predicting results almost impossible

Good question. For me it's the overall standard. Look at Luton and Barnsley  .. rock bottom. But I don't think they are bad sides. They are not easy games. The technical standard has just gone up and up, and most players are comfortable on the ball. Levels of fitness are generally second to none. Games change on moments, and every team is capable of having them.

We sometimes hear people saying that one team or another played badly (funnily enough normally against us!) but your opponents impact the way you can play. Forest seem to be very good, for example, at getting behind the ball and preventing teams from creating opportunities. It's not expansive and not particularly entertaining, but can be very effective. The point is that part of the improvement we have seen is the technical ability of teams to organize themselves to reduce goalscoring chances. We often give them little credit maintaining simply that we didn't create much or that we were poor in the final third.

And how about it being hard for Championship sides to hold on to those individuals who can make a difference? The money and attraction of the Premier League is hard for players and clubs to resist, and this has only increased over the last decade. Bowen at Hull a good example? Hats off to Brentford who have successfully found replacements for high profile departures... not an easy thing to do. (It may be sacrilege to suggest it, but there may also be an element of luck in this.)

These factors combine to make a more level playing field and consequently less predictable results. At one stage last year in the Tipping League I resorted to picking the outcome that I thought was the least likely ... for a while with some success !!

Key therefore is consistency. Yes there will be slip-ups and many teams will be saying "how on earth did we lose that one?" There is a luck factor, big decisions, unlucky moments etc, but overall if you are the better team, you will emerge ahead of the others.

Excellent post.  :plus one:

[Sting of the North]

Just down to the quality of the teams being poor this year.

I believe it is almost the complete opposite, as better described by Whitesideup above. Things are also almost never down to just one thing by the way.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Just down to the quality of the teams being poor this year.

I cannot agree, it's far from it. Generally Teams are well organised and prepared and fitter than never before. It's a tough League with no prisoners taken. No quarter asked no quarter given. Just the survival of the fittest and the most consistent.

[fcfulham55]

Just down to the quality of the teams being poor this year.

I cannot agree, it's far from it. Generally Teams are well organised and prepared and fitter than never before. It's a tough League with no prisoners taken. No quarter asked no quarter given. Just the survival of the fittest and the most consistent.

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

[Andy S]

The fact is though if you have a significant number of foreign players in the Prem then you get more prem standard players in the Championship. In fact it probably goes right through all the leagues. I think the level has gone up and got a lot faster over the years

[ALG01]

brilliant question and some very good answers.
it was one of the great questions me and my dad used to discuss how to explain the inconsistency

we didn't reach a conclusion because there is never a single answer but in this league it seems that consitency is hard to find and the pressure on teams for success means that too many sdes are chopped and changed too often. I think in our team we are at least a bit more settled now and it seems parker, agree with him or not, has a line up he seems to have faith in.

leed and WBA IMO over achieved and bnever deserved to be so many points ahead so maybe all that happened was there luck ran out. however once nerves set in it can be very infectious. leeds I think are expecting to implode and it can be a self fulfilling prophecy, wba? the next two or three games will be interetsing.

just coming back to us, i do not think we have played well enough, often enough, and too often have very long periods o sloppy play during games... if we can yank that up a bit then i suspect we could yet surge ahead, and if we can't and lose today then it will be doom and gloom again. in respect of your question it is interesting that ream is back today, it is what i would have done but thought he was not available, so hopefully that goes well for me and the team.

[Dr Quinzel]

Many things, but in general, there aren't any 'very' good teams in the league. The quality of the top sides, us included, doesn't match up to the standard of the best from some of the years prior. Imagine what Tigana's Fulham, Reading with Kitson up top, Wolves of the other year etc would have done this season. It would be looking like the Premier League.

[Jims Dentist]

All the teams at the top seem to be having a wobble being beaten by unfancied teams but what's the reason. Could it be that the top teams are not as good as we thought or maybe the teams below them are better than they are given credit for. Either way it makes the job of predicting results almost impossible

Good question. For me it's the overall standard. Look at Luton and Barnsley  .. rock bottom. But I don't think they are bad sides. They are not easy games. The technical standard has just gone up and up, and most players are comfortable on the ball. Levels of fitness are generally second to none. Games change on moments, and every team is capable of having them.

We sometimes hear people saying that one team or another played badly (funnily enough normally against us!) but your opponents impact the way you can play. Forest seem to be very good, for example, at getting behind the ball and preventing teams from creating opportunities. It's not expansive and not particularly entertaining, but can be very effective. The point is that part of the improvement we have seen is the technical ability of teams to organize themselves to reduce goalscoring chances. We often give them little credit maintaining simply that we didn't create much or that we were poor in the final third.

And how about it being hard for Championship sides to hold on to those individuals who can make a difference? The money and attraction of the Premier League is hard for players and clubs to resist, and this has only increased over the last decade. Bowen at Hull a good example? Hats off to Brentford who have successfully found replacements for high profile departures... not an easy thing to do. (It may be sacrilege to suggest it, but there may also be an element of luck in this.)

These factors combine to make a more level playing field and consequently less predictable results. At one stage last year in the Tipping League I resorted to picking the outcome that I thought was the least likely ... for a while with some success !!

Key therefore is consistency. Yes there will be slip-ups and many teams will be saying "how on earth did we lose that one?" There is a luck factor, big decisions, unlucky moments etc, but overall if you are the better team, you will emerge ahead of the others.

Excellent post.  :plus one:

Yes a superb post.

[AnOldBrownie]

Just down to the quality of the teams being poor this year.

I cannot agree, it's far from it. Generally Teams are well organised and prepared and fitter than never before. It's a tough League with no prisoners taken. No quarter asked no quarter given. Just the survival of the fittest and the most consistent.

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

You mean the Wolves side that Fulham weren't worried about at all that season?

Maybe the other teams in the Championship weren't that competitive that year.

Last year's Sheffield United could have beaten that Wolves side...as would our current Fulham side.

Sent from my CMR-W19 using Tapatalk

[Whitesideup]

Just down to the quality of the teams being poor this year.

I cannot agree, it's far from it. Generally Teams are well organised and prepared and fitter than never before. It's a tough League with no prisoners taken. No quarter asked no quarter given. Just the survival of the fittest and the most consistent.

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

You mean the Wolves side that Fulham weren't worried about at all that season?

Maybe the other teams in the Championship weren't that competitive that year.

Last year's Sheffield United could have beaten that Wolves side...as would our current Fulham side.

Sent from my CMR-W19 using Tapatalk

Good points. And aren't the newly promoted in 2nd place Sheff Utd still above Wolves in the Premier? (Don't check very often!!)

But do agree Wolves were a very good side that year. However, I think our home 2-0 win (if I recall correctly) demonstrated they weren't the only good team. Our slow start meant we were never going to catch them, but second half of the season we were their match. Now the following year was a different story ....

The only point is that sometimes it's hard to predict which teams move on and upwards, and just because Wolves did does not mean necessarily, stress on necessarily, mean that they would have done so much better this time around.

[FulhamKC]

I will probably get a lot of stick for this, but I prefer playing in the Championship to the PL. It is much more interesting when any team can beat another on the day.

That said, I hope we get promoted because that means we had a successful season. Quite a conundrum.

[Logicalman]

Just down to the quality of the teams being poor this year.

I cannot agree, it's far from it. Generally Teams are well organised and prepared and fitter than never before. It's a tough League with no prisoners taken. No quarter asked no quarter given. Just the survival of the fittest and the most consistent.

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

Cannot be certain of that at all. Each season the teams change, and so the strengths of one team in one season may not be the same the following season with other teams having different strengths as well.

The only certainty is that the Fizzy league is one of the toughest to win, year-on-year, due to the mix of ex-Prem players together with newly-promoted young-bloods, each wishing to prove themselves, and the clubs seeing the financial prize of promotion.

[The Rational Fan]

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

Cannot be certain of that at all. Each season the teams change, and so the strengths of one team in one season may not be the same the following season with other teams having different strengths as well.

The only certainty is that the Fizzy league is one of the toughest to win, year-on-year, due to the mix of ex-Prem players together with newly-promoted young-bloods, each wishing to prove themselves, and the clubs seeing the financial prize of promotion.

People say its hard league, but I think its a fairly easily league provide you manage to do three things get i) quality players, ii) develop quality teamwork and iii) develop a winning attitude. The problem is relegated teams have the quality players, but not the teamwork and winning attitude; while other teams have the teamwork and winning attitude but not the players. The last team to show how easy this was WBA from 2000 to 2010, as they got relegated and promoted three time during that period, although getting relegated and keeping a winning attitude is a massive psychological challenge.

[Sting of the North]

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

Cannot be certain of that at all. Each season the teams change, and so the strengths of one team in one season may not be the same the following season with other teams having different strengths as well.

The only certainty is that the Fizzy league is one of the toughest to win, year-on-year, due to the mix of ex-Prem players together with newly-promoted young-bloods, each wishing to prove themselves, and the clubs seeing the financial prize of promotion.

People say its hard league, but I think its a fairly easily league provide you manage to do three things get i) quality players, ii) develop quality teamwork and iii) develop a winning attitude. The problem is relegated teams have the quality players, but not the teamwork and winning attitude; while other teams have the teamwork and winning attitude but not the players. The last team to show how easy this was WBA from 2000 to 2010, as they got relegated and promoted three time during that period, although getting relegated and keeping a winning attitude is a massive psychological challenge.

So in short, it's not easy at all.

[Whitesideup]

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

Cannot be certain of that at all. Each season the teams change, and so the strengths of one team in one season may not be the same the following season with other teams having different strengths as well.

The only certainty is that the Fizzy league is one of the toughest to win, year-on-year, due to the mix of ex-Prem players together with newly-promoted young-bloods, each wishing to prove themselves, and the clubs seeing the financial prize of promotion.

People say its hard league, but I think its a fairly easily league provide you manage to do three things get i) quality players, ii) develop quality teamwork and iii) develop a winning attitude. The problem is relegated teams have the quality players, but not the teamwork and winning attitude; while other teams have the teamwork and winning attitude but not the players. The last team to show how easy this was WBA from 2000 to 2010, as they got relegated and promoted three time during that period, although getting relegated and keeping a winning attitude is a massive psychological challenge.

So in short, it's not easy at all.

🤣

[Woolly Mammoth]

Big disagreement.

If the wolves team promoted from 2018 were in the league, they'd be p1ssing it in the same fashion Liverpool are the premier league.

Cannot be certain of that at all. Each season the teams change, and so the strengths of one team in one season may not be the same the following season with other teams having different strengths as well.

The only certainty is that the Fizzy league is one of the toughest to win, year-on-year, due to the mix of ex-Prem players together with newly-promoted young-bloods, each wishing to prove themselves, and the clubs seeing the financial prize of promotion.

People say its hard league, but I think its a fairly easily league provide you manage to do three things get i) quality players, ii) develop quality teamwork and iii) develop a winning attitude. The problem is relegated teams have the quality players, but not the teamwork and winning attitude; while other teams have the teamwork and winning attitude but not the players. The last team to show how easy this was WBA from 2000 to 2010, as they got relegated and promoted three time during that period, although getting relegated and keeping a winning attitude is a massive psychological challenge.

So in short, it's not easy at all.

🤣

Of course it is not an easy League, it never has been, and what nonsense to say it is easy.