The Most Exiting (sic) League in the World: Div 2, 2019-20

[statto99]

I don’t know where that came from, if this was the same Luton who held Leeds the other day. But let the lad eat pizza I say.

Most likely we only have ourselves and our lamentable finishing to blame, but the other day Cardiff became the first team this season to win their next game after beating us (3-1 v Preston). The other teams who beat us fared as follows in the game after:

Stoke: Lost v Birmingham
Swansea: Lost v Forest
Charlton: Lost v Swansea
Millwall: Lost v Brentford
Fulham: Drew v Luton
Arsenal: Drew v Palace
Sheff Wed: Lost v Blackburn
QPR: Lost v Sheff W
Wigan: Lost v Preston
Forest: Lost v Charlton

And I hope he enjoyed his pizza as much as Patrick Bamford enjoyed looking at his phone in the second half against Fulham.

[Uncle Ethan]

Fits with the Leeds is our cup final theory though - clubs get themselves up for that game and drop off for the next one.

[Simon G]

I have to agree with the Leeds cup final theory - when we did the double over them in the 07/08 season is still talked about now as one of my club's greatest achievements. Like we'd just beaten a team with peak Jack Charlton, Billy Bremner and Allan Clarke in the team and not a team made up of Darren Kenton, Frazer Richardson and Tresor Kandol.

[statto99]

Whichever of us goes up I doubt we'll be involved in a match as dire, dreary and inept as Spurs (8th) 1 Everton (11th) 0.

[cantagalo]

Whichever of us goes up I doubt we'll be involved in a match as dire, dreary and inept as Spurs (8th) 1 Everton (11th) 0.

Any three of the current top four going up will provide a significant rise in the entertainment value of next season's Premier League.

[Jon]

Another win for both Brentford and Fulham puts the pressure back on the top two again.

West Brom played well on Sunday against Hull. Pereira had a great game - three assists - including one lovely slide rule pass setting Grosicki to score against his old club. Derby at home tomorrow may prove tricky though.

As to how we would do if we went up. Based purely on Albion's experience, it depends less on the quality of the squad that got promoted and more on the quality (or rather, the experience) of the manager. The only times we have done pretty well in the Premier League in the last decade or so was under Roy Hodgson and Tony Pulis. Limited they may have been as managers but it was the only time (Pardew notwithstanding) that the club had not gone for the option of a younger, cheaper manager when we in the Premier League eg Tony Mowbray, Roberto di Matteo, Steve Clarke, Pepe Mel, Alan Irvine.

Like someone mentioned upthread, the Norwich way of doing things - yoyoing between the two divisions is not to be sniffed at. I'd much rather be top of the Championship than fighting relegation at the bottom of the Premier League.

Which brings me to Slaven Bilic. If we go up, will he have what it takes in the Premier League? I honestly don't know but I'm not particularly confident, even given the fact that he has hardly put a foot wrong since he joined us last summer. But, I don't think he did too badly at West Ham and had to contend with quite a few off the field issues there so maybe there is hope.

[Gangster Octopus]

You have to remember that the reason you didn't go up in 2018/19 is that you forgot the Millers - Baggies pact. We don't lose at the Hawthorns, we stay up and you get promoted.

[Gangster Octopus]

Crikey, the 2018/19 season seems an awful long time ago...

[statto99]

Another win for both Brentford and Fulham puts the pressure back on the top two again.

It has not escaped our notice that, except for the last set of matches, in each remaining round of fixtures we have been scheduled to play after Fulham, Brentford and West Brom. We are not thrilled about this.

Our match on Sunday is also being messed with. Sky chose our match away at Swansea and set it to kickoff at 1:30pm, having already switched us from Tuesday to kickoff on Thursday night against Stoke. Like Cardiff a couple of weeks ago, another lunchtime kickoff five hours by road from Leeds during lockdown. Only Sky have changed their minds and don't want to show it now, presumably because we can't be promoted by winning it.

So is the kickoff still 1:30pm, given that this early kickoff was specifically for Sky? Even Bryn Law, who will be commentating at the stadium for LUTV does not know yet. It's in five days' time, with nominally a 64 hour turnaround from a game we have yet to play. This would be pretty annoying even when everything isn't having to be pre-planned to the nth degree for virus safety.

We also discovered a few hours ago that our match with Barnsley that was set for next Wednesday night has now been moved by Sky to next Thursday teatime leaving us with only 49 hours at most before a potentially vital match at Derby on the Saturday, the kickoff time of which is as yet undecided. Derby will have two extra days of recovery having played at Cardiff on the Tuesday night. Certainly nobody can accuse the authorities of going easy on us.

[cantagalo]

Relax. You'll be fine.

You have a six point cushion with just five relatively easy games left. Imagine the pressure on Brentford knowing that just one slip-up will consign them to the playoffs where they have been successful in precisely zero out of eight previous attempts.

[ad hoc]

There are times when I'm tempted to visit LUFC forums just to eavesdrop on the bonkers levels of paranoia

[cantagalo]

The latest example is the reaction to Thomas Frank using his tactics board during the drinks break last night. There were calls for fines and even points deductions.



It certainly worked though. Moving Benrahma to a more central position led to the penalty.

I had been fearing another one of those games where Brentford concede an early goal and fail to overcome opposition shithousery and massed defences. Leeds will probably know the feeling. Eight of our eleven defeats this season have been by 1-0 and most have followed that pattern. For that reason, last night's win was probably the most satisfying of the current run.

[jwdd27]

Millwall v Middlesbrough is a 3pm kick off today - when was the last time a league match kicked off during the day on a regular weekday?

Miners strike/3 day week/oil crisis/whatever in the mid 70s?

Someone is going to say it was last week, aren't they?

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

To be fair, ad hoc (not that I imagine you are at all tempted to be fair to Leeds), that catalogue of disruption that statto describes does sound pretty unfairly challenging. Still, problems are there to be overcome!

I've got mixed feelings about Leeds this season. The most emotionally invested Leeds fan in my family by some way (in a family mostly indifferent to football) was my sister G., who died of cancer this March, so if we do get promoted it will be painfully double-edged for me, with bitterness about how my sister didn't live to see it. I wondered how much I would still care. But now that the football is back on, and the results are coming in, I've realised I do still care. And I'm sure that G's sons, both keen fans, will still care too. 16 consecutive years is long enough for our great club to be out of the top flight, let's get back there!

[ad hoc]

Really sorry to hear about your sister EEG. Many condolences

[statto99]

Relax. You'll be fine.

You have a six point cushion with just five relatively easy games left. Imagine the pressure on Brentford knowing that just one slip-up will consign them to the playoffs where they have been successful in precisely zero out of eight previous attempts.

You'll have to forgive me, cantagalo, but after near two decades of snatching failure, embarrassment and disappointment from the jaws of progress and success, relaxing and assuming it'll all be fine is nigh on impossible.

I have taken a few moments to imagine the pressure on Brentford. And I have concluded that, significant as it may be, it is not as great as the pressure on us to get this done. Other opinions are available.

[Capybara]

Yes, I'm very sorry to hear that EEG.

Millwall v Middlesbrough is a 3pm kick off today - when was the last time a league match kicked off during the day on a regular weekday?

Miners strike/3 day week/oil crisis/whatever in the mid 70s?

Someone is going to say it was last week, aren't they?

Not the last time I'm sure, but I saw a Cup replay between Bradford City and Barnsley in 1973 which kicked off at 1.15 on a Wednesday. And in 1972 Santos did a short tour of the UK which coincided with the miners' strike. Their game at Hillsborough was on a Wednesday afternoon and coincided with half term so a small group of us decided to go. So I got to see if Pele could do it on a wet Wednesday afternoon in Sheffield.

[nmrfox]

The replayed cup tie between Burton and Leicester in 1985 was played on a Wednesday afternoon at Highfield Road.

[statto99]

There are times when I'm tempted to visit LUFC forums just to eavesdrop on the bonkers levels of paranoia

I'm not suggesting that the EFL and Sky have been sat there working out how to keep their biggest television draw in the Championship.

I *am* suggesting that the broadcasting options provided to Sky and Sky's entirely understandable desire to create the most exciting narrative for their coverage have an unfortunate side-effect of landing us with a lot of uncertainty and practical difficulties at a crucial sporting juncture.

[statto99]

The latest example is the reaction to Thomas Frank using his tactics board during the drinks break last night. There were calls for fines and even points deductions.

When you've recently been fined ?200,000 and received a formal reprimand for breaching an understanding of “good faith” but not broken any specific rule as such you can get a bit over-excited when a "drinks break" brought in to alleviate the potential effects of hot weather during a public health emergency starts to look more like two more half-times. I suspect any calls for point deductions, etc., were references back to Spygate when several clubs and quite a few pundits were calling for us to receive one.

In isolation, I wonder what is ok during a drinks break. Could a team go to the dressing room? Could players be shown video of what's happened in the game on ipads? Could staff rush out with a portable screen, chairs and a slideshow so long as it was all over in a couple of minutes?

[Snake Plissken]

I seem to remember a previous Leeds owner a) complaining about being on Sky all the time and b) being the side that brings the biggest number of viewers so as far as I'm concerned, pick one and stick to it.

Besides, it isn't a Leeds thing. Wwhen Burnley, Boro and Brighton were going at it in 2014/15, the fixtures were moved all over the shop. With a month to go in the season, Clarets managed to go from first place by a point to third and behind by five in a week without even playing.

[ad hoc]

I'm not suggesting that the EFL and Sky have been sat there working out how to keep their biggest television draw in the Championship.

I *am* suggesting that the broadcasting options provided to Sky and Sky's entirely understandable desire to create the most exciting narrative for their coverage have an unfortunate side-effect of landing us with a lot of uncertainty and practical difficulties at a crucial sporting juncture.

I think the uncertainty about kick off times is a fair criticism. Obviously broadcasters (with the compliance of the EFL) are playing fast and loose with these things because they don't have to worry about fans travelling or any of that stuff

I think the idea that Leeds playing after their rivals could be seen as an advantage, depending on how you read it. On one level it could be more of a challenge. On another it is an advantage. The fans of the other clubs could just as easily complain that they're having to play before Leeds, and so Leeds always know what they have to do. But it does seem like Leeds fans are unique in their levels of belief that everything is always deliberately stacked against them.

[statto99]

That's awful, EEG. My condolences to you and your family obviously, especially your sister's children. Obviously, this puts football and LUFC in particular very much in perspective. Whatever happens, we are likely to be lucky enough to have a sport to watch and a team to obsess over whether we go up or not. I hope that Leeds can perhaps provide a bit of cheer in an extremely difficult time.

[Uros Predic]

Millwall v Middlesbrough is a 3pm kick off today - when was the last time a league match kicked off during the day on a regular weekday?

Miners strike/3 day week/oil crisis/whatever in the mid 70s?

Someone is going to say it was last week, aren't they?

Doncaster played Barnet on a midweek afternoon in March 1992 due to a broken floodlight.

Here's YTV Calendar's coverage of it

There's a cycleway/footpath that loops round the back of The Den from which you can see a decent amount of the pitch. Had been tempted to go down and see what I could see of their home games, but presumably this path has been closed off on these afternoons to stop idiots like me from doing this.

[Capybara]

There's a cycleway/footpath that loops round the back of The Den from which you can see a decent amount of the pitch. Had been tempted to go down and see what I could see of their home games, but presumably this path has been closed off on these afternoons to stop idiots like me from doing this.

Ha! I'd thought the same but I've decided to stay indoors and watch it instead. Though a fruitless walk down the Old Kent Road would probably be a more pleasurable experience.