The EFL Thread 2018/2019 - Championship/League 1/League 2

Paully D

Well with only 5 days to go until the new EFL season kicks off with Reading hosting Frank Lampard's Derby County in the Championship, I thought it would be a good idea to get this going.

Rumour has it that League One is where all the cool kids are hanging out this season!

Championship

Promotion
Stoke 2/1
West Brom 11/4
Boro 3/1
Leeds 15/4
Swansea/Forest/Villa/Derby all 4/1

Relegation
Rotherham 5/4
Bolton 11/8
Ipswich 7/2
QPR/Reading/Hull 5/1
Blackburn 6/1
Birmingham 7/1

League 1

Promotion
Sunderland 1/1 (you'd want to be insane to take that price, FWIW)
Barnsley 11/4
Charlton 9/2
Portsmouth 23/5
Peterborough 5/1
Scunthorpe 6/1

Relegation
Accrington 13/10
Wycombe 6/4
Gillingham 15/8
Walsall 2/1
AFC Wimbledon 28/11
Blackpool 7/2

League 2

Promotion
MK Dons 7/4
Notts County 2/1
Mansfield 9/4
Lincoln 5/2
Northampton/Swindon 3/1
Bury 7/2

Relegation
Morecambe 5/2
Macclesfield 4/1
Yeovil 9/2
Forest Green/Crawley 8/1
Cheltenham/Crewe/Newport 9/1

Initial Live Fixtures (all listed fixtures on Sky Sports)

Friday 3rd August
Reading vs Derby County (8pm, Championship)

Saturday 4th August
Sunderland vs Charlton (12:30pm, League 1)
Sheffield United vs Swansea City (5:30pm, Championship)

Monday 6th August
Hull vs Villa (7:45pm, Championship)

Tuesday 7th August
Nottingham Forest vs West Brom (7:45pm, Championship)

Mushy

Leeds v Stoke is on Sunday at 4.30pm too. Odd to see Leeds so high up the odds.

Mokuba

Mushy wrote: »

Leeds v Stoke is on Sunday at 4.30pm too. Odd to see Leeds so high up the odds.

Barry Douglas just in the door from Wolves was the best left back in the league last year.

Bamford soon to join is an elite striker at Championship level.

They have a decent squad as is too.

Harry Palmr

Derby Co to finally go back up - or get relegated. Seriously though Lampard seems to have put together a decent collection of bright young things on loan from Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea.

Paully D

Mushy wrote: »

Leeds v Stoke is on Sunday at 4.30pm too. Odd to see Leeds so high up the odds.

Cheers. Not sure how I missed that. I’ll look forward to watching it.

MD1990

No idea why Wolves sold Douglas. Very good LB last year sweet left foot from set pieces.

Harry Palmr

Forest Green Rovers are officially carbon neutral, not sure if it'll help then survive the drop.

Tom Mann Centuria

Northampton Town to bounce straight back to the glamour of League One, or go out of business.

Pauliedragon

As a Blackburn fan I'd take 21st place now if offered it.

Mokuba

Pauliedragon wrote: »

As a Blackburn fan I'd take 21st place now if offered it.

Hardly. You lot should be comfortably mid table.

Berserker

MD1990 wrote: »

No idea why Wolves sold Douglas. Very good LB last year sweet left foot from set pieces.

Very good acquisition by Leeds and an awful lot of Wolves fans are not happy about him being sold. Still think they'll fall short on getting promoted and Derby will flop like they always do. It's going to be an incredibly competition division this year. Finding it very hard to pick a top six.

Mr.Nice Guy

Bielsa was a train wreck at Lille last season. Can't see that relationship ending well. Wouldn't shock me if he's gone by Christmas along with Leeds' promotion hopes. I do agree Douglas is an excellent acquisition all the same.

Mushy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Bielsa was a train wreck at Lille last season. Can't see that relationship ending well. Wouldn't shock me if he's gone by Christmas along with Leeds' promotion hopes. I do agree Douglas is an excellent acquisition all the same.

Could really go either way alright, but nice to have somebody with a bit more pedigree than previous managers at least.

Paully D

A reminder that Reading v Derby is live on Sky Sports tonight.

Kick off 8pm.

Harry Palmr

Also a reminder that the EFL highlights are on Quest tomorrow night at 9 PM in glorious HD.

Lampard's tactics getting schooled here - trying to be Man City in the Championship. Reading are pressing the feck out of them and they play into danger trying to beat it on the ground.

eagle eye

How on Earth did you post that before kickoff?
Reading 1-0 up, Frank will have to sort things out quickly at Derby. They look awful tonight.

Mushy

eagle eye wrote: »

How on Earth did you post that before kickoff?
Reading 1-0 up, Frank will have to sort things out quickly at Derby. They look awful tonight.

Edited post, was only first paragraph earlier.

Trio of Irishmen playing under Clement, nice to see

Tom Mann Centuria

1 1

eagle eye

Well Derby got it together in the final 15-20 minutes and get the win

rodge68

eagle eye wrote: »

Well Derby got it together in the final 15-20 minutes and get the win

Derby very lucky, great goall. Lampard has a long season ahead of him ( and me)
Still thrilled with the 3 points though.

Minderbinder

Anyone have a list of Irish players in the lower leagues and who they’re playing for? Anyone exciting to be looking out for?

dfx-

Paully D wrote: »

Rumour has it that League One is where all the cool kids are hanging out this season!

Indeed...Coventry are going to badly miss Mark McNulty. Should've been 2-0 or 3-0 up before being pegged back and losing..

Tom Mann Centuria

Northampton got off to their usual start, home defeat. Supposedly had multiple chances to win the game but failed to score, Lincoln had one and buried it.

Corholio

Quest are showing the Championship/Football League highlights tonight at 9pm, changed from Channel 5 this year. They'll also have a highlights show for the midweek games as well, which is very welcome.

Corholio

Corholio wrote: »

Quest are showing the Championship/Football League highlights tonight at 9pm, changed from Channel 5 this year. They'll also have a highlights show for the midweek games as well, which is very welcome.

I'm sort of sorry I posted this now :P The show on Quest was an absolute shocker. Letterboxed screen, top and bottom of screen cut off, video quality like something from a 1995 VHS and a studio that looks like one from a 3am ITV show.

Reflects terribly on the football league.

rwbug

Sunderland -Attendance: 31,075

Even with new season optimism that is very impressive considering what has happened with that club recently.

WoollyRedHat

Some game in the Championship, Forest vs. WBA.. Forest nearly scored a screamer from just outside their penalty box.

BullBlackNova

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Some game in the Championship, Forest vs. WBA.. Forest nearly scored a screamer from just outside their penalty box.

Super goal to equalise and very nearly a second too. Great game.

WoollyRedHat

BullBlackNova wrote: »

Super goal to equalise and very nearly a second too. Great game.

End to end stuff!

Paully D

Hard to see Steve McClaren lasting the rest of the week.

He was mental to take that job in the first place but another shambolic performance after conceding 6 goals in the second half to lose 7-1 at West Brom a few days ago.

Mushy

Raging Leeds don't have QPR soon

thebaz

Paully D wrote: »

Hard to see Steve McClaren lasting the rest of the week.

don't know how a decent eneogh manager becomes so bad, so quickly , but he has

Mushy

Stoke struggling too is odd, wasn't expecting that.

Is the villa Brentford game dirty? Just saw quick ht highlights and should be at least 1, most likely 2, red cards

retalivity

Pre-season favs stoke, 22nd and 2pts after 4 games.

Looking at their lineup tonight, so many big names who are probably shocked they are in the championship

acquiescefc

Was at Hillsborough last night. Massive confidence boost for the kids being blooded. Gonna be a tough season.

CSF

retalivity wrote: »

Pre-season favs stoke, 22nd and 2pts after 4 games.

Looking at their lineup tonight, so many big names who are probably shocked they are in the championship

Lots of big names but they’re still kind of low on quality I think.

Tom Mann Centuria

Northampton Town have sacked yet another manager, Dean Austin the latest to go.

Tom Mann Centuria

Keith Curle next on the managerial conveyor belt for Northampton Town.

Johner

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Keith Curle next on the managerial conveyor belt for Northampton Town.

Decent appointment, Curle did a fairly good job at Carlisle.

Another goal for Ronan Curtis last night. This came from a Pompey fan's site:

Jackett's well-oiled machine grinds on- resolute and relentless. It's hard to recall a start as good as this- in any of the successful promotions in the last thirty years. The spine seems impressive and the unit has a touch of talismanic flair in Curtis. Long may it continue.

eagle eye

Leeds vs Brentford should be a cracking game. I'd expect lots of goals in this one, Leeds maybe get the win.

eagle eye

0-0 at half time but it's been a great game of ball. Both teams pressing high and have had chances. Leed probably had more of the ball but Brentford look slightly more dangerous when breaking forward.

Mushy

Can't say I'm surprised the ref gave that with how he's been today

eagle eye

1-0 Brentford from the penalty spot, looked like a dive by Watkins, Maupay with the goal.

eagle eye

1-1, Late goal from a free kick. I feel Leeds deserve to win this. 4 minutes injury time.

eagle eye

1-1 final score, very enjoyable game to watch. The dive annoyed me and I feel over the 90 that Leeds were the better team and deserved the win. That was denied them bt Watkins cheating dive.

Mushy

Wonder will Watkins face a ban for simulation now. Unlikely, but Leeds will likely have two suspensions from the game

Tom Mann Centuria

Ipswich actually winning.

dfx-

Coventry v Wycombe was an interesting game in a swirling wind. Coventry much the better side, but just cannot get a goal.

In contrast with Akinfenwa and Mackail Smith upfront, Wycombe were shockingly bad. Still they could've snatched a draw with the last kick with the keeper blazing a corner just over the bar.

blueser

That's a scandalous decision that went against Forest tonight. How did the linesman not see it; he was right in line and had an unobstructed view of it.

Mushy

blueser wrote: »

That's a scandalous decision that went against Forest tonight. How did the linesman not see it; he was right in line and had an unobstructed view of it.

It's delicious to actually get a decision for once. Think it was going in too, not that that would've mattered if was cancelled out.