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The English Lower League thread (Part 2)

HajdukSplit

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Ipswich now joint top with Leicester City (on points) after the Foxes lose back to back matches. Leeds catching some hot form and are within distance of the top two now. I know its a lot of games to go and there is playoffs involved but wouldn't shock me if the three relegated teams from last season's EPL go up and the three teams relegated back down are Luton, Sheffield and Burnley :rolleyes:

Also, Rooney's hire has not gone to plan at Birmingham, no wins in five, just as close to the relegation zone to the playoffs now
 

HoseEmDown

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HajdukSplit said:
Ipswich now joint top with Leicester City (on points) after the Foxes lose back to back matches. Leeds catching some hot form and are within distance of the top two now. I know its a lot of games to go and there is playoffs involved but wouldn't shock me if the three relegated teams from last season's EPL go up and the three teams relegated back down are Luton, Sheffield and Burnley :rolleyes:

Also, Rooney's hire has not gone to plan at Birmingham, no wins in five, just as close to the relegation zone to the playoffs now
Click to expand...

Has it ever happened where the 3 promoted teams were relegated and the 3 relegated teams were promoted the same season?

Would prefer ro see Ipswich do the back to back. Would say that they wouldn't fair well in the premier league with a squad of guys who were just in league one but the 3 currently promoted teams are terrible with better talent. So they really couldn't be any worse than what we got now.
 

HoseEmDown

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And Birmingham isn't that good of a squad where Rooney could have come in and had them pushing for promotion. He hasn't been good but to be fair to him he was brought in during a tough stretch. In form Middlesbrough, Hul and Southampton, high flying Ipswich and a much better Sunderland side. If he doesn't beat Sheffield then he's done but he has a favorable set of games coming up where he can get them back into the playoffs discussion.
 
JPBolts

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Leicester get a gwg in the 90+4 minute after West Brom equalized in the 89th and sent everyone up for a throw deep into stoppage time. Very interesting tactic
 
Wee Baby Seamus

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JPBolts said:
Leicester get a gwg in the 90+4 minute after West Brom equalized in the 89th and sent everyone up for a throw deep into stoppage time. Very interesting tactic
Click to expand...
I can definitely understand it - you budget for a loss against the league leaders, but end up with the possibility of turning 1 point into 3 (which would open up a 7 point gap for a playoff spot)? You came in expecting no points, so maybe you roll the dice on 3.

Would I do it? Likely not. But there's a logic
 
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HoseEmDown

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The Championship needs some sort of video replay or technology of some sort. Too much money on the line to not have something to help out the fairly poor refing that's going on in England. They could trial the automatic offsides technology. I know there's some old grounds in the league but they also have plenty of former premier league stadiums too.

Sunderland had a goal ruled out for a bad offsides call and a penalty shout that would get reviewed with VAR.
 
GabeTravels

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These Are The Days said:
Got a match of the year coming tomorrow with Bolton and Pompey. Who do you have?
Click to expand...

Late to the game here but it was a spectacular match from Pompey. They got lucky with the early Bolton miss and capitalized on it, controlling play from then forward.

After suffering their first defeat in 30 league games, they've won 4 straight with 4 clean sheets.

They also only play one Top 10 opponent until March. Massive opportunity to bank points before a tough run in at the end of the season.

It won't be easy though. They've already lost their top centerback to an ACL, and will likely lose Yengi and Robertson for the Asia Cup. Business is needed in January...a centerback, left winger, and striker are probably needed.

But this team has answered every question thrown at them this year. I've been burned before by being overly optimistic, but I do actually see them finishing in the Top 2 and finally getting out of the league.
 

HajdukSplit

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Pretty big statement win by Leeds today over fellow promotion rivals Ipswich, totally dominated them and won 4:0 at home. Ipswich still +7 on Leeds but looking at the form table Leeds would be top looking at last 10 games
 

HajdukSplit

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Ipswich winless in three but they have had a pretty brutal holiday fixture list, today got a draw at home to league leaders Leicester. Southampton up to 3rd now as Leeds lost away to Preston
 
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Jussi

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Wrexham 4 points behind leaders Stockport with a game in hand, followed by Mansfield a point behind but with two games in hand compared to Stockport.
 
Jussi

Jussi

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If Mansfield win on Tuesday, they are one point from Stockport. Wrexham have a game in hand and by winning it, could top Stockport. Beginning to look like the top 3 is set.
 
JPBolts

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the whole situation at Reading is despicable. how the EFL allowed someone who was clearly not fit and proper to take over a club (and has been the owner behind 2 clubs who folded) is disgraceful.
 
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GabeTravels

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Getting to the business end of the season for sure...

I got back over to Portsmouth to see my 2nd win this season, a 4-1 thrashing over Northampton. I also bought tickets for the last home match of the season, hoping for a promotion party.

Pompey appear to be in good shape, having taken 19 of their last 21 points. This despite losing 3 first team players for the season inside of a week, including Tom McIntyre to a broken ankle in his first game, who they brought in to replace Regan Poole, their top centerback who tore his ACL back in November.

Seriously...the injuries have been remarkable. Out for the season, just from the first team:

Poole (CB)
Robertson (CM)
Morrell (CM)
McIntyre (CB)
Devlin (CM)

In addition they've had 2 fullbacks miss significant time and 2 center forwards miss about a month each.

I've been extremely impressed with the last two transfer windows, and they're still flying high.

6 points clear of 2nd place Derby and 3rd place Bolton, who have 1 and 2 games in hand respectively. Definitely will come down to the wire, as Pompey have a game left against both of them.
 
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Jovavic

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Netflix has three new episodes of Sunderland Til I Die, about their run up to the League One playoffs, gripping program even if you know what's going to happen.

Right now they are right in the middle of the Championship, equally as close to regulation as they are to a playoff spot so so getting promoted up to the Premier League is slim. BTW, that bottom half of the table is nuts right now, only one team firmly in the drop zone with like 9 teams all really close to the other two spots.
 
JPBolts

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It looks like Reading’s owner is asset stripping, about to sell their training ground to Wycombe. Really think there’s a chance that Reading FC doesn’t exist past the season, unfortunately. Shame on the EFL
 
GabeTravels

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Huge weekend last week in League 1, as #1 Portsmouth beat #4 Peterborough, and #2 Derby beat #3 Bolton.

Pompey still 5 points clear of 2nd, but now 9 points clear of 3rd. 10 points from their remaining 7 games I believe guarantees promotion.

However they still have games @ Derby, home against Bolton, and home against Barnsley. So there's still some work to be done in the last 7 matches.

I CANNOT WAIT to fly over for April 20th. Gonna be a special day I hope.

League 2's promotion race is also quite tight. Wrexham will definitely be hoping to say in one of the Top 3. A real possibility for AFC Wimbledon to potentially play the Franchise come playoff time...

Former Pompey star Ronan Curtis scored the winner at Plough Lane against MK a few weeks ago...a truly amazing result for all of the Dons fans:

 
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