Championship tops and flops

This Coca Cola Championship season is not different than the recent ones. As always, every team can beat the next one, and the teams that were going through the losing streak, all of a sudden enter even longer winning streak.

One of the tops is certainly Wolverhampton Wanderers, the team that keeps winning in style after their opening draw with Plymouth away (2:2), and the run is now seven in a row. Magnificent Wolves are scoring a lot of goals (three on average), and they lead the race in front of their local rival Birmingham City, and other great teams-Reading and QPR. Manager Mick McCarthy has done a great job with the team that was near the top in the last two seasons (2007. play-offs semi-finals, and 2008. one place behind play-off spot). It seems that they finally have what it takes to succeed, as they brought just the right players. Chris Iwelumo in attack and Richard Stearman in defense have really impressed, together with best scorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who is expected to be courted by Premier League clubs, come January transfer window.

Considering the circumstances, the second pleasant surprise has to be Preston North End. Manager Alan Irvine has the unchanged squad, which struggled for survival last season, but he saw the potential this team has. People tend to forget that the Lillywhites were constantly in the top part of the table, and close to the play-off spot before the last season, with almost the same squad that disappointed last year. Irvine, who was David Moyes’ assistant in Everton, knew the quality of his players, as he was in charge during the pre-season (he arrived in November last season after Paul Simpson was sacked) and now the Lancashire footballers are in a solid fourth place. They opened the season with two league and one Cup win, they are very convincing at home, but they lost last two games, and it remains to be seen how they will cope.

It doesn’t take too much consideration to conclude that London trio Crystal Palace, Charlton and Watford are the biggest flops, together with Derby County, who seems to be improving. Charlton and Watford are in the ‘second Championship season’ syndrome, when their sponsor deals are not bringing enough money, the budget is decreasing, and they sold their best players this summer. How this have affected Watford could be seen in their match against Sheffield United, when the team had just one striker from 16 players (because of injuries). Considering the circumstances their results are expected, but way bellow the club’s rank. Crystal Palace created a big surprise with their play off spot last season, considering the quality of the squad, but nobody expected to see ‘Neil Warnock’s day care’ to be in the relegation zone after eight rounds. They will surely improve in the future on account of their youth and promise.

Derby County still feels the consequences of last season, when they had set the negative record of the Premier League, with just one win. Despite the team’s reconstruction, and the quality throughout the squad, the Rams started the season very poor, with three defeats in four rounds, but they are slowly recovering. The ‘historic’ victory over Sheffield United (first league win after a year) gave them momentum, and their last away win against QPR have shown that the recent crisis is behind them.

Popularity: 6% [?]