England: Championship Aug 5-7

[aliando]

:nana

	Friday 5 August 2011	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	Hull City v Blackpool (19:45 BST)	2.4	3.45	3.1	102.91 %
	Saturday 6 August 2011	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	Coventry City v Leicester City (12:30 BST)	3.4	3.5	2.25	102.43 %
	Brighton & Hove Albion v Doncaster Rovers (15:00 BST)	2	3.55	4.2	101.98 %
	Bristol City v Ipswich Town (15:00 BST)	2.44	3.45	3.05	102.76 %
	Burnley v Watford (15:00 BST)	2.01	3.55	4.33	101.00 %
	Derby County v Birmingham City (15:00 BST)	3.1	3.45	2.55	100.46 %
	Middlesbrough v Portsmouth (15:00 BST)	2.06	3.5	4.1	101.51 %
	Nottingham Forest v Barnsley (15:00 BST)	1.65	3.8	6.5	102.31 %
	Peterborough United v Crystal Palace (15:00 BST)	2.34	3.5	3.16	102.95 %
	Reading v Millwall (15:00 BST)	1.93	3.6	4.33	102.67 %
	Southampton v Leeds United (17:20 BST)	2.4	3.5	3.1	102.50 %
	Sunday 7 August 2011	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
	West Ham v Cardiff City (13:00 BST)	1.83	3.65	5	102.04 %

[Alexc]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 Bless, that little banana :lol Hull Draw No Bet @ 1.70 (Hills) Hull would probably be my tip to surprise this campaign. They already had a good side, and have made some solid additions, bringing in McKenna (Forest), Adebola and exciting winger Robbie Brady, on loan, from Man United. The reason they didn't do so well last season was due to their poor home form, winning only seven and drawing and losing eight, which also probably explained why their away form was so good, their tactics were clearly better suited to not being at the KC. Form like that is usually rectified in the following season, and I think we'll see an improvement on day one. Blackpool seem to of been in a state of depression since they went down, not helped by their chairman's miserly mentality in the transfer market, which has seemingly resulted in Holloway being restricted to unimpressive free transfers, and Barry Ferguson. I think the hangover'll continue here.

[AHughes]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 Hull City to keep clean sheet - 3.12 Victor Chandler Hull kept it very tight last season with their tactics resulting in a lot of 1-0 wins and a fantastic 15 away game unbeaten run. They have been tight at the back also lately keeping clean sheets against Chesterfield and Liverpool. Blackpool IMO arent the attacking force they were last year. They will probably still play their 433 formation but have lost a massive creativity hole in Charlie Adam. I cant remember the stat fully but he was involved in over 50% of their goals last season and he has not really been replaced.

[-Blackadder-]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 Championship isn't really my specialty, so some info would be great - will Posh still play their crazy style of football? Also, what are Palace likely to be like style and quality-wise? I'd think momentum, which is important in the lower leagues, gives Posh an edge in that game. West Ham seem good against Cardiff, IIRC Cardiff have lost a few players and of course WHU have strengthend a lot. Hard to argue with a midfield containing Taylor, Parker and especially Nolan, with Fat Sam as manager.

[aliando]

Cardiff have lost 12 players over the summer and brought in 9 so far. Both teams have new managers and new styles. I think the hammers are favourites here and the bookies aren't wrong. Too many question marks with the odds on offer, no bet.

[Alexc]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

Championship isn't really my specialty, so some info would be great - will Posh still play their crazy style of football? Also, what are Palace likely to be like style and quality-wise? I'd think momentum, which is important in the lower leagues, gives Posh an edge in that game. West Ham seem good against Cardiff, IIRC Cardiff have lost a few players and of course WHU have strengthend a lot. Hard to argue with a midfield containing Taylor, Parker and especially Nolan, with Fat Sam as manager.

Judging by their pre-season, it seems likely: Barnet (a) 2-2 Notts Co (a) 3-2 Crawley (a) 4-2 Gillingham (a) 2-1 :lol But I suppose you never know, with it being a new season. As for Palace, I think they could be another surprise side, if they sort out their goal-scoring issues. I like their coach, Dougie Freedman, and they were solid at home last season, albeit p*ss-poor away from Selhurst. At first glance, I'd favour Posh or a draw, but I haven't looked at it properly yet. Haven't looked at West Ham yet, but I'm a bit uneasy about taking Championship favourites on day one. The history of the Championship shows there's usually always some shocks at the start, and I wouldn't rate Cardiff as a massive underdog here anyway.

[Mindfulness]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

Championship isn't really my specialty, so some info would be great - will Posh still play their crazy style of football? Also, what are Palace likely to be like style and quality-wise? I'd think momentum, which is important in the lower leagues, gives Posh an edge in that game. West Ham seem good against Cardiff, IIRC Cardiff have lost a few players and of course WHU have strengthend a lot. Hard to argue with a midfield containing Taylor, Parker and especially Nolan, with Fat Sam as manager.

With regards to Palace I fully expect us to gain more points than last year, possibly up to around the 58 mark. Alexc has already highlighted our goal scoring issues and we definately do not have a settled side currently. We have strength in depth and an abundance of quality but players like Sean Scannell, Wilfred Zaha and Darren Ambrose will need to be utilised in the correct position otherwise that quality is wasted. I would agree that Peterborough could have a slight edge going into this first game of the season but not enough to put down money.

[marockee]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 judging by friendlies even impotent Palace has some chances...Southampton-Leeds looks VERY goalastic (it's gonna be 0:0 :rollin) and after them Bristol-Ipswich and Reading-Millwall

[martin239]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 How likely is Portsmouth's delayed return to the UK likely to have disrupted their final few days of pre-season training? Obviously they had to cancel their match against Real Betis, but will an extra two days away from home so close to the start of the season hinder them in any significant way?

[Jase82]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

How likely is Portsmouth's delayed return to the UK likely to have disrupted their final few days of pre-season training? Obviously they had to cancel their match against Real Betis' date=' but will an extra two days away from home so close to the start of the season hinder them in any significant way?[/quote'] It really only leaves us with a weeks training. Unless we arrange a quick behind closed doors friendly. The only thing I think that may effect us is the fact we only have Kitson, Varney and Kanu as our striking options. Watch this week as Steve Cotterill is looking at bringing in around another three players including a striker, however Saturday may come too soon.

[adam7982]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 So happy football is back :nana Leicester City 11/10 Sven has bought very very well, Michael Johnson for me will be the catalyst of that side with Gelson Fernandes next to him thats one hell of a midfield with Andy King also. I went to the Leicester Real Madrid game and Leicester looked very good I think the price will also get shorter as we move closer to kick off. Coventry can be difficult to beat at the Rioch but if Leicester Gel then I can see them winning. Prediction 3-1:hope

[Alexc]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

So happy football is back :nana Leicester City 11/10 Sven has bought very very well, Michael Johnson for me will be the catalyst of that side with Gelson Fernandes next to him thats one hell of a midfield with Andy King also. I went to the Leicester Real Madrid game and Leicester looked very good I think the price will also get shorter as we move closer to kick off. Coventry can be difficult to beat at the Rioch but if Leicester Gel then I can see them winning. Prediction 3-1:hope

With his injury problems I'd personally be surprised to see Michael Johnson last too long, but :hope I think Leicester have a good chance here, and I think they'll have a good season, but as I said in my earlier post, I think the Championship opening day can be a bit of a minefield, regarding the favourites, and this is another one I'll be leaving alone.

[south_eastern_ram]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 On paper Leicester's side is light years ahead of Coventry, thinking short priced away sides are value or hyped up teams are value in this league is nearly always suicide but in this case i think Leicester are value. Unless Coventry make some decent signings in the next week i really think they're going to struggle.

[MARTINLAURSEN]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 i agree in what your all saying about leicester, on paper they are a lot stronger than coventry. However, sven has bought a complete new team of faces, and although i expect them to be round the automatic places at the end, there is not a harder game than coventry away. It is a local derby, and a fierce one at that. Ive learned over the years never to bet on a derby as you just dont cannot predict. Im also all over hull at 5/4 vs blackpool. Losing adam, campbell and more so although he was overlooked vaughan will be a big blow, and after seeing hull in pre season and some shrewd signings, plus the home advantage, i think 5/4 is great value. 20 quid on that will pay for a beer and madras friday night!! Football, welcome back:gimme

[crannsafc]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 Blackpool @ 7/4 ladbrokes Blackpool may have lost Adam and Campbell, but they have brough in Kevin Phillips. And he is prolific at this level of football, 35 i know. But he score over 20 goals for west brown at 33 in the championship. He has always had the finishing touch to a ball, especially at Sunderland back in the day. Blackpool still have potential in my eyes, Ian Holloway attacks teams, the squad still holes some strong players. Middlesbrough @ 4/5 Ladbrokes Middlesbrough have enough quality to overcome Portsmouth in my eyes. Middlesbrough either have a good start to a season or a bad start, last year was a rotten season, however their form turned around at the end of the season. And Tony Mowbray has a reputation of building teams back like he did with west brown about 4 years ago. I dont know how their pre season went. But i will check over them before saturday. Middlesbrough @ 4/5 has value in it.

[beer]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 what about Reading? good value on home side , i havent seen them in friendlies , but last year they where fighting for Premier League and they had a decent team. I thnik that they have the same target this year. But i dont know if they have lost some important players.!?

[Alexc]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

what about Reading? good value on home side ' date=' i havent seen them in friendlies , but last year they where fighting for Premier League and they had a decent team. I thnik that they have the same target this year. But i dont know if they have lost some important players.!?[/quote'] All that's really happened, transfer-wise, with Reading, is they've lost Matt Mills and replaced him with Bongani Khumalo, on-loan from Spurs. It's another one I'm gonna skip, as Millwall have done well in pre-season and could surprise here, even without last seasons top scorer Morison, who's now at Norwich.

[Petersson1984]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 COVENTRY - LEICESTER: 2 (2,20) @ SCANDIC The Championship starts and the first round brings us the so-called M69 rival showdown. The name derives from the highway that connects Coventry City and Leicester City. These two teams have been relatively eaqual over the past years. But something changed. This season Leicester are amogn the favorite for promotion while it is expected that Coventry has to fight for life at the other end of the table. One thing that especially distinguishes these two rivals is the economy. In August 2010, Leicester City were taken over by a Thai investment firm. They have invested heavily in the club. Part of the money was spend on coach Sven Goran Eriksson and to enhance the club with several Championship profiles. The same can not be said about Coventry. They have opposed Leicester, seen profiles leaving the club after a turbulent last season. Coventry. The Sky Blues had great ambitions last season but suffered a severe blow. In March, coach Aidy Boothroyd got fired after a streak of 16 games with just one victory. Andy Thorn took over and he sailed the Coventry ship safely into port. However, without impressing. Coventry are struggeling whit the confidence at the club and a bad economy. That situation, got quit a few big names leaving the club. Among them are the 3 previous "Player of the Year" Aron Gunnarsson, goalkeeper Keir Westwood and last season's top scorer Marlon King. You would think that when 3 big names leave the club, others would be brought in. That is not the case, since the only two new players are Joe Murphy and Chris Dunn from Scunthorpe and Northampton. Not, names that arouses great enthusiasm and with good reason. The new goalkeeper Chris Dunn played last season at Northampton in League Two. There he was the league's worst goalie 7. Joe Murphy is also goalkeeper and with an equally dull statistics. He had last season's dubious honor of being The Championships most poor goalkeeper. Leicester. The Foxes have undergone a transformation without equal. It brings back memories of the expectations to QPR before last season and with good reason. They have in my view, the three key ingredients to promote. The money, the coach and the players. Leicester is also extended touted as the favorite for the Championship title this season. The question is just whether they can overcome the expectations. Coach Sven Goran Eriksson, was handed a big bag of money and players like Kasper Schmeichel, Michael Johnson, Paul Konchesky, David Nugent, Matthew Mills and John Pantsil where brought to the club. They must and should be reinforcements for starting line-up

[Strathster]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

Blackpool @ 7/4 ladbrokes Blackpool may have lost Adam and Campbell, but they have brough in Kevin Phillips. And he is prolific at this level of football, 35 i know. But he score over 20 goals for west brown at 33 in the championship. He has always had the finishing touch to a ball, especially at Sunderland back in the day. Blackpool still have potential in my eyes, Ian Holloway attacks teams, the squad still holes some strong players. Middlesbrough @ 4/5 Ladbrokes Middlesbrough have enough quality to overcome Portsmouth in my eyes. Middlesbrough either have a good start to a season or a bad start, last year was a rotten season, however their form turned around at the end of the season. And Tony Mowbray has a reputation of building teams back like he did with west brown about 4 years ago. I dont know how their pre season went. But i will check over them before saturday. Middlesbrough @ 4/5 has value in it.

Im a middlesbrough fan, sincw Mowbray came he has done wonders, we were losing 1-0 2-0 before he arrived and not scoring, we started letting a lot of goals in when he arrived but we started scoring a lot more at the other end. Our pre season has been pretty poor, 4-2 defeat agaonst darlingon and a defeat against carlisle and a few mixed results, however a lot can happen in pre season it doesnt mean much. The one problem we may have is our top scorer last season leroy lita looks set to go to swansea, boyd has also left. Whether or not we can sign a striker in time remains to be seen, but i put us in my weekend treble with 10/11 odds at paddypower, fancy 2-0 or 3-1

[Hawk-Eye]

Reading - Hull Hi, first time poster but have been a regular reader of the site. Dont usually have many bets in the 1st week or so as results can be very random but first stand out selection for me is READING 1.80 (stan James) Reasoning for this is due to how well Reading finished the season, the only 1st team member to leave is Matt Mills (to Leisecter who I will be following closley this season) but have replaced him with Khumalo from Tottenham on loan. Reading will be wanting a very strong start to the season because due to their poor start last season they missed out on an automatic promotion spot. Reading have only dropped 4 points to Milwall in their last 10 games but more impressivly have won their last 5 home games, scoring 12 and conceding 2. Hope this post is ok :)

[Djordje]

Re: Reading - Hull

Hi' date= first time poster but have been a regular reader of the site. Dont usually have many bets in the 1st week or so as results can be very random but first stand out selection for me is READING 1.80 (stan James) Reasoning for this is due to how well Reading finished the season, the only 1st team member to leave is Matt Mills (to Leisecter who I will be following closley this season) but have replaced him with Khumalo from Tottenham on loan. Reading will be wanting a very strong start to the season because due to their poor start last season they missed out on an automatic promotion spot. Reading have only dropped 4 points to Milwall in their last 10 games but more impressivly have won their last 5 home games, scoring 12 and conceding 2. Hope this post is ok :)

Your post is ok :ok Welcome to PL :welcome

[BIG X]

Re: Reading - Hull

Hi' date= first time poster but have been a regular reader of the site. Dont usually have many bets in the 1st week or so as results can be very random but first stand out selection for me is READING 1.80 (stan James) Reasoning for this is due to how well Reading finished the season, the only 1st team member to leave is Matt Mills (to Leisecter who I will be following closley this season) but have replaced him with Khumalo from Tottenham on loan. Reading will be wanting a very strong start to the season because due to their poor start last season they missed out on an automatic promotion spot. Reading have only dropped 4 points to Milwall in their last 10 games but more impressivly have won their last 5 home games, scoring 12 and conceding 2. Hope this post is ok :)

Good first post mate :ok I'm also on this I just wanted to add that Millwall have lost Steve Morison (to Norwich) their main man from last season and I expect them to struggle without him this season.

[Spankyf]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 Welcome, nice post :ok I'm taking that bet too but had to bring attention to the price on Pinnacle: Reading are at 1.926 -0.5 asian handicap.

[Shipsupstreets]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 A couple of spread trades appeal on Hull City/Blackpool tonight, both of them relatively low risk with limited downsides. The time of Hull City's 2nd goal at 74 with Sporting has come in a tick, but it's still worth selling. The likely starters up front for Hull City are Matt Fryatt and Dele Adebola, a partnership will take time to get going, but offers something different from last season. There are also plenty of goals behind them with Robert Koren and Robert Brady the kind of players who'll find the gaps in what should be a Blackpool spine that looks even more undercooked than last season. The downside is only 16 points. A much more speculative trade is a buy of James Chester's goal minutes at 3 with Sporting (he's set at 3-6 with Spreadex). Hull City don't have that much width in the side, but they attack fluently and against a Blackpool side that has been reshaped and is bedding in, they should win enough corners and freekicks to make Chester a sporting play when he trots forward.

[djypmisx]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

[font=Comic Sans MS]Hi' date= first time poster but have been a regular reader of the site. Dont usually have many bets in the 1st week or so as results can be very random but first stand out selection for me is READING 1.80 (stan James) Reasoning for this is due to how well Reading finished the season, the only 1st team member to leave is Matt Mills (to Leisecter who I will be following closley this season) but have replaced him with Khumalo from Tottenham on loan. Reading will be wanting a very strong start to the season because due to their poor start last season they missed out on an automatic promotion spot. Reading have only dropped 4 points to Milwall in their last 10 games but more impressivly have won their last 5 home games, scoring 12 and conceding 2. Hope this post is ok :)

Didn't they also lose ingimarsson and kryshinasvili (sp)? Thats their 3 best centre halves. Ian Harte looked like he was struggling for the tail end of last season and he's getting on, I fear he's not the same player as this time 12 months ago. Anyway, I'm not betting too much this season but hopefully I can give some advice. Watford to beat burnley @4.33 Maybe its heart ruling head, maybe its blind faith. Always the underdog, we at watford surprise a fair amount of people. Sure we're away and we are yet to put in anything resembling a good performance in preseason, but that doesn't matter. We had the same sort of summer last year and beat norwich 3-2 on the Friday (a scoreline which quite frankly flattered them). We've had two huge departures in Graham and Cowie and two more in Buckley and Mackay. What people haven't realised is that we've also addressed all of the issues that have haunted us over the last 5 years. We now have a proper left back, a proper left winger, a proven target man and most surprisingly, substitutes older than 18. Oh, and Chris Iwelumo will be dying to score against the clarets at turf moor. Not to mention burnleys temporarily depleted squad and the lingering expectation from not bouncing straight back up last year. Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[Jase82]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 I'd probably advise a bit of caution as it's the first round of fixtures this season, especially in the Championship, it is very very hard to call. One I do like though is the unders in our game. Currently price at around 1.8 with BET365 and a few others. It is actually 1.91 on Betfair also. I think Hills have this about right at 1.7 if I'm honest. Last season was a 2-2 thriller after we went two down. I think this time will be slightly different. Our first XI really picks itself and Steve Cotterill has failed all summer to really bring in any fresh creativity to the side. I'd expect us to play a variation of 4-3-3 that means we switch to a 4-5-1 when not in possession. We have despatched David Nugent and replaced him with Luke Varney who will perform a similar role to Nuge, ploughing up and down the left flank in an attempt to create chances for a not too prolific Kitson. Liam Lawrence, basically our only creative player should slot in nicely down the right. At times last season the formation that Coterrill persists in using did mean our lone striker quite often became isolated, and once in possesssion we struggled to get the ball up top, and make it stick at the same time. As shown by our record of having the lowest chance conversion rate in the Championship last season. One thing I see as being crutial to this bet is our solid defensive pairing of Ricardo Rocha and Greg Halford. Those two together are pretty tight, and were instrumental in keeping so many low scoring encounters last season. When you add the possibility of Ben Haim on the right, and Hreidarsson on the left of defense, this just makes us look even better. I'd expect possession to be quite even here as we do tend to keep the ball well, but Boro's options across the park may mean our lone striker becomes isolated a fair bit.

[djypmisx]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 Also I know my above phrase "temporarily depleted" regarding Burnley is a bit ambiguous, so my main concerns for them are that they've lost Tyrone Mears, Graham Alexander and Chris Eagles (and Iwelumo as above) and still haven't really replaced them. Two loan signings in and what, 9 out? Can't help but take the value of more than quadrupling your money on that.

[gettingfatter]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7 I thought we (Cardiff) might be quite a good price this weekend but I feel like its priced up pretty much spot on. I would be very happy with a draw vs what I feel is by a decent margin the best squad in this division. I think this year with Earnie and Miller we might actually take our chances. I remember so many games last year where we could/should have been 2-3 goals up at half time, went in 0-0 and then lost our way a bit and scraped a draw. I think Big Sam has to get off to an impressive start and probably cant afford to sit on a 1-0 lead vs us. I also don't think Malky will turn up for a 0-0, it just isn't a good idea in such a competitive league. If over 2.5 drifted to > evns then I might be interested as for these reasons I feel there will be goals. Obviously West Ham threaten from almost every position - one worry for me is we could barely buy a goal pre season, however that involved heavy squad rotation. What a mess of a post.

[Alexc]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

Also I know my above phrase "temporarily depleted" regarding Burnley is a bit ambiguous, so my main concerns for them are that they've lost Tyrone Mears, Graham Alexander and Chris Eagles (and Iwelumo as above) and still haven't really replaced them. Two loan signings in and what, 9 out? Can't help but take the value of more than quadrupling your money on that.

Alexander was being phased out by Eddie Howe anyway, so I don't think he'll be a miss. Mears and Eagles will be replaced by Kieran Trippier and Keith Treacy, and I don't think there's too big a gap in quality there, in fact, Trippier may actually be an improvement on Mears (personally think Coyle signed Mears and Eagles out of desperation, as they add nothing to the Bolton team). Agree this could still be a coupon buster though, as could most the other matches, which is why I'm just gonna go with Hull.

[Luther]

Re: England: Championship Aug 5-7

Watford to beat burnley @4.33 Maybe its heart ruling head, maybe its blind faith. Always the underdog, we at watford surprise a fair amount of people. Sure we're away and we are yet to put in anything resembling a good performance in preseason, but that doesn't matter. We had the same sort of summer last year and beat norwich 3-2 on the Friday (a scoreline which quite frankly flattered them). We've had two huge departures in Graham and Cowie and two more in Buckley and Mackay. What people haven't realised is that we've also addressed all of the issues that have haunted us over the last 5 years. We now have a proper left back, a proper left winger, a proven target man and most surprisingly, substitutes older than 18. Oh, and Chris Iwelumo will be dying to score against the clarets at turf moor. Not to mention burnleys temporarily depleted squad and the lingering expectation from not bouncing straight back up last year. Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

Polar views from an optimistic Hornet and a pessimistic Hornet..! As soon as Mackay left, I had this down as a home banker and the subsequent departures of Graham, Cowie and Buckley have only firmed that view. Yes, they have been replaced to a degree but Watford put out just about a full strength team at Colchester and were by all accounts, pretty toothless. I know Iwelumo didn't play but, although eager to score, he will hardly be match fit for tomorrow. The left back has only recently joined and will take time to settle. Burnley is a difficult place to go to at any time and Watford's record there (8-1-2) does not inspire any more confidence in their chances of getting a result. I seem to remember saying similar things at the start of last season when they won at Norwich and the previous year when they gained at draw at Palace but had to take just about all of the 2.05 that Coral and Hills were offering yesterday (now 1.95 best price).