Home Match Day Thread 26/04/25: Championship: OUFC v Sunderland

[Paul Cannell]

Quite an achievement for a team like Oxford.

 

[ttg17]

Or at the end of next season if they should beat Sheff Utd, which I doubt.

Whoever goes up out of the two of them will really struggle I’d imagine.

All 3 who went up last season were arguably better than the sides going up this year, and they’ve barley won a handful of games between them and all coming straight back down with barely a whimper.

Not sure I agree with this at all. Maresca leaving in the summer absolutely shafted a Leicester side that had already lost the fans by scraping wins in the championship with superior individual contributions rather than having coherent game plans, while Ipswich were the other side of the scale - winning in the championship with a spectacularly executed game plan but with a lot of players not at the level (which was even more exacerbated the level up). Both of those approaches were always going to get found out against the canniness and ability of premier league sides.

Leeds were already performing like a lower-mid table premiership side for most of this season (before their Spring blip) and would likely have come close to setting points records this year if they’d had a halfway competent keeper. They’re also part of the red bull consortium now, so will have the money and connections to strengthen significantly. Burnley are a really interesting proposition. It arguably stands you in much better stead to go up as an outstanding defensive side than it does to be an elite attacking force. Premier league sides will stop a good championship offence - they’ll find it more difficult to break through a defence as good as Burnley’s was this year.

I can see both making a much better fist of it than those two automatically promoted sides this year.

 

[holdsteady]

Not sure I agree with this at all. Maresca leaving in the summer absolutely shafted a Leicester side that had already lost the fans by scraping wins in the championship with superior individual contributions rather than having coherent game plans, while Ipswich were the other side of the scale - winning in the championship with a spectacularly executed game plan but with a lot of players not at the level (which was even more exacerbated the level up). Both of those approaches were always going to get found out against the canniness and ability of premier league sides.

Leeds were already performing like a lower-mid table premiership side for most of this season (before their Spring blip) and would likely have come close to setting points records this year if they’d had a halfway competent keeper. They’re also part of the red bull consortium now, so will have the money and connections to strengthen significantly. Burnley are a really interesting proposition. It arguably stands you in much better stead to go up as an outstanding defensive side than it does to be an elite attacking force. Premier league sides will stop a good championship offence - they’ll find it more difficult to break through a defence as good as Burnley’s was this year.

I can see both making a much better fist of it than those two automatically promoted sides this year.

Sheffield United only got 8 less points than those two as well, I would argue they are much stronger than the Southampton side that went up through the play offs if it’s them, as likely, who go up through the play offs. So that’s all 3 sides who are stronger than the respective teams from the year before (unless it’s Sunderland, they could struggle to get double figure points).

Whether that will mean any of them stay up is another matter so deep does the strength run in the premier league now, 16th and 17th placed teams are in the Europa league final, but I fancy them to at least make a bit more of a fight of it.

 

[ttg17]

Sheffield United only got 8 less points than those two as well, I would argue they are much stronger than the Southampton side that went up through the play offs if it’s them, as likely, who go up through the play offs. So that’s all 3 sides who are stronger than the respective teams from the year before (unless it’s Sunderland, they could struggle to get double figure points).

Whether that will mean any of them stay up is another matter so deep does the strength run in the premier league now, 16th and 17th placed teams are in the Europa league final, but I fancy them to at least make a bit more of a fight of it.

I think the other thing is that there aren’t any obvious basket case sides in the remaining 17 of the premier league at the moment. West Ham a maybe, but the likes of Wolves, Palace, Brentford etc all seem pretty well set.

On Brentford, I know someone who works there and apparently they’re pretty keen on Jobe Bellingham. Even if Sunderland go up, no doubt he gets pinched. As you say, if they do win next week, next season could be a horrific one for them.

 

[Chippy]

Sheffield United only got 8 less points than those two as well, I would argue they are much stronger than the Southampton side that went up through the play offs if it’s them, as likely, who go up through the play offs. So that’s all 3 sides who are stronger than the respective teams from the year before (unless it’s Sunderland, they could struggle to get double figure points).

Whether that will mean any of them stay up is another matter so deep does the strength run in the premier league now, 16th and 17th placed teams are in the Europa league final, but I fancy them to at least make a bit more of a fight of it.

Not sure I agree, last year Southampton came 4th on 87 points, Leeds 3rd on 90. There wasn’t much between the top 4 and they were miles in front of the rest, similar to this seasons top 4, except Sunderland in 4th are a long way off where Southampton were last season.

I don’t think Leeds are quite as good this season as last, and Burnley and Sheff Utd both came down last season without really looking like they might have a chance of staying up. I’m not sure they are any better equipped at this point in time to make more of a fist of things next season.

It will be interesting and I’d like one or two promoted sides to stay up in the Prem next season, otherwise it’s just all becoming too predictable and the gulf between that league and the Championship getting unhealthily too wide.

 

[holdsteady]

I think the other thing is that there aren’t any obvious basket case sides in the remaining 17 of the premier league at the moment. West Ham a maybe, but the likes of Wolves, Palace, Brentford etc all seem pretty well set.

On Brentford, I know someone who works there and apparently they’re pretty keen on Jobe Bellingham. Even if Sunderland go up, no doubt he gets pinched. As you say, if they do win next week, next season could be a horrific one for them.

That’s the problem, I don’t think West Ham are much of a basket case, none of the others either. The smaller clubs like Brentford, Bournemouth etc are superbly managed and run with fantastic recruitment, it makes the bigger clubs who struggle look worse than they are. You are looking at getting near to the old 40 points to stay up, which will be some going.

The start will be crucial for Leeds and Burnley, get some points and carry last season’s momentum then if/when they have a bad spell they will not be left adrift.

Look how much it helped us that even when we had a bad spell and dropped into the relegation zone we were a win away from getting out of it because we were out of the blocks quite fast.

 

[holdsteady]

Not sure I agree, last year Southampton came 4th on 87 points, Leeds 3rd on 90. There wasn’t much between the top 4 and they were miles in front of the rest, similar to this seasons top 4, except Sunderland in 4th are a long way off where Southampton were last season.

I don’t think Leeds are quite as good this season as last, and Burnley and Sheff Utd both came down last season without really looking like they might have a chance of staying up. I’m not sure they are any better equipped at this point in time to make more of a fist of things next season.

It will be interesting and I’d like one or two promoted sides to stay up in the Prem next season, otherwise it’s just all becoming too predictable and the gulf between that league and the Championship getting unhealthily too wide.

I don’t think Ipswich would have finished in the top three with the team they had that came second in the championship this season, nor would Southampton, but always hard to tell.

It will be very hard for anyone to stay up but fingers crossed one can, would like to play a different team season after this coming one not just the three that have/are getting promoted.

 

[TobyDavis34]

Man United perhaps?

 

[Marked Ox]

Man United perhaps?

Spurs as well.

 

[TobyDavis34]

Spurs as well.

Both tinpot clubs, to be fair.

 

[foghorn]

Just reflecting back on this game because I've only just caught up with it on OUTV and I'm not sure if this was mentioned anywhere else but... do you think we let the grass grow a bit longer for this game, to stifle any sort of fast passing game that Sunderland might have been able to muster? There seemed to be numerous instances when our opponents' passes didn't reach their intended target because the ball held up in the grass. If it was intentional, quite canny on our part, because they never seemed to be able to get going. Nevertheless, nice to think we have beaten both of the two play-off finalists in recent weeks.

 

[MJB]

Just reflecting back on this game because I've only just caught up with it on OUTV and I'm not sure if this was mentioned anywhere else but... do you think we let the grass grow a bit longer for this game, to stifle any sort of fast passing game that Sunderland might have been able to muster? There seemed to be numerous instances when our opponents' passes didn't reach their intended target because the ball held up in the grass. If it was intentional, quite canny on our part, because they never seemed to be able to get going. Nevertheless, nice to think we have beaten both of the two play-off finalists in recent weeks.

There was talking of the grass being left dry for the Blades game, to slow down play.

Rowett said that it wasn’t deliberate, claiming that the winds at the time would take away any artificial watering, and particularly from to the open end.

I suspect it’s a bit of both, as the football cliche goes.