Championship Sunderland vs Coventry City [Championship semi final 2nd leg [2-1]]

[Steve Gilbert]

Redbull need to give Sakamoto an advertising deal, the guy hasn’t stopped all game!

 

[Swaby39]

The standout for me is Matt Grimes. Absolute class act in midfield at this level.

 

[SSO]

Seems to me Sunderland fans not lifting their team here.

 

[QR]

Sheffield United will be jumping for joy.

 

[Northstandboy]

Seems to me Sunderland fans not lifting their team here.

Sing when there winning!

 

[yellowbow]

What a header though!

 

[SSO]

Sing when there winning!

Yeah two faced tossers

 

[dickwalton1964]

Brilliant for us that Coventry and Bristol City stay in the Championship.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Shiit.

Well if any mackem deserved to score it was Ballard.

I hope the Blades shit all over their ugly mugs.

At least it got the camera off Lampard.

 

[Peterdev]

Lampard will be well placed to motivate his players after the disappointment tonight. I can’t see Southampton and Leicester challenging.
Can see Birmingham and Ipswich challenging for promotion

 

[holdsteady]

second best team but the latest of goals got them through.

If you had to put your money on a team it would be Sheffield United, but after that latest of goals maybe it’s Sunderland’s year.

They will need to bring in a load of players if they do go up else it’s another Southampton though.

 

[Scotchegg]

Lampard will be well placed to motivate his players after the disappointment tonight. I can’t see Southampton and Leicester challenging.
Can see Birmingham and Ipswich challenging for promotion

Out of interest, what makes you think that Birmingham will be stronger the Leicester or Southampton? Both of these clubs have been yo-yo clubs and fall into the trap of being too good for the Championship but not good enough for the PL. I can't see how Birmingham will be challenging either at the very top.

 

[OX14]

Atleast it's one of the northern teams going up through the play offs but I believe Sheffield United will win the final.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

If Sheffield United get promoted there will be only ONE United in the Championship next season.

 

[MJB]

If Sheffield United get promoted there will be only ONE United in the Championship next season.

If they don’t get promoted, there will still only be one United.

 

[Belgium Yellow]

Brilliant for us that Coventry and Bristol City stay in the Championship.

Love the local derbies

 

[90syeIlow]

Lovely to see Coventry lose in the last seconds after their cringeworthy celebrations at beating newly promoted oxford at their place in the last minute.

I guess karma sucks.

 

[ECYellow]

Hopefully Sunderland win the final, not because I have anything against Sheff Utd particularly, but it would be nice to not see the 3 that came down going straight back up again.

Anything to help to break the myth of the Premier League being the greatest league in the world b*****s. A league that has the same 1 or 2 sides winning it and the same 3 or 4 teams winning promotion in to it. Complete snooze fest.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

How bad was Haji Wright last night?

It was like he had never seen a football before. He was so poor. He let his team mates down with that performance.

 

[Belgium Yellow]

Hopefully Sunderland win the final, not because I have anything against Sheff Utd particularly, but it would be nice to not see the 3 that came down going straight back up again.

Anything to help to break the myth of the Premier League being the greatest league in the world b*****s. A league that has the same 1 or 2 sides winning it and the same 3 or 4 teams winning promotion in to it. Complete snooze fest.

Sort of true, but with Luton we got double our money.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Hopefully Sunderland win the final, not because I have anything against Sheff Utd particularly, but it would be nice to not see the 3 that came down going straight back up again.

Anything to help to break the myth of the Premier League being the greatest league in the world b*****s. A league that has the same 1 or 2 sides winning it and the same 3 or 4 teams winning promotion in to it. Complete snooze fest.

Every countries football has a degree of predictability about it but it seems odd that you mention it this season when the team that wins the PL wins it for only the second time in something like 38 years and also when a team that dominated the PL for a couple of decades is probably going to finish one place above the relegation places !! You’ve also seen City fall off a cliff mid season, an horrendous run which they’ve made a bit of a recovery from. Teams like Notts Forest and Bournemouth on the brink of Europe and the likes of Brighton, Palace, Fulham pushing for top ten. Hardly been a predictable snooze fest !!!

 

[Foley]

Every countries football has a degree of predictability about it but it seems odd that you mention it this season when the team that wins the PL wins it for only the second time in something like 38 years and also when a team that dominated the PL for a couple of decades is probably going to finish one place above the relegation places !! You’ve also seen City fall off a cliff mid season, an horrendous run which they’ve made a bit of a recovery from. Teams like Notts Forest and Bournemouth on the brink of Europe and the likes of Brighton, Palace, Fulham pushing for top ten. Hardly been a predictable snooze fest !!!

The predictable snooze fest is due to the fact that with 3 games left, all of the relegation places are sorted as is the Champions.
All Sky and the papers are getting excited about is who finishes in the top 5!
Boring.

 

[ECYellow]

Every countries football has a degree of predictability about it but it seems odd that you mention it this season when the team that wins the PL wins it for only the second time in something like 38 years and also when a team that dominated the PL for a couple of decades is probably going to finish one place above the relegation places !! You’ve also seen City fall off a cliff mid season, an horrendous run which they’ve made a bit of a recovery from. Teams like Notts Forest and Bournemouth on the brink of Europe and the likes of Brighton, Palace, Fulham pushing for top ten. Hardly been a predictable snooze fest !!!

Fair enough, it probably has had a few more variables than normal. It doesn’t change my opinion that the Premier League continue to predictable in the main and I personally don’t find the football on offer, particularly enjoyable.

 

[SSO]

Every countries football has a degree of predictability about it but it seems odd that you mention it this season when the team that wins the PL wins it for only the second time in something like 38 years and also when a team that dominated the PL for a couple of decades is probably going to finish one place above the relegation places !! You’ve also seen City fall off a cliff mid season, an horrendous run which they’ve made a bit of a recovery from. Teams like Notts Forest and Bournemouth on the brink of Europe and the likes of Brighton, Palace, Fulham pushing for top ten. Hardly been a predictable snooze fest !!!

Yep can’t argue with that.
Strange how the negative spin on Liverpool is that it’s 2 titles in 35 years but is also actually 2 in 6 years and is a record equalling 20th title. Man City fell off a cliff being too dependant on one player. Arsenal similar but also having no striker and the way the likes of Merson go on about it they sign a striker and suddenly they win it easily. It’s almost as though signing that striker also means they are starting with 12 players.

Of the rest it is a very competitive league with teams still vying for Europe and if only one of the 3 that went up had done really well we might have been seeing Man Utd in the Championship next season.

We could yet see a season where 3 teams win a trophy for the first time in decades or the first time ever for Crystal Palace.

 

[Foley]

I was a little surprised that each team made just one substitution in the 90 minutes and 2 in extra time .
Ellis Simms didn't even get on the pitch. Neither manager trusted their substitutes?

 

[dickwalton1964]

The predictable snooze fest is due to the fact that with 3 games left, all of the relegation places are sorted as is the Champions.
All Sky and the papers are getting excited about is who finishes in the top 5!
Boring.

But isn’t the Championship just as predictable and boring on that basis. We could all safely have predicted, before a ball was kicked, the final top 3 would have at least been in the top 5. The bottom few would have all been on people’s relegation predictions bar Luton who probably broke the mould for both ends of the table. The PL relegation scrap was a bit of a lame duck but I think in virtually most divisions one of the promoted sides will go back down.

 

[SSO]

The predictable snooze fest is due to the fact that with 3 games left, all of the relegation places are sorted as is the Champions.
All Sky and the papers are getting excited about is who finishes in the top 5!
Boring.

But isn’t that what we are working towards? Three more years to become oven ready with a new ground in tow to have a crack at being there? Surely we want to be the next Bournemouth, Brentford or Brighton.

There are clubs that are always going to be in a better position to stop us getting there but having had 3 seasons of top flight football I want to see it again. The game has moved on but it would be great to be a part of it at the top.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

But isn’t the Championship just as predictable and boring on that basis. The bottom few would have all been on people’s relegation predictions bar Luton who probably broke the mould for both ends of the table. The PL relegation scrap was a bit of a lame duck but I think in virtually most divisions one of the promoted sides will go back down.

What?! Is this serious?!

There were five sides fighting to avoid the final relegation place on the last day. And none of the promoted sides went back down.

To suggest that the compelling relegation battle in The Championship was in any way comparable to seeing Ipswich, Southampton and Leicester all being relegated from the PL by mid-March is, quite frankly, laughable.

 

[holdsteady]

Every countries football has a degree of predictability about it but it seems odd that you mention it this season when the team that wins the PL wins it for only the second time in something like 38 years and also when a team that dominated the PL for a couple of decades is probably going to finish one place above the relegation places !! You’ve also seen City fall off a cliff mid season, an horrendous run which they’ve made a bit of a recovery from. Teams like Notts Forest and Bournemouth on the brink of Europe and the likes of Brighton, Palace, Fulham pushing for top ten. Hardly been a predictable snooze fest !!!

Hasn't been a relegation battle for two seasons in a row with the bottom being the promoted sides who get very low points totals. Not helped how early it was obvious where the title was going as well, whereas the championship title race was still alive right to the end, the automatics were being fought for near to the end and and the play offs could have been any two from four on the last day.

The champions league places scrap and how laughably bad Spurs and Man U have been is about the only entertainment the prem has offered this season.

 

[dickwalton1964]

What?! Is this serious?!

There were five sides fighting to avoid the final relegation place on the last day. And none of the promoted sides went back down.

To suggest that the compelling relegation battle in The Championship was in any way comparable to seeing Ipswich, Southampton and Leicester all being relegated from the PL by mid-March is, quite frankly, laughable.

What about the top ?

Yes, it went to the last day but my point is the teams largely involved were as predictable as night and day - bar Luton. I’m no football expert but on here back at Christmas I predicted Cardiff, Hull and Plymouth to drop, based on their performance v us and bits I’d seen live on the box. 4 months later I was probably one kick away from being right ! There was an air of predictability about the teams at both ends, exactly as there was in the PL.

The only possible way the counter argument to predictability will carry any weight is if we see someone like Chelsea getting relegated from the PL with someone like Wolves winning it and an Oxford or Preston winning the Championship while Sheffield United get relegated.