Predicting the Championship table 2019/20 11th- 1st – Talk the Football League
- Sam Greasley-Machin
- Jul 20, 2019
- 5 min read
Football besides the net, credit: Pixabay
This is part two of the Talk the Football League football Championship table predictions. As with before this is based on the current squads only and an updated version shall be published once the transfer window slams shut, as no doubt there will be plenty more comings and goings. As with before it will be controversial and it may cause upset, but why don’t you leave your thoughts below. Here we go!Middlesbrough11) Teeside side Middlesbrough perhaps might make it further up this prediction had they got a different manager in charge. Jonathan Woodgate offers a wealth of football experience and with this being his first managerial post it really could go exceedingly well or bad, but anything is an improvement on watching Tony Pulis’ idea of football week in week out. The former Real Madrid man no doubt has a quality squad at his disposal that could no doubt finish higher if the boss can get them performing, especially the forwards, where they have failed to get going in seasons gone by.
Cardiff City
10) The first side to drop out of the top division on this list is Cardiff, to some surprise to be this low but they were a shock to the world to even make the Premier League in the first place based on how Neil Warnock likes to play football and the lack of quality in their squad. No doubt Bobby Reid will be able to add some firepower, but with Zohore set to leave they lack a real squad depth to see a return to the top or anyway near it considering the levels of the division this year.
Huddersfield Town
9) Huddersfield may have finished below the Welsh side in the league above, however they offer more of a squad equipped to perform better in the Championship under an exciting new manager in Jan Siewert. The Yorkshire side have kept the majority of their exciting players in Alex Pritchard and Aaron Mooy, but once again they are lacking in real quality up-top to fire the goals in.
Preston North End
8) In Alex Neil Preston have a quality manager in a club with a great history of buying players from the lower leagues and turning them into good financial returns. The Lancashire side finished 14th last season and should look to progress on that with the addition of Patrick Bauer at the back and the immense progress of Sean Maguire and Jayden Stockley in the final third to see them compete for the play-offs, but likely missing out. The sale of Callum Robinson could be a huge loss going forward though that they will have to overcome following his £7m sale to Sheffield United.
Nottingham Forest
7) One side that will perhaps feel hard done by is Nottingham Forest following a fantastic summer for them with the arrival of Sabri Lamouchi at the role of head coach in addition to the flurry of quality players arriving at the City Ground in Albert Adomah, Arijanet Muric, Yuri Ribeiro, Alfa Semedo and Tiago Silva. Fans of the Nottinghamshire side should expect some exciting football in the new season that will see them compete to be in the top flight.
Talk the Football League logo, credit; TFL
Derby County
6) Local rivals Derby County may have lost their manager to Chelsea, but Frank Lampard’s replacement Phillip Cocu has experience playing for the very best and looks set to bring a Dutch revolution to Derbyshire. The last time that happened it worked out well for Reading under Jaap Stams first season and the Rams offer the financial backing that the Berkshire side couldn’t to perhaps allow them to build on what is already a talented squad; as we saw last season. However, in typical Derby fashion it could easily be anticipated that they will ‘bottle’ the play-offs which has been seen too much in recent years.
Brentford
5) Brentford play some of the best, if not best, football in the league throughout the whole of the last campaign, even after losing Dean Smith to Aston Villa. This summer the Bees have finally added extra top level players to their side with the likes of Pontus Jansson, Mathias Jensen, Christian Norgaard and David Raya while still managing to keep star players Neal Maupay, Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma, who are amongst the league’s best players. They might not have that extra quality to win automatic promotion, but with their standard of football the play-offs may well favour the South West London side this year.
Bristol City
4) Like Brentford, Bristol City play some very attractive football having build the foundations in previous seasons to slowly compete amongst the top sides in the table. This summer Lee Johnson has been giving the backing to add to his squad in upgrading his goalkeeper to Daniel Bentley, retaining Tomas Kalas and adding a host of young, promising players to a side that finished the previous season strongly.
Leeds United
3) Keeping Marco Bielsa at Leeds is arguably the best piece of business the Yorkshire side have conducted this summer window. In true Leeds like fashion it wouldn’t be unexpected to see them miss out on automatics once more, despite coming close yet again. The Whites have what could be seen as the best wide players in the Championship in Helder Costa and Jack Clarke, both on-loan from Wolves and Tottenham respectively. Leeds also play some spectacular football and you would expect if they are to go up it needs to be this year in case they lose their manager in addition to the wingers on-loan. Having managed to keep the majority of their squad that saw them narrowly miss out on the top-flight last year they should be competing at the top once again, although the one weak spot is having a top draw striker.
Fulham
2) Finishing in the crucial automatic spot to meet the promised land is the recently relegated Fulham. So far the London side haven’t lost any of their star players that fired them to the Premier League two years ago, keeping the likes of Ryan Sessengon, Alexander Mitrovic and Tom Cairney. While adding Ivan Cavaleiro from Wolves. While the majority of players might not have performed in the Premier League, they are more than capable of doing so in the Championship and with Scott Parker seeing some promising results towards the end of the campaign, Fulham offer one of the strongest sides in the division and should have no trouble bouncing back.
West Bromich Albion
1) Earning top spot in the league and the all important title is West Brom. Last year they came so close to returning to the top league by finishing fourth. This season they have added a manager that is a level beyond the Championship in Slaven Bilic to lead a great squad. The only downfall they have is that their manager lacks that experience to play in such a division as the Championship. However the quality of the whole squad and the manager at the helm should be enough to see them triumph in the division this season, especially having added Zohore to their ranks from Cardiff.
There will no doubt be a lot of disagreement with these predictions so leave your thoughts below and don’t forget to follow TalktheFootballleague on Twitter to hear all the latest Football League news and discussions @TalktheFL.
By Sam Greasley-Machin
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