Championship mid-season report

The New Year has arrived and with it the end of the first half of the 2011/2012 nPower Championship Season. Thus far it can only be described by one word: unpredictable. In the space of five months, new boys Brighton and Southampton have occupied the top spot. Two former England managers and undoubtedly the most decorated of the league’s coaches have both been fired.

Peterborough have netted the second-highest number of goals, whilst struggling Bristol City vanquished the league leaders’ not once, but twice, preventing Southampton from going unbeaten at home in 2011 (on the penultimate day of the year). As we enter the second half of the season, we reflect on the most impressive teams so far, those who have failed to live up to expectations and a glimpse of what can be expected from now until May.

**Achievers**

**Southampton**: In the space of just under fifteen months in charge, Nigel Adkins has guided Southampton from League One to the head of England’s second-tier in a blaze of devastating home form. The former Scunthorpe manager has shaken off Brighton boss Gus Poyet’s accusation that the Saints play like Dagenham, with better players, through a direct brand of football which abounds goals in plentiful supply.

6 ft. 2 Ricky Lambert heads this attacking football, netting a league high fifteen times for the Saints, proving just as potent in the air as on the ground. Guly Do Prado and highly rated midfielder Adam Lallana have been similarly effective, bolstering the Hampshire club’s campaign to possibly reach the Premiership at the first time of asking.

**Crystal Palace**: Whilst Southampton always posed a threat coming into the season, Dougie Freedman’s Eagles certainly did not, barely staving off relegation last year. Many pundits’ pre-season favourites to plunge into League One come May, Palace have remarkably navigated their way to top half significance.

The route Freedman has taken doing so is even more impressive; blending a squad of impressive youth academy players, such as skilful playmaker Wilfried Zaha, as well as Jonathan Williams and Nathaniel Clyne, with shrewd pre-season budget acquisitions of Glenn Murray from arch-rivals Brighton and Norwegian left-back Jonathan Parr.

Freedman’s men have already marked their campaign (unfortunately for myself, a lifelong Seagulls fan) with a 3-1 victory against Brighton and a staggering Carling Cup Quarter-Final shock victory over Manchester United, at Old Trafford. Palace look to be solid top half contenders, with hopes of playoff flirtations come the end of the season, ahead of a highly important Cup semi-final date with Cardiff this month.

**Peterborough**: Darren Ferguson’s second stint at the Championship with Posh has turned many heads. If Palace were some people’s relegation candidates in the summer, Peterborough made every list. Losing League One’s top scorer Craig Mackail-Smith compounded their expected relegation battle.

Yet the Posh have punched far above their weight, scorings goals like they’re going out of fashion (take their confounding 7-1 victory against Ipswich for example), totalling 44 goals this season, rivalled only by Southampton. Conversely, achieving just one clean sheet thus far confirms their status as last year’s Blackpool of the Championship.

Time will tell if their fortunes will be different than the Tangerine Army’s 2011 Premiership survival struggle, but with the likes of McCann, Tomlin and Boyd, Ferguson’s men certainly believe in the “we’re gonna score more goals than you” mentality.

**Disappointments**

Unfortunately many teams have flown far below expectations. Local boys Coventry under inexperienced manager Andy Thorn and dipping attendances at the Ricoh were never expected to perform, neither were Doncaster. However Leicester, Forest and even Leeds all had higher aspirations in August. The Foxes’ spending prowess has yet to be vindicated on the field. The high profile signings of Kasper Schmeichel, Paul Konchesky, David Nugent and Jermaine Beckford haven’t delivered Leicester their promotion objectives.

The dismissal of Sven-Gorran Eriksson in favour of Nigel Pearson seems hasty on the surface but underlies both the owners and fans impatient desire for the Premiership. It may take a few years to determine whether City’s stars, akin to Manchester City, will eventually gel into promotion contenders, but it looks unlikely that will be achieved this season.

Fellow rivals Forest’s relegation zone placing is a reflection of their low spending owners’ strategy when hiring Steve McClaren. McClaren’s firing? Premature but understandable. Steve Cotterill’s hiring? Slightly bizarre, considering his Portsmouth side were hardly setting the Championship ablaze. Placing Leeds with these teams may seem unjustly harsh considering their proximity to the playoffs, but Grayson’s men have mirrored the Championship’s unpredictability this year: the Yorkshiremen have bounced from inflicting four goals on Forest to receiving 5-0 and 4-1 drubbings from Blackpool and Barnsley respectively.

So, what will 2012 offer? Southampton will find it hard to hold on to the top spot this month alone; not only were they handed a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Brighton, but talisman Ricky Lambert will be banned for three games in January after a punch thrown at Adam El-Abd. West Ham, Middlesborough and Cardiff will all look to capitalise on this.

With numerous teams on similar points across the league, the unpredictability of the Championship is set to remain until May. My advice for students wanting to get the most for their money in the Championship in 2012? Get yourself down London Road for goals galore – at both ends.