Monday 26 January 2009

My musings on the bottom end of the Championship

It's been a little while since my last post on To be a Pilgrim and unfortunately things didn't go too well in the Forest game. I thought Forest might have a bit about them, Billy Davies is still a good manager in my eyes despite that spell at Derby (though to be fair, any manager would have found keeping that side in the Premier League).

Next up though come Bristol City. They're only a couple of points above Argyle in the league and a win would see the Pilgrims leap-frog them. Last season they had a great one obviously, but I always thought they were punching above their weight a bit I have to admit. They've got a few decent players like Nicky Maynard, Bradley Orr and Marvin Elliot but they haven't looked as good as they did last season and are a beatable side.

I know Argyle have been on a bad run of late, stretching back to that defeat against Blackpool. I don't think relegation talk is necessary just yet. Before the weekend I thought Blackpool were going to slip down into it because they lost so many players that had been there on loan but then they go and beat Birmingham 2-0! That ruined my betting picks anyway, probably ruined a few other peoples selections as well. In truth Birmingham were pretty poor in that game from what I've seen and did not look like a side pushing for promotion.

Another football betting tip for relegation candidates are Norwich City. They look pretty poor and just don't seem to pick up results. They might have battered Barnsley last time out but those kind of score-lines are few and far between for the Canaries and they will be lucky to stay in the league with the way they have been playing lately.

Charlton look gone, probably not much point even discussing them to be honest. When I have watched them play they look like they've been unlucky in some encounters but you can't blame luck all the time. I watched Forest beat them and Charlton were all over them before Forest scored but as soon as they did their heads dropped and it was all over.

Jeff Stelling presents countdown now, brilliant move from Channel 4 - not sure about his co-host though, she's no Carol. Anyway, the point I was going to make was Jeff introduced a contestant and said 'he likes football.... He also likes watching Southampton,' which leads me on to my next point. Southampton are prime candidates for the drop, they've got a young squad, no money and they've only won once in their last ten games - prime relegation material.

Doncaster have won their last three games and held Villa to a credible 0-0 draw in the FA Cup. I didn't see that one coming to be honest! Still, they might fight their way out of it now and as long as it's not at Plymouth's expense then good stuff I suppose, I always have liked to follow the underdog.

There are a couple of other teams I haven't mentioned yet, Watford, Barnsley, Derby and Forest. I think Derby and Forest will probably stay out of it now, along with Barnsley. As I said earlier I think Plymouth will stay out of it, this run won't go on forever. Watford don't look particularly good and could go down though. I'm going too leave it there anyway, I've waffled on enough already! Good luck to the Pilgrims at the weekend and let me know what you think about relegation candidates.