Premier League: Mid-Season Review

Welcome to the final instalment of our mid-season mini reviews. We move onto the centre piece. The pinnacle. The Premier League.

We can’t help but start at the very top and commend Arsenal on a great start to the season. The genius signing of Mesut Ozil has made the Gunners tick but you can’t help but feel that they need a quality striker if they are going to fend off free-scoring Manchester City, who will be looking to break the thousand goal barrier by the end of the season and Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea who have shown that not having a goalscoring striker will hinder your chances of winning the league. Oh, hang on…

Liverpool are slowly improving under Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers and have a real chance of finishing in the top four but face tough opposition from Merseyside rivals Everton. Martinez, who has real drive, determination and more importantly, a long term plan, sold himself by saying he’d get The Toffees in to the top four. If Romelu Lukaku can find his early season form, who would bet against it? We wouldn’t. Spurs are improving under Tim Sherwood with four wins on the trot and you suspect that those 6 will battle it out for the top four.

Cardiff City prop up the Premier League after 22 games with barmy man Vincent Tan appointing Ole-Gunnar Solksjaer in a bid to revive the Welsh clubs fortunes. The other Welsh side are also struggling with Swansea City only 3 points off the bottom in 15th place. The Europa League seems to be catching up with them and with the club still involved in the competition, you have to worry about their Premier League place.

Capital One Cup finalists Sunderland are in 19th but appear to be slowly improving and Poyet may just drag them out of trouble but it’s another story for West Ham United who are struggling for performances, consistency and results. The Hammers will be desperate for Andy Carroll’s return to first-team action to coincide with an upturn in form. Fulham’s change of manager seems to have done little stop the rot and they now seem set on unsettling a player in every one of their relegation rivals’ squad instead. Crystal Palace have a weak (but massive) squad but Tony Pulis has never been relegated as a manager and will be hoping to maintain that record and keep The Eagles up.

There are only 6 points between 10th and 20th in a The Premier League so far, with every side having played 22 games. Aston Villa sit top of that group with 24 points as their young side look more capable of reaching their potential this season. Hull City (yes, City) have a very solid home record but need to pick up more points away to avoid slipping into the relegation places whereas Stoke City, Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion languish in mid-table and will be pining for a run of 3 or 4 straight victories to pull them away from danger.

The mid-table sides with little chance of upsetting the applecart are Southampton and Newcastle United. We would love to rule Manchester United out, but we can’t, can we? They’re really struggling although the signing of Mata and return of van Persie and Rooney should result in more consistency and points.

So. Champions? If Arsenal sign a striker, them. If they don’t, Man City. Top four will be Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton.

Going down we reckon are Cardiff, Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Who do you think will win the league? Are any of the bottom 10 safe from the drop? Get involved and let us know!

The Couch Pundit team.

Championship: Mid-Season Review

And we roll on to the Sky Bet Championship as we look at our mid-season review of the English leagues.

Blackburn Rovers have managed to put their troubles to one side and they are just four points off the play-offs, although they’ll be desperate to keep hold of Jordan Rhodes in January. Mid-table is tight in the Championship, with anyone from Reading, who should arguably be doing better under Nigel Adkins down to Bournemouth, having a solid season under Eddie Howe, surely believing they have a shot at the play-offs.

Down at the bottom of the table, Barnsley will be hoping that Danny Wilson’s second spell at the club can lift them out of the bottom three where they are accompanied by a stout Yeovil Town and a poor Doncaster Rovers side. Rovers have just re-signed Billy Sharp, which will give them confidence and Charlton Athletic will be worried looking over their shoulders as they struggle for points.

Up at the top of the division, moneybags Leicester City and QPR lead the way but the story of the season so far must be Lancashire side Burnley. With Danny Ings and Sam Vokes almost unplayable for the majority of the season, The Clarets must fancy a shot at the top two. The dark horses of the promotion race as things stands looks to be Nottingham Forest. With a squad deep in quality, they’ll expect to bridge the game to QPR and Burnley and challenge for an automatic promotion spot. Derby, with the influential Will Hughes in midfield, can expect to find themselves in the mix come the end of the season too.

The under-achievers of the Championship this season must surely be Bolton Wanderers who, after a great end to the season under Dougie Freedman, have failed to replicate that form and must be worried about the resurgent sides below them. Millwall have had a torrid season but will be hoping Ian Holloway can revive their fortunes and despite a recent good run, Birmingham City must be wary of being sucked into the battle at the bottom.

Our dark horses for the play-offs are Middlesbrough. Aitor Karanka, using his contacts to good effect, has quickly turned round Boro’s fortunes and they are only five points off the play-offs. Ipswich Town look a threat with the same amount of points whilst Wigan, also hugely under-achieving given their squad, have improved under Uwe Rosler. How many manager changes have we discussed here? That’s ridiculous. 8. Including Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday who are currently managerless and Udin…Watford who’ve just pronounced some Italian we’ve never heard of. Huddersfield a Town are building a good squad and last but not least, sleeping giants Leeds United are struggling for consistency under Brian McDermott.

So, who for promotion? We have to go with the obvious for the top two with QPR just pipping Leicester to the title. Nottingham Forest’s strong squad will see them beat Burnley in the play-off final.

Going down is proving a difficult choice. The Couch Pundit are going for Charlton Athletic, Barnsley and Yeovil Town. What a great division.

The Couch Pundit team.

League One: Mid-Season Review

Hello and welcome to the next in our series of mid-season reviews where we’re briefly looking over the season so far in the top five divisions in English football. Today is the turn of League One.

I’m sure we’ll all be in agreement as to the over-achievers of the division so far, with Leyton Orient sitting pretty at the top of the division. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, though, as they ended last season only 3 points off the play-offs after an excellent end-of-season run. Last seasons play off runners up Brentford have got over their heartache by going on an absolutely magnificent run to leave themselves in second. The majority of football fans’ pre-season favourites Wolverhampton Wanderers are in third place and you certainly wouldn’t back against them finishing in the top 2.

Simon Grayson is doing a super job at Preston North End and having only lost 4 games all season, the same number as Wolves and Brentford, they sit inside the top 6. Two clubs not doing such a super job are Bristol City and Sheffield United. The Blades have been stuck in a bit of a rut for a couple of seasons now and will be hoping Nigel Clough can pull them out of trouble. Steve Cotterill is an experienced manager and we think he’ll pull City out of trouble.

At the very bottom of the division, Stevenage are desperately struggling with Graham Westley in charge for the fourteenth time. They certainly haven’t progressed since making the play-offs in the 2011/12 season. Have they reached their summit? Tranmere Rovers have proved their start to last season was a fluke by continuing their miserable run and they are in the bottom four along with Shrewsbury Town who are looking for a new manager after old boss Graham Turner retired.

Carlisle United started the season with a terrible run of form but the shrewd appointment of Graham Kavanagh has led to an upturn in fortunes whilst Crewe Alexandra are slowly improving although the battle at the bottom is as tight as…no, we won’t go there. Oldham appear to be struggling but Notts County have hugely improved under super-fan Shaun Derry, proving that a change in manager can result in an upturn in fortunes.

Two United’s, Peterborough and Rotherham, fill up the play-off spots as expected due to their large budgets, with smaller-budget sides Walsall and Port Vale in hot pursuit. Coventry City would be much closer to the play-offs without their 10-point penalty whilst Milton Keynes Dons and Swindon Town are lingering in mid-table whilst briefly threatening the top six (again). Colchester United are also just in the top half, although they haven’t really threatened the promotion places in the first half of the season.

Bradford City are on a poor run of one victory in 17 games in all competitions and need to change things fast to avoid dropping into a relegation scrap and the same can be said for Crawley, although they have picked up more points lately under John Gregory, one of seven managerial changes in the division already this season. Another club to change manager is Gillingham, who have given Peter Taylor another opportunity to bore football fans to death, although they did pick up a superb victory over Wolves recently and sit in 14th.

Who’s going up? We reckon that Brentford are a shoe-in to win the league with Wolves finishing second. Peterborough’s spending power will see them beat Rotherham in the final of the play-offs.

Who’s going down? The Couch Pundit thinks this one is tough. Tranmere and Stevenage we have down as definites but we’ve struggled with the other two. We’ve gone with Crewe and Oldham. Just.

The Couch Pundit team.

League Two: Mid-Season Review

Welcome to our mid-season review of Sky Bet League Two. This is comfortably the most competitive division of the top five tiers in English football this season with any of the 7 realistically thinking they have a chance of claiming major honours.

In the Skrill Premier we started with the side we felt were the over-achievers of the division. This time, we have to start with the obvious under-achievers which are last season’s play-off runners up Northampton Town. With The Cobblers having dispensed of the services of Aidy Boothroyd, they’ll be a hopeful a new manager can come in and stop them dropping out of the Football League. Bury have also struggled after their relegation from League One and will be hoping.

The top of this division is fascinating. Most would have expected the current top 7 to be fighting it out for the promotion and play-off spots but few would have expected 6 points between the septuple after 26 games. Things could get even closer with Fleetwood Town and Oxford United having a game in hand on Scunthorpe United, Burton Albion, Chesterfield and Southend United with Rochdale in second place having played a game more than the aforementioned quartet.

Newport County and Morecambe can’t be discounted as they chase a play-off place in the hope that one of the promotion chasers slip up and The Exiles season has been most impressive given it is their first season in the football league since 1988.

Beyond these sides, you could argue the remainder are all locked in a relegation battle. Last seasons strugglers Dagenham & Redbridge and Plymouth you might think look rosy in 10th and 11th respectively, but they’re only 8 points clear of 23rd place Torquay United. Bristol Rovers have had too many seasons like the one they’re having this season to suggest they’re under-achieving. On paper, they appear to have a strong squad for the division but no matter who the manager, they tend to struggle.

The club nobody had a clue about this season was Portsmouth. With a squad assembled essentially from scratch, they were the dark horses of the division but unfortunately for them they’ve struggled. Staying down on the South Coast, Exeter started the season relatively well but have struggled over the past couple of months and they are stranded in mid-table, along with newly-promoted Mansfield Town and yoyo side Hartlepool United.

Accrington Stanley are having a solid season under the under-qualified James Beattie and AFC Wimbledon look likely to have another season battling against relegation. More surprisingly, Wycombe Wanderers under Gareth Ainsworth are having a poor season and are only a couple of points above the drop zone.

There is usually one surprise in every division and the team quietly going about their business is York City. On a very good run of form, York could surprise a few. They were drawing too many games but are turning these into wins.

Who’s going up? We reckon Rochdale will win the league with Scunthorpe and Fleetwood joining them automatically. We’re going with our outside pick of York to win the play offs.

Who’s going down? The Couch Pundit thinks Portsmouth and Torquay will drop in a miserable season for the southern-based clubs.

The Couch Pundit team.

Conference:The Mid-Season Review

Here at The Couch Pundit we want to cater for everybody’s interests and we made a decision to focus our articles on the top 5 tiers of English football and the National team in the build-up to the World Cup this summer.

So, we’re going to try and round up each of the top 5 divisions in 500 words as they glide past the half-way mark and we’ll start with the Skrill Premier.

The Skrill Premier has always been a very competitive division and this season that is definitely the case again. With not a vast amount of points between 3rd and 18th place this season, almost anything can happen from now until the end of the season. I’m not sure anybody pre-season would have placed Alfreton Town in 3rd place as we get two thirds of the way through the season (albeit with some teams having 5 games in hand – though points on the board are important). They’re the over-achievers in our opinion

Luton Town, finally, after a couple of years of struggle, seem to have conquered the fifth tier and lead the way along with Cambridge United. The sob story of the season is Hyde FC although they were finally able to celebrate (and we celebrated too!) with a win away at Welling United last week who are having decent in their first season back at this level. Fellow promoted sides Salisbury City and FC Halifax Town have both adapted to the Skrill Premier with FC Halifax in particular having a superb home record.

Grimsby Town are battling at the right end of the table but our tips for the title, Kidderminster Harriers, have been woefully inconsistent of late and may have to settle for the play-offs again. Gateshead’s fortunes have improved under Gary Mills and they have risen to 4th with only one defeat in 12 at the time of writing, against Luton. Barnet’s attempt to get back into the Football League is faltering with Paul Fairclough back in temporary charge, replacing the departing hot-headed Edgar Davids.

Tamworth and Southport have struggled this season which is no surprise given their 19th and 20th place finishes last season respectively. More surprisingly down at the bottom is Dartford who has mustered a disappointing 22 points from 29 games. Aldershot Town might be battling away for a play off spot without the 10-point deduction but instead face a relegation battle with the aforementioned teams and Chester, the promoted team struggling the most at a higher level. Woking and Lincoln City are perhaps the two who could get sucked into a relegation battle and Hereford United will struggle to get anywhere other than mid-table.

Forest Green Rovers and Wrexham, in particular, have most certainly under-achieved and with two of the biggest budgets in the league you wonder whether January will be make-or-break for these two clubs this season. Troubled Macclesfield Town’s season is improving with a good run in the FA Cup and 5 wins in the last 6 league games as they look to battle financial problems off the pitch.

Who’s going up? We reckon Luton win the league and Grimsby Town beat Cambridge United in the play-off final.

Who’s going down? The Couch Pundit hopes Hyde FC stay up but thinks they’ll drop (bold prediction, I know), along with Southport, Chester and Dartford.

Fans of Skrill Premier clubs, or football fans in general, who is going up and down from this division? Let us know!

The Couch Pundit team.