Ipswich Town aren’t the only side who haven’t lived up to pre-season expectations in the Championship this season
The Championship looks different this season. Instead of the heavyweights at the top of the division with their parachute payments, we’ve got other sides who have pushed up the table.
Leaders Coventry City, listed at 10/3 to win promotion with BetFair at the start of the summer, have a cushion at the top of the table. Stoke City (9/1) sit second ahead of Middlesbrough (10/3), Millwall (8/1), Charlton Athletic (25/1) and Preston North End (20/1) in the play-off places.
Just outside, you’ll find Bristol City (13/2) and Hull City (10/1), while pre-season title favourites Ipswich Town (7/5) are down in 10th.
Look towards the bottom of the table and you’ll find second-favourites Southampton (7/4) and third-favourites Sheffield United (23/10) in and around the relegation zone. Leicester City (4/1), also down from the Premier League, are a bit higher up in 13th.
What’s going on in the second tier this season? Alex Jones takes a look at some of the under-performing sides.
Will Still left Southampton just above the relegation zone (Image: PA)
Of all the teams in this season’s Championship, Southampton are arguably underperforming the most.
There was an expectation that they would go again after a nightmare Premier League campaign, where they picked up just 12 points and sacked both Russell Martin and Ivan Juric.
Will Still was appointed in the summer, arriving with a lot of hype after some stellar work in France. He began with a win against Wrexham and a draw at Portman Road before falling to a home defeat against Stoke, which fans hoped would be no more than a blip.
However, they only won once between then and Still’s sacking on November 2nd, which was a 2-1 victory away at Sheffield United. Successive defeats to Bristol City, Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End – which came after draws against Derby County and Swansea City – proved to be too much.
There has been an element of misfortune. Southampton’s underlying numbers show them as a team that should challenge for automatic promotion, but they have missed key chances. Still couldn’t run on the pitch and stick the ball in the net for them – there’s an argument that he was let down by his players.
But he could never settle on a consistent shape or selection. Injuries made that hard, but there’s more than enough quality in their side to sit above 21st, which is where they were ahead of last night’s game against QPR.
Criticism is now being aimed at Southampton’s ownership group, Sport Republic. Since they took over the club in January 2022, they have appointed four permanent managers and two caretakers. Between them, they managed just 32 wins. 27 of those came from Russell Martin, who earned 26 of them in the Championship.
There’s a rotten core at St. Mary’s, with a clear cultural issues preventing them from moving forward.
Leicester City have looked flat under Marti Cifuentes (Image: PA)
Leicester’s promotion odds were surprisingly quite low, perhaps due to the threat of a potential points deduction. They were looking to start afresh this season, appointing Marti Cifuentes as manager.
Despite limits on their spending, they were able to add quality in the form of Jordan James and Aaron Ramsey on loan from Rennes and Burnley respectively, while also keeping talisman Abdul Fatawu at the club.
They started well – wins against Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton and Birmingham City only let down by a narrow defeat at Preston. The data showed, however, that their performances were poor and results were likely unsustainable. So it proved.
Five in six games followed – Oxford, Coventry, West Brom, Wrexham and Portsmouth all took something away from their games against the Foxes, even though Swansea were unable to. Since then, we’ve seen a big drop-off.
Hull, Millwall and Blackburn Rovers have all beaten Leicester in recent weeks, and they were unable to see off Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, conceding a 96th-minute strike against 10 men to draw 1-1.
Ahead of a trip to Norwich, which will be seen as must-win given the Canaries’ dire issues, Cifuentes finds himself under a lot of pressure. With a points deduction still possible, they could easily drop below mid-table if they don’t turn things around.
Chris Wilder is yet to turn Sheffield United’s season around (Image: PA)
Sheffield United are the obvious ones to highlight here. Their midweek defeat to Coventry City keeps them in the relegation zone after a torrid start to the campaign.
It comes after an exceptional 2024/25 campaign in the Championship, where they accumulated 90 points under Chris Wilder but fell short of promotion by losing in the Championship play-off final.
Their new owners opted to make a managerial switch, appointing Ruben Selles, who had just been sacked by Hull. The Spaniard lost all six of his first competitive games in charge of the Blades and was sacked after a 5-0 thrashing at Portman Road.
So Sheffield United asked Wilder to return to his boyhood club once again, which he did. He has overseen wins against Oxford, Watford and Blackburn, but has lost his other six games in charge, leaving them to wonder whether a relegation battle will be on the cards this season.
Few are wondering over at Carrow Road, however. Norwich fans are adamant that their side will need to battle hard to avoid relegation to League One.
The Canaries sacked Johannes Hoff Thorup at the end of last season, replacing him with Liam Manning following his impressive run to the play-offs with Bristol City. However, they have lost all seven of their competitive home games so far this season, with points coming from wins at Portsmouth and Blackburn and draws at Coventry and Stoke.
By the time this article is published, they may have sacked him, depending on the result of their clash at Sheffield United. However, owner Mark Attanasio has been quick to back him publicly despite the fact that their pre-season aspirations of a top-six finish seem dead in the water.
Manning is under real pressure, as is sporting director Ben Knapper, with further protests planned in Norfolk.
The Blues are still struggling to find consistency (Image: Steve Waller)
Town aren’t like the other teams I mentioned despite their frustrating start.
Did they spend more over the summer? Yes, they did, but they were able to – and had to – after moving on key assets for big fees. Liam Delap to Chelsea for £30m, Omari Hutchinson to Nottingham Forest for £37.5m, Nathan Broadhead to Wrexham for £7.5m, among others.
There’s been more on-field change at Ipswich. This group has been put together from the summer of 2024 onwards. Leif Davis, George Hirst and Jack Taylor are the only exceptions.
Statistically, there are a number of attacking metrics in which Ipswich are second best – usually behind Coventry – in the entire division. Expected goals, shots on target per match, big chances, accurate crosses per match. Defensively, they aren’t far off either.
We’ve seen good performances from them and we’ve seen bad performances from them. That’s different to Southampton and Leicester, who are pretty poor week in, week out, and the results have largely echoed that.
That doesn’t mean that Ipswich have been good enough. There are various areas for them to improve, but the signs are there that they will do that.
This isn’t a normal Championship. The playing field has been levelled. In previous seasons, the relegated Premier League clubs have been far superior to the rest of the division.
This campaign, sides that you would expect to be in mid-table are actually much stronger, with squads build of players who have played together consistently.
One key difference between Ipswich and the likes of Southampton and Leicester is that there are no questions for higher-ups. Mark Ashton isn’t under intense scrutiny for decisions in the same way as some of his counterparts are, who are facing calls to lose their jobs.
The owners aren’t facing criticism for not putting enough money in. There’s a universal belief that the direction of travel is right, even if there are some mistakes along the way.
And in a wide-open league, that could play a big part.
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