The Guardian has us in the play-offs...

[scousegull]

Championship 2011-12 season preview | John Ashdown | Football | guardian.co.uk

Brighton have a new stadium, masses of momentum and, most importantly, Gus Poyet. And though Glenn Murray has departed the signing of Craig Mackail-Smith is as big a boost to them as it is a blow to Peterborough. Posh may struggle to stay up, but Poyet's side are so many people's dark horses that they are no longer dark horses (a variant of the Lee Carsley EffectTM) and it would be a bit of a surprise if they do not come close to the play-offs.

Champions West Ham

Promoted Leicester

Play-offs Nottingham Forest, Cardiff, Brighton, Hull

Top half Birmingham, Reading, Burnley, Leeds, Millwall, Ipswich

Bottom half Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Southampton, Portsmouth, Derby, Barnsley, Bristol City, Crystal Palace, Doncaster

Relegated Watford, Coventry, Peterborough

 

[LamieRobertson]

my hopes tht we r competitive ...and establish ourselves...thers a lot of gd teams in the championship...and ones with a lot of ''championship'' experience...mid table.. the ability to compete against the top teams and som gd footie..and i wil b happy

 

[Deleted member 18477]

the guardian is crazy! but i hope they're right!

 

[Storer 68]

on BBC sussex this morning John Lees had us going up automatically!!!!

 

[New Carpet?]

As it stands, on today's Grauniad Sports Poll, over 4% of readers think we'll win The Championship.

That's the seventh most popular selection - Leicester and West Ham currently have nearly 50% of the vote between them.

 

[darters74]

I honestly cannot believe we have been tipped up by the majority of papers to be there or thereabouts. We have replaced Bennett and Murray with KLL and CMS (relatively speaking) and have added Hoskins, Buckley, Bergkamp and Vincelot. Whilst these are all very good signings, is it really enough to threaten the leaderboard!? Am I being really pessimistic here? I honestly dont know............please help!

 

[marshy68]

my hopes tht we r competitive ...and establish ourselves...thers a lot of gd teams in the championship...and ones with a lot of ''championship'' experience...mid table.. the ability to compete against the top teams and som gd footie..and i wil b happy

This exactly anything else a bonus....

 

[Icy Gull]

We rode our luck at the back towards the end of last season and Murray was one of our best defenders. We haven't strengthened at the back so I reckon we'll concede loads of goals this season. By the same token we should score a few but without a mean defence we will not be up at the top imo.

Looking forward to getting back on the Albion roller coaster

 

[Lincoln Imp]

Right next to that picture of Big Sam is one of those American-style messages saying how great West Ham is. It contains a grammatical error.

 

[Braders]

Leicester and West Ham currently have nearly 50% of the vote between them.

only 50% !?!?!, it's almost nailed on to be one of the two?

 

[Icy Gull]

only 50% !?!?!, it's almost nailed on to be one of the two?

Nailed on like Southampton last season?

 

[Pat McCrotch]

Championship 2011-12 season preview | John Ashdown | Football | guardian.co.uk


Play-offs Brighton



Bottom half Southampton,Portsmouth, Crystal Palace,

this makes nice reading doesn't it?

 

[Sam Ovett]

No way Southampton will be that low in my opinion

 

[Daffy Duck]

Nailed on like Southampton last season?

And also Sheffield Wednesday, if I remember correctly.

 

[Albion Robster]

Robbie Savage predicted us to be in the Play-Offs as well.
No pressure Gus!

 

[Surrey_Albion]

on BBC sussex this morning John Lees had us going up automatically!!!!

I'm With John on this one

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

We haven't strengthened at the back so I reckon we'll concede loads of goals this season. By the same token we should score a few but without a mean defence we will not be up at the top imo.

Agree Icy. Really fear that we may concede a hatful every so often. By the same token we might score a hatful +1 and so it won't matter. Nevertheless my pre-match butterflies will be ever present unless we spend substantially on our defence.

 

[Turkey]

We rode our luck at the back towards the end of last season and Murray was one of our best defenders. We haven't strengthened at the back so I reckon we'll concede loads of goals this season. By the same token we should score a few but without a mean defence we will not be up at the top imo.

Looking forward to getting back on the Albion roller coaster

Agreed. We've also failed to add much physicality/strength to the midfield which could be a potential problem. Think we might have a good first half of the season and then drop away a bit. Main thing for me is to not see play-off type predictions and then be disapointed if we don't make them. I'd like to stay up without having to look over our shoulders too much really, something like 16th would be decent.

 

[Albumen]

Going by last years table, we need 45 points on the table first before we aim for 75. 85+ will be top 2.
Hopefully we'll have 3 by 5pm tomorrow.