Woof, ghost town in here. I'll take a large chunk of the blame- I've had some stuff swirling around my head for a while, but haven't found the time to pound it out. Couple of thing to touch on I guess
The League
Things have settled in as much as they do in this league, and teams have started to divide themselves into some broad categories.
Table
We're going up!
Boro and
Hull seem to be a step above everyone else. Hull has a lot of players and money from their PL days, and look good to bounce back. Boro has been building to this for a few years, and they look it. Given that both of these teams rely on solid organization and depth (as well as a lot of talent), I think they're a good bet to take the automatic promotion spots.
Playoffs?! You want to talk about playoffs?!
Brighton, Derby, Burnley, Wednesday, Birmingham, Ipswich all have fairly similar chances to fill out the four playoff spots...I'd be fairly surprised to see anyone else here. I think Derby and Burnley are the shoo-ins, and Brighton and Wednesday the next two in.
Derby has been building to this run for a bit (see Boro), and despite some recent speed bumps (2 points in their last 4) should have the horses to get it. Burnley is much like Hull in that their recent time in the PL has given them players and resources needed to get back up.
Wednesday has gelled very well under Carlos Carvalhal and has shown they can play with any team in the league. They've added depth this transfer window, locked up a few of their key contributors, have a couple of key players coming back from injury, and may still add a couple of more pieces. If they don't go up this year, I think they're a legit favorite for automatic promotion next year. Brighton is probably the one team that could drop out, as their form once they lost that first one was pretty poor. A couple of wins in a row (on the bounce!) shows that perhaps they've righted the ship, although Blackburn is a disaster and Huddersfield isn't very good, although their form has been. I like Hughton and think he can keep them in the race, but we'll see.
I have seen Birmingham 3 times this year and have yet to be impressed, but they are keeping pace and are coming off of back to back 3-0 wins over Ipswich and Derby. Maybe I owe them more credit and am giving Brighton too much. Ipswich is pretty clearly a step down and probably belongs in the next group, but Mick McCarthy rules this division, and I can see him figuring out how to drag thee guys over the line.
Mid Table Mediocrity
Cardiff, Brentford, Forest, Wolves, Reading, QPR
Ugh. Forest has been trying to draw their way back into contention (unbeaten in 11), but that won't fly in this division. All of these teams are capable of winning some games, maybe making a run at the playoffs, but reality is they're not going anywhere this year. Brentford is probably the best of this bunch, but I don't really see it. On any given day and everything, but not much to see here.
Mid Table Sub-Mediocrity
Leeds, Blackburn, Preston, Fulham, Huddersfield
Everything that I wrote for the tier above could be said here. Fulham is on their way up, Leeds should be better, Blackburn is a sinking ship, Preston with a quality performance for a 1st year team, Huddersfield sucks but is on decent form. All these teams are hoping to avoid sinking to the next group down...I will be surprised if any of these guys get relegated, and that should make their fans satisfied with this campaign.
...You're not a black hole- You just Suck! You just Suck! You just Suck!
Milton Keynes, Rovrum, Bristol City, Bolton, Charlton
Bolton is hemorrhaging money and being forced to try to sell players left and right (and they have some talent), the other four teams are just bad. And yet, showing the craziness of this league, Charlton beat Wednesday a month or two ago, Rotherham has recently beaten Hull and Brighton, Dons have beaten Wednesday and Cardiff recently, and Bristol City beat Middlesbrough 2 games ago. I'd bet on Bolton, Charlton, and Bristol City to go down (the current bottom 3).