Championship talking points: Southampton sinking under Will Still and pressure intensifying on Liam Manning at Norwich | Football News

Southampton are sinking and Still doesn’t have the answers

Southampton 0-2 Preston

There is a real sinking feeling around Southampton right now. Four wins in their last 51 games tells you everything you need to know about what’s wrong. Their season in the Premier League has clearly done more damage than most people realised.

It’s now just two wins in 13 under Will Still, and he looks like a man under pressure after their latest defeat at home to Preston on Saturday. He’s clearly hurting, disappointed and frustrated that he doesn’t have the ability at the moment to get Southampton back on track.

Speaking to Still after the game, it was the most dejected I’d seen a manager in years. He clearly cares and is desperate for it to work, but right now he doesn’t have the answers.

He said he wanted more fight, more conviction, and more players putting their bodies on the line. He’s asking for more from his players but not getting it.

After the game he went to applaud the Southampton fans who had stayed until the end, but from their reaction, it’s obvious he’s got an uphill task to convince them he’s the man to turn things around. Whether the board is still behind him, he admitted he didn’t know that either.

It’s a big week ahead for Southampton, with a midweek game against QPR and then Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend. The expectation was always to bounce straight back to the Premier League, but right now, fans leaving St Mary’s looked more worried about doing a Luton and heading down to League One.
Mark McAdam

Lampard’s experience vital after first Coventry defeat

Wrexham 3-2 Coventry

It’s unlikely Frank Lampard will let Coventry City dwell too long on their first defeat of the season at Wrexham.

He’s been around the block too many times for that. Lampard knows momentum in the Championship can vanish quicker than it’s built and he won’t want his players slipping into that post-defeat lull.

The Sky Blues have shown enough in recent weeks to prove their title credentials and one setback won’t rattle a man whose seen every side of this game, as player, as manager, even from the media perspective.

Expect Coventry to reset, refocus and go again with Lampard’s calm authority steering the ship.

That experience, the kind you can’t coach, could be the key ingredient in how they respond. He’ll be hoping the defeat at Wrexham was just an off-night.
Lewis Jones

Leicester problems deepen after another defeat

Leicester 0-2 Blackburn

Leicester are simply not good enough in both boxes – their defeat at home to Blackburn could not have made that clearer.

The troubled Foxes had just one shot on target from 12 attempts and even then Stephy Mavididi managed to be denied from inside six yards.

Andri Gudjohnsen, meanwhile, pounced twice in the Leicester area to inflict a third consecutive defeat on Marti Cifuentes’ side.

Leicester fans chanted at their manager to “sort it out” and booed their team off at both half-time and full-time. Those that stayed until the end told their players they weren’t fit to wear the shirt after another miserable result at the King Power.

They have won just once in their last nine league games and their hopes of mounting a promotion push are fading fast.

Leicester host high-flying Middlesbrough next and then a crucial trip to struggling Norwich as the pressure increases on Cifuentes.
David Richardson

It can’t go on like this for Norwich, can it?

Norwich 0-2 Hull

The question posed before Norwich’s game against Hull on Saturday was a famous one in the world of football social media.

‘It can’t go on like this can it?’ Turns out, it very much can.

It is six defeats on the bounce now for Norwich after they lost 2-0 at home to Hull City. And also now six defeats from as many games at Carrow Road this season.

Norwich’s US owner Mark Attanasio flew in this week to give his backing to Liam Manning, but that vote of confidence did nothing to make anything better against the Tigers.

A promising first-half performance, that yielded no goals, unravelled moments after the break after some abject defending allowed Joe Gelhardt to score the opener. Darko Gyabi added a second late on to increase the misery.

Two games now before the international break as they travel to Sheffield Wednesday on Wednesday and then host Leicester on Saturday. It really cannot go on like this.
Simeon Gholam

Stoke stake promotion claim with five-goal rout

Stoke 5-1 Bristol City

How about that for a statement? Stoke strengthened their promotion credentials by dismantling one of their closest rivals.

The only criticism of Mark Robins’ side so far this season is that they had scored just 13 times in 12 games, often winning or losing by only an odd goal.

But they answered that by putting five past Bristol City with a ruthless display to move one point off the automatic spots.

Divin Mubama, the Man City loanee, showed his potential with a hat-trick, his first goals since August.

There was no clean sheet but this Stoke defence is currently the best in the league and perhaps it’s coming together at the end too.
David Richardson

Improving Derby kicking on up the table

Sheffield United 1-3 Derby

There were relatively high hopes at Derby this season that they could enjoy a positive campaign in the Championship, but concerns rose after just one win in 10 games to start the season.

But form has improved in the last couple of weeks, with the 3-1 win at Sheffield United on Saturday making it three in a row. They may be 17th in the table, but they are also just five points off the play-offs in what is a very congested league.

The spearhead of that win was Carlton Morris, whose fine hat-trick signalled a continued return to form this season, after struggling at Luton last time out.

He also scored the winner against QPR last time out, his first goals since netting four in four in August.

A tricky clash with Hull is up next at Pride Park, before John Eustace returns his Rams side to his old club in Blackburn Rovers. If they can maintain their current levels they could be pushing very close towards the top six by the international break.

All Championship weekend results

Friday

Saturday