All Alan Smith posts on WhoScored.com Articles RSS

Team Focus: Rowett Faces Uphill Task After Latest Birmingham Embarrassment

by
Team Focus: Rowett Faces Uphill Task After Latest Birmingham Embarrassment When Paul Caddis headed the equalising goal against Bolton in the final minute of last season to keep Birmingham City up, a weight had been lifted off their shoulders. The Championship would await again in August and this time things would be more straightforward. All was still not well and off-fiel...

Team Focus: Daunting Task Ahead for Lennon at Rock Bottom Bolton

by
Team Focus: Daunting Task Ahead for Lennon at Rock Bottom Bolton Usually the international break is a time to take stock and prepare for what lies ahead. Not quite a period of relaxation but still a time for reflection where the pressure valve is loosened a little. In one particular corner of the north-west, however, the gauge has continued to ascend.These are wo...

Team Focus: Canaries Flying High Thanks to New Found Firepower

by
Team Focus: Canaries Flying High Thanks to New Found Firepower When Neil Adams replaced Chris Hughton at the end of Norwich City’s doomed Premier League campaign there were, understandably, question marks raised. Anybody looking in from the outside at Carrow Road could have been forgiven for asking ‘Neil who?’It didn’t help Adams’ ...

Player Focus: Forest Setting the Early Pace with Antonio Leading the Charge

by
Player Focus: Forest Setting the Early Pace with Antonio Leading the Charge It is still a little too early in the season to make grand predictions but, on the basis of the six games played to date, Michail Antonio might not be a bad shout for the Championship's best new signing. He is a major reason why Nottingham Forest are the early pace-setters, sitting a point clear of ...

Team Focus: Lack of Consistency in Team Selection Costing Fulham

by
Team Focus: Lack of Consistency in Team Selection Costing Fulham What a difference a few months make – for both Fulham and their new striker Ross McCormack. The Scot managed his first assist of the season against Cardiff on Saturday to earn his team their first point of the season five games in but that same spark which saw him carry Leeds for most of last ...

Team Focus: Hyypia Facing Tough Times at Picked Apart Brighton

by
Team Focus: Hyypia Facing Tough Times at Picked Apart Brighton It is not only Southampton who have had their squad stripped this summer. Sixty-odd miles along the south coast, Brighton have been witness to another grim exodus. Last season ended dramatically and although outclassed by Derby County in the playoffs, there was a sense that, with a couple of summer ...

League Focus: Championship 2014/15 Preview - Scots Key to Promotion Hopes

by
League Focus: Championship 2014/15 Preview - Scots Key to Promotion Hopes If much of the Championship's charm comes from its unpredictability, then this season promises plenty to get excited about. Write the names of 24 clubs on a sheet of paper, pick up a pen, close your eyes and circle one of them: the chances are you will have picked a team tipped somewhere for promoti...

Match Focus: Derby & QPR Face Off in Football's Most Valuable Match

by
Match Focus: Derby & QPR Face Off in Football's Most Valuable Match There are two big games this Saturday. In the evening over 300 million people across the world will be tuned in to watch Real Madrid play Atlético in the Champions League final. It will lead the news agenda and dominate online discussion, but a few hours earlier in London, Derby County face Q...

League Focus: Championship 2013/14 Season Review

by
League Focus: Championship 2013/14 Season Review Nine months, 46 games and for four teams it wasn’t until injury time in the final fixture of the season that their fates were decided. Brighton might still face play-off heartache, of course, but last Saturday displayed exactly what the Championship is all about: drama and sheer unpredictabili...

Team Focus: Sinking Ship Birmingham Need to Stop Home Rot

by
Team Focus: Sinking Ship Birmingham Need to Stop Home Rot Tonight, Birmingham must do something they have failed to do since October 1: win at home. Defeat to Wigan, who still require a win to guarantee a play-off position, will keep them in the relegation zone heading into Saturday’s final round of games, where they travel to Bolton.The supporters w...