Live updates from the 4.30pm BST kick-off at Ashton GateFootball League roundup: Cardiff sunk by Wigan and moreWhy not email John or tweet @JohnBrewin_ 3.53pm BST Talking of Ben, here’s his Championship preview and what he had to say about today’s teams. Several clubs will fancy their chances of breaking into the top six but Bristol City are among the best equipped. They have made several eye-catching additions, with Jay Dasilva and Tomas Kalas arriving permanently from Chelsea, joining a vibrant team determined to improve after knocking on the door last season.Leeds United, too, possess ample bite, despite Marcelo Bielsa sanctioning the departure of Pontus Jansson. As Leeds flailed in April, the Argentinian stated his squad would struggle to reproduce the performances that propelled them from 13th to third but Bielsa was doing himself a disservice. Bielsa has tickled a small squad – Helder Costa, Jack Harrison and Ben White have arrived on loan – but after a brutal pre-season, including a trip to Sydney, triple and even quadruple sessions, they are down to bare bones after injuries to Luke Ayling and Kemar Roofe and will start with one fit senior striker, Patrick Bamford. If Bielsa were not in situ, Leeds’s hand would be considerably weaker. Related: Championship 2019-20 season preview 3.50pm BST Bit of Bristol City news from our Ben Fisher. #BristolCity are closing on the signing of Monaco's Han-Noah Massengo. 18-year-old midfielder, made Champions League debut last season. Steve Lansdown, talking to @bbcbristolsport, says he is "hopeful deal will go through" but medical and other bits and pieces to go yet. 3.42pm BST Those teams in analogue fashion: Bristol City: Bentley, Hunt, Kalas, Moore, Dasilva, Pack, Brownhill, O’Dowda, Weimann, Palmer, Diedhiou 3.33pm BST Your #BristolCity team is in. #BRCLEE pic.twitter.com/2O4t4gX66K | #LUFC Starting XI to face Bristol City at Ashton Gate:Casilla, Douglas, Cooper, White, Dallas, Phillips, Klich, Forshaw, Hernandez, Harrison, Bamford 10.18am BST Is there a manager more prone to secondseasonitis than Marcelo Bielsa? He hasn’t actually stayed with any club for more than two years, though he had far lengthier spells with the Chilean and Argentinian national teams. Therefore, is this a season to fear for Leeds fans? Was last season a one-shot deal denied by the arch-enemy in Frank Lampard’s Derby County? Leeds were a delight for much of last season, not only in terms of the football they played, but also in their sheer unpredictability, oscillating between lengthy runs of victories and then runs of losses. In truth, and despite the many advocates he has in football’s literati, it was never quite the same once Christmas came and the tiredness began to settle in, as is likely to happen for any group of players put through multiple training sessions while their contemporaries get to rest up in their cinema rooms at home. There is a school of thought that Bielsa is someone whose ideas are best carried out by others - Guardiola and Pochettino come readily to mind - in the fashion of the Byrds and Jimi Hendrix covering Bob Dylan songs and making them palatable, hit records. Thing is that Dylan wasn’t too bad on his own, either, and neither is Bielsa a bad manager. But, like his Bobness these days, you never quite know what you are going to get other than something enigmatic, sometimes difficult and only sometimes rewarding. (Apologies to Bristol City, a good team who went close themselves last season and can do so again, but that has been the Bielsa effect on the Championship; he has to be talked about. And it probably won’t last much longer so let’s talk about him while we can.)The kick-off is at 4.30pm UK time, which clashes, somewhat oddly, with the second half of the Charidee Shield. Who comes up with these schedules? Continue readingreadfullarticle
