Does league form really have any bearing on success in the play-offs? “So, based on this analysis of 15 years of data of teams in play-off spots in the second and third tiers of English football, I cannot claim that a team’s form in its last one, six, or 12 games affects its chances of advancing to the final or being promoted. However, I can claim that teams with more points or at a higher position in the table are more likely to advance to the final (but I cannot claim that they are more likely to win in the final). Not exactly ground-breaking, I know.” http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/29/does-league-form-matter-in-play-offs
We have a good manager and the best squad of the 4 sides. QPR were extremely lucky last year and the year before I seem to remember a side hitting the crossbar from a pen only to concede the losing goal from the bounce .
Playoffs is basically a two-legged cup tie, except teams tend not to rest players based on the enormity of the prize up for grabs. So just as well Shrewsbury, Preston and god forbid, Luton frickin' town are not in the championship top 6
That list sends shivers down my spine. My god it just goes to show that our biggest shortcoming has been against teams that look, on paper, significantly worse than us who then play very defensively. That, in a sense, is encouraging as the play-offs are all evenly matched (but explains partly why 'Boro are so difficult). Fortunately we won't be playing 'Boro at their fortress or our weakness if we make it to the final against them... We desperately need to take a leaf out of Watford's book and become flat track bullies.
Positives= we are unbeaten away under Neil. We have kept lots of clean sheets. Negatives= We have struggled against 3 of the 4 sides in the mix and simply don't do cups. I feel we are lacking the Mackay Docherty cb headers , we are useless from corners and rely heavily on our midfielders for goals.
Which 3 of 4 do you mean? 'Boro we struggled Brentford, Wolves and Derby it was honours even, though I'd argue we probably had the overall edge in each case. Maybe not Brentford as our away result was lucky and Brentford at home was an uncharacteristic ****show under early Neil. Binners obviously we doubled. So the only one I am really concerned about is 'Boro, which makes sense as they are in third (though obviously luck and refereeing might screw us). But as I said, we'd only be playing them at Wembley if at all!
The loss to Brentford at C R Neil's first ,Boro of course both games and Derby was a hard slog. I think Brentford away was tough too our only win .
Yeah, I guess my point is that I genuinely feel that we have the edge on all of them except 'Boro and if you take out luck or bad refereeing (I appreciate that is impossible...), we should be comfortable against these teams every time insofar as you can be against the best teams in the league. The real concern is whether the players are motivated and play to their best.
Can you imagine any team sent onto the pitch by AN not being motivated? Not going to happen, but basic mistakes can still occur.
We have a 25% chance Wot I don't understand is why I have to pay for the home play off tie surely these games form part of the season in the CCC
