Playoffs

[adrenachrome]

Didn't Huddersfield do the exact same thing 2 years ago?  Blues stayed up on the back of it.

I would argue that there is no point having a squad if you can't use it to suit your own needs.

Worst case scenario, rest 5 at Leeds and 5 against Norwich & go through the motions.  The ultimate goal is to go up and if we can turn a 46 game season into effectively a 44 game season then it has to work in our favour

It's deja vu all over again.

[andyh]

Thinking back to that game against the Boggies at home.
I remember walking back from that game utterly dejected and depressed at how those fuckers were moving towards going up whilst we were going backwards. It felt like we were miles behind them.
Now, the balance is being corrected and many of them are bricking it at the thought of playing us.

It’s brilliant.

[Brassneck]

Thinking back to that game against the Boggies at home.
I remember walking back from that game utterly dejected and depressed at how those fuckers were moving towards going up whilst we were going backwards. It felt like we were miles behind them.
Now, the balance is being corrected and many of them are bricking it at the thought of playing us.

It’s brilliant.

I agree but let's not forget that they are also a very good team.  Nobody wants to be playing us but likewise, out of the teams we could be playing, Albion are the toughest.  We have a real challenge looming.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

I quite like the idea of playing Albion at home first. Hit them hard from the off and they won’t know what’s hit them. No reason why we can’t take a 2 or even 3 goal lead into the 2nd leg. Think of Liverpool v Citeh in last season’s CL QF when the tie was effectively over after 45 minutes.

It will also be great to conclude the tie at their little ground to a) see the looks on the faces of those fuckwits by us in the Smethwick End and b) avoid the possibility of another pitch invasion at our place which last season proved to be embarrassingly premature.

[Pete3206]

There's an argument to be had for keeping players sharp and match fit, but as Leeds still have an outside chance of the autos, there might be some over-zealous and desperate tackles going in. I'd have the likes of Grealish and McGinn on the bench for that one.

[SoccerHQ]

In a lot of cases I prefer that sort of system but when the higher league has such a huge financial advantage it wouldn't work.

They do it in the Bundesliga and it massively favours the club who finishes 16th in the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 does get the second leg at home as a consolation but think it's been going last 10 years and only twice has the lower team actually won.

I don't have a problem with the play offs. It keeps the season alive for a start as ours would've been over in January if it was just top 3 to go up and the drama and cruelty if you miss out as we did is all part of football.

If I was to tinker I'd have 3rd go straight to Wembley, 5th and 6th over two legs to play 4th in a one off game at their ground. The national league does something close to that system.

However the 3rd place team then wouldn't play for over 3 weeks so would come into the final undercooked.

[SoccerHQ]

Thinking back to that game against the Boggies at home.
I remember walking back from that game utterly dejected and depressed at how those fuckers were moving towards going up whilst we were going backwards. It felt like we were miles behind them.
Now, the balance is being corrected and many of them are bricking it at the thought of playing us.

It’s brilliant.

I agree but let's not forget that they are also a very good team.  Nobody wants to be playing us but likewise, out of the teams we could be playing, Albion are the toughest.  We have a real challenge looming.

You can score against WBA. I'd also say if you can move the ball around quickly e.g Jack playing them the midfield of Barry, Livermore and possibly Brunt isn't one to cover lots of ground quickly.

They will test us more than Boro as they have goals in them but we played well there in December with our full team so feel we can just edge the tie.

[olaftab]

For years I have always fancied the team who hit form and come with a late run to qualify for the play offs to go on to win the play offs. On the other side of the coin I have always thought the team that misses out on automatic promotion is in danger of not being able to pick themselves up for the play offs. Compare the disappointment of the team which finishes third in the table to the relief and delight of the team that manages to finish sixth.

Although last season Fulham blew automatic promotion by losing to the Noses on the last day and we all know what happened in the play offs.

Fulham situation was totally different from Leeds. Whilst Fulham could have gone up by beating Blues they had come from nowhere to be in with a chance of auto. They were still pinching themselves. Leeds however have been bossing it in the top two all season so would be totally gutted to miss out and will not cope with play offs.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Barry is out for the rest of the season, I think.

[KRS]

There's a very good chance we could be playing Leeds at Wembley so it makes complete sense to rest our better players knowing we could be playing them twice in relatively quick succession...and one of those games is clearly more important than the other to us, so do not give them the benefit or chance of injuring our players or getting used to how they play. Bielsa probably already has his drones in the sky or scouts up trees spying on us anyway so let's not make it easy for them. The law of football averages means we're going to lose a game at some point, and I'd much rather it be next week against them than in the playoff final.

[four fornicholl]

https://t.co/Qz66JimBYB?ssr=true

[lovejoy]

Do the bookings get wiped for the play offs or does McGinn's yellow card tight rope continue until the end of the season?

[Legion]

Wiped.

[AsTallAsLions]

This may be a stupid question or it may have been addressed already, but can anyone tell me why the Championship Final is on a Monday afternoon this year? 27th.

Am assuming there's something else on at Wembley on the Saturday, but it ain't the FA Cup final as that's the 18th.

[Legion]

Division 2 final?