England paralells..?

guinnessaddick said:

Manicmania said:

Everyone thought we would be nowhere near. Then a quality striker stepped up, the manager had a stormer and all of a sudden we became contenders. Against all odds. The question is, do we get a poor result against weaker opposition at the (semi) final hurdle? Can we do it?

Any team in the playoffs, is not weaker opposition. 

If we end up 3rd, you'd have to say taking on 6th would be taking on weaker opposition.

guinnessaddick said:

Dazzler21 said:

guinnessaddick said:

Manicmania said:

Everyone thought we would be nowhere near. Then a quality striker stepped up, the manager had a stormer and all of a sudden we became contenders. Against all odds. The question is, do we get a poor result against weaker opposition at the (semi) final hurdle? Can we do it?

Any team in the playoffs, is not weaker opposition. 

If we end up 3rd, you'd have to say taking on 6th would be taking on weaker opposition.

If you go into the playoffs thinking that, then it will bite you in the arse.

This. Obviously it’s good to carry momentum in to the play offs and you would prefer the away leg first - but out of the 4 teams in it, it’s anyones. Doesn’t matter anyway as we are going to finish 2nd. 

guinnessaddick said:

Dazzler21 said:

guinnessaddick said:

Manicmania said:

Everyone thought we would be nowhere near. Then a quality striker stepped up, the manager had a stormer and all of a sudden we became contenders. Against all odds. The question is, do we get a poor result against weaker opposition at the (semi) final hurdle? Can we do it?

Any team in the playoffs, is not weaker opposition. 

If we end up 3rd, you'd have to say taking on 6th would be taking on weaker opposition.

If you go into the playoffs thinking that, then it will bite you in the arse.

Especially as Doncaster are on a bit of a good run themselves

They might not be anywhere near the top five in terms of points but they'll know they cant do much better than where they are so might as well just continue plodding along, picking up three points, picking up form and confidence, then who knows what'll happen

I have worries that we will get undone at Wembley in a similar way Croatia did England in the semi.

Wembley is a big pitch and our formation asks a lot of the 2 players on the side of the diamond to get up and down the pitch as well as get wider and cover the full backs. 

If whoever we play pushes someone high up the pitch and pins our fullbacks back we will have no width. That forces the midfield to work even harder and could get overrun. If they put 2 players on one fullback as Croatia did it occupies one midfielder as well and creates gaps in the middle. 

Bow will need to be able to adapt.

ForeverAddickted said:

guinnessaddick said:

Dazzler21 said:

guinnessaddick said:

Manicmania said:

Everyone thought we would be nowhere near. Then a quality striker stepped up, the manager had a stormer and all of a sudden we became contenders. Against all odds. The question is, do we get a poor result against weaker opposition at the (semi) final hurdle? Can we do it?

Any team in the playoffs, is not weaker opposition. 

If we end up 3rd, you'd have to say taking on 6th would be taking on weaker opposition.

If you go into the playoffs thinking that, then it will bite you in the arse.

Especially as Doncaster are on a bit of a good run themselves

They might not be anywhere near the top five in terms of points but they'll know they cant do much better than where they are so might as well just continue plodding along, picking up three points, picking up form and confidence, then who knows what'll happen

Pompey are the only team with 5 wins on the spin in the division though.  

I thought Rotherham were by far the worst side of the 4 playoff teams last year and they went up

Charltonparklane said:

wmcf123 said:

I thought Rotherham were by far the worst side of the 4 playoff teams last year and they went up

All four play off teams were shit last year.

Only three of them were. 

guinnessaddick said:

Dazzler21 said:

guinnessaddick said:

Manicmania said:

Everyone thought we would be nowhere near. Then a quality striker stepped up, the manager had a stormer and all of a sudden we became contenders. Against all odds. The question is, do we get a poor result against weaker opposition at the (semi) final hurdle? Can we do it?

Any team in the playoffs, is not weaker opposition. 

If we end up 3rd, you'd have to say taking on 6th would be taking on weaker opposition.

If you go into the playoffs thinking that, then it will bite you in the arse.

I disagree. You just need to make sure you treat them with the respect they deserve, but do you really think any team goes into a play off game in that scenario thinking they won't beat a sixth placed side?  

They're sixth for a reason, but you're third for a reason too. You just have to ensure you show it during the play off games.

Pelling1993 said:

I'm most scared of Pompey in the Play-Offs - we've had their number for the last 3 games but they are a good side and I feel they may have too much for us over 2 legs. They have players of the Quality of Pitman to bring off the bench and we do not have that luxury 

Likewise; was the same with Rotherham last season where I wondered if we could beat them a third or fourth time in a season

smudge7946 said:

Charltonparklane said:

wmcf123 said:

I thought Rotherham were by far the worst side of the 4 playoff teams last year and they went up

All four play off teams were shit last year.

Only three of them were. 

Who do you think looked any good in the play offs last season then smudge?