Saint Scott Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 After seeing the first leg of game one last night I thought it might be worth while having a thread dedicated to the playoffs. Before anyone posts a link to another thread vaguely discussing this years Championship playoffs, i'm aware they're some dotted around but thought to save numerous threads popping up tonight and over the weekend it would be easier to consolidate everything into this one. Firstly have a go on the poll on who you'd like to triumph at Wembley this summer. I'm sure everyone has a different opinion be it that you live local to one particular club, have friends or family that are fans or are just an admirer of one teams ethic towards the way they play the game. Here is a brief background on the four clubs involved and my personal opinion of how they will fair over the next 2/3 games that could make or break their season. I'd love your opinions too for those who have the time to write up a couple of paragraphs. [table=width: 1000, align: left] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] Watford 3rd Place - 77 Points Since being bought by Italian businessman Giampaolo Pozzo in June 2012 Watford have certainly seen an upturn in their fortunes. In the last 10 years they have faced administration whilst ex Premier League footballer Gianluca Vialli was manager but have now balanced the books and are looking to return to the Premier League for the first time in nearly a decade. Pozzo is certainly a football fan and Watford fans would of been delighted to see him buy the club considering his ventures in both La Liga and Seria A. Giampaolo currently owns not only Watford but Italian giants Udinese and Spanish outfit Grenada. After just a month at the club Pozzo installed Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola as his manager. Zola was also given the added bonus of youth talent from Udinese due to the clubs new link and it has certainly paid off for the Italian pairing. No less than 9 players are currently on loan from both Udinese and Grenada including the likes of Matěj Vydra, Ikechi Anya and Almen Abdi who have all been regulars for Zola this year. Zola has certainly employed the continental type of football into his side and they have been credited all season for their mentality towards football. Gianfranco has found the mix between loan players and his core which includes Troy Deeeney and Lloyd Doyley and were very unfortunate not to achieve automatic promotion on the final day due to goalkeeping errors and a late Leeds United goal at Vicarage Road. All is not lost for The Hornet's though as they still have the chance to strut their stuff at England's top level. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [table=width: 1000, align: left] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] Brighton & Hove Albion 4th Place - 75 Points Brighton have certainly been on the up in the last few years. They have finally moved on from the joke of a ground that was The Withdean and owner Tony Bloom has pumped money into a new multi million pound development including The Amex stadium. With a new training ground also being built Brighton can now consider themselves as not over achievers for their size but where they should be in English Football. After winning League One in 2010/2011 The Seagulls had a good first season at Championship level finishing in a respectable 10th place. Poyet has certainly picked up some bargains from the continent this summer including Vicente, Leonardo Ulloa and Bruno as well as some very good loan signings such as Wayne Bridge, Matthew Upson and Dean Hammond. Some consider Brighton come into the playoffs as the form team and have certainly proved difficult to beat in the last few weeks. They also hold the best defensive record in the league having conceded just 43 goals all season. Brighton have never played in the newly formed Premier League and will be hoping this is their year to reach the heights of English football, they are certainly my bet to come through the playoffs. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [table=width: 1000, align: left] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] Crystal Palace 5th Place - 72 Points Crystal Palace have been one of the famous yo-yo teams in Premier League history despite being absent from the top flight since 2005. They made significant progress under the guidance of ex player Dougie Freedman before being succeeded by ex Blackpool manager Ian Holloway in November 2012. Palace had looked destined for automatic promotion before seeing a poor run of results after the turn of the year and have now had to settle for a playoff place in their hope for a return to the Premier League. Championship top scorer Glenn Murray with 30 goals will be relishing the playoffs as Palace come up against fierce rivals and his former club Brighton in the semi-finals and he and Crystal Palace will be hoping that he can be the difference over the two legs. Alongside Murray are notable youth players that The Eagles have come up with on a consistent basis in recent years including; Victor Moses, Nathaniel Clyne and now Wilfred Zaha who is to join Manchester United this summer. Holloway has already achieved playoff success in recent years after guiding Blackpool to the Premier League in 2010 and he will be hoping to do the same with his new club this season. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [table=width: 1000, align: left] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] Leicester City 6th Place - 68 Points As with Watford it has been a decade since Leicester City played in the Premier League and have had to climb back from the depths of League One in that time after their relegation in 2008. After bouncing back at the first attempt they have been competing in The Championship since 2009 and were touted as favourites last season after forking out millions of pounds on some of the leagues hottest property. However it wasn't to be and Leicester struggled eventually finishing in 9th place. This season however Leicester managed to sneak into the playoffs on the final day of the season with a 3-2 victory at playoff rivals Nottingham Forest knocking out Bolton at their expense. They will face Watford who were unfortunate not to achieve automatic promotion on the final day and will be hoping their momentum can oversee the broken hearts of the Watford team. Nigel Pearson has certainly built a good squad at Leicester including the likes of David Nugent, Kasper Schmeichel and Wes Morgan. After an impressive 1-0 home victory courtesy of Nugent in the first leg Pearson will certainly fancy his chances of reaching the final. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Scott Posted 10 May, 2013 Author Share Posted 10 May, 2013 (edited) FIXTURES & RESULTS Thursday 9th May - Playoff Semi-Final First Leg LEICESTER CITY 1-0 WATFORD Friday 10th May - Playoff Semi-Final First Leg CRYSTAL PALACE 0-0 BRIGHTON Sunday 12th May - Playoff Semi-Final Second Leg WATFORD 3-1 LEICESTER CITY (WATFORD WIN 3-2 ON AGGREGATE) Monday 13th May - Playoff Semi-Final Second Leg BRIGHTON 0-2 CRYSTAL PALACE (PALACE WIN 2-0 ON AGGREGATE) Monday 27th May - Playoff Final WATFORD v CRYSTAL PALACE Edited 13 May, 2013 by Saint Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 I hope Brighton dont make it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Leicester would spend big I think if they went up so would probably prefer they didn't. IMO Palace would probably be the best to come up in terms of liklihood to go down. Watford an unknown quantity and Brighton could possibly do ok. Living in Hove at the moment there is a big buzz about football round here, they are still on the up (although haven't sold out for the 2nd leg on Monday as they keep sending emails offering tickets at work) - all of them would need to spend pretty big IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saints-cris Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 I hope Brighton dont make it Agreed. Think it will be a Brighton v Watford final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK the 2nd Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Leicester for me. Any would be good away days next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Never been to Brighton, so want them to go up, not been to Watford for about 5 years so them as 2nd choice, the other 2 I went to last year so don't really want them to goup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Anybody but Brighton I hope, couldn't stand that Poyot-idiot of a manger bigging himself up, presumably we would want Hammond back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 (edited) I'd prefer Brighton to lose, ideally hilariously. Been to all of them so not really bothered other than that. At the moment I seem to be the only person to have voted for Palace though. Edited 10 May, 2013 by The9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Le God Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Presumably we would want Hammond back? Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Why? So we could sell him to Reading, I guess ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supersubpuckett Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 watford for me - Zola's son plays in the same football team as my lad so it might prove a good way to get free tickets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan The Flames Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Palace - Cannon fodder and easy to get to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Hopefully Watford, they're the only team I can see out of the four with a chance of staying up, provided they add a few big names to the squad over summer. Leicester looked awful in the first leg despite the win, and as for Palace and Brighton... pah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Hopefully Watford, they're the only team I can see out of the four with a chance of staying up, provided they add a few big names to the squad over summer. Leicester looked awful in the first leg despite the win, and as for Palace and Brighton... pah. Why would we want the team with the most chance of staying up to come up? I hope the worst team comes up personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Hopefully Watford, they're the only team I can see out of the four with a chance of staying up, provided they add a few big names to the squad over summer. Leicester looked awful in the first leg despite the win, and as for Palace and Brighton... pah. looking awful and winning is sometimes a sign of a very robust side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Why would we want the team with the most chance of staying up to come up? I hope the worst team comes up personally. in that case, palace or leicester IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Watford have a massive problem if they go up. They are not allowed to sign anybody and the loan signings will have gone back. Due to breaches of FA rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Who? Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Brighton for me, is who I want to go up. I think it might be Watford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didcot Saint Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Don't want Brighton to go up. Poyet is a **** and advocates nasty fouling, time wasting and his team are full of cheats. Apart from Hammond of course. Watford for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperMikey Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Watford for me too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OVER THE HILL Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Don't want Brighton to go up. Poyet is a **** and advocates nasty fouling, time wasting and his team are full of cheats. . Agree with this , Crystal Palace to go up would be my choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintmatt Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 I miss Deano! Forever associated with winning and promotions here, not a bad legacy! Our most underrated player of recent times imo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Curiously, I want Brighton to go up. Thing is, if Palace, Watford or Leicester go up they'll be a far easier ride next season when it comes to playing them. But, for some reason, I want clubs to come up that actually want to "achieve" something, not stagnate like Wigan etc. What's the point of promotion if your goal when you get there is just to survive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintmatt Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Don't want Brighton to go up. Poyet is a **** and advocates nasty fouling, time wasting and his team are full of cheats. Apart from Hammond of course. Watford for me. To be fair they do play some nice stuff, I'll never forget that 0-0 we had with them at st mary's in league one though. Absolute anti-football on their part, worst time-wasting and play-acting I've seen. Big compliment to us however, I think poyet knew they couldnt match us if they allowed us to play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Curiously, I want Brighton to go up. Thing is, if Palace, Watford or Leicester go up they'll be a far easier ride next season when it comes to playing them. But, for some reason, I want clubs to come up that actually want to "achieve" something, not stagnate like Wigan etc. What's the point of promotion if your goal when you get there is just to survive? Why wouldn't Leicester make a go of it? As a club and city they are as big as we are, and they have decent, if not megamega-rich owners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Why wouldn't Leicester make a go of it? As a club and city they are as big as we are, and they have decent, if not megamega-rich owners. Oh hell, they'll go for it but the owners will probably get excited and begin a QPR-style spending spree... and that very rarely ends well. Also, I'm slightly biased. I can't stand watching Nigel Pearson's teams - they're so boring, so mundane and just plod and bluster through games. Utterly sh1te football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 Oh hell, they'll go for it but the owners will probably get excited and begin a QPR-style spending spree... and that very rarely ends well. Also, I'm slightly biased. I can't stand watching Nigel Pearson's teams - they're so boring, so mundane and just plod and bluster through games. Utterly sh1te football. You're not wrong. Pearson's Leicester could end up as the new Stoke, grinding their way to twelfth. Just what BT and Sky pumped several trillion quid into the league for. Mouth-watering stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 10 May, 2013 Share Posted 10 May, 2013 You're not wrong. Pearson's Leicester could end up as the new Stoke, grinding their way to twelfth. Just what BT and Sky pumped several trillion quid into the league for. Mouth-watering stuff. That's kind of why I'm biased... it's like the visual version of YT's many botfly spot videos. Utterly vile to watch. I'm indifferent on Palace, Brighton and Watford though if I had to choose, I'd go for Brighton simply because I think they'd do it the right way and could "grow" - even if that meant being a more difficult opponent for us (though we should be in Champions League contention by then, ha ) If I had to choose a second, I'd go Watford purely on the fact that Zola's a nice guy... though Troy Deeney is an odious turd. Thirdly, Palace - they place some half-decent stuff but having Holloway doing his clown act on Sky Sports News every frickin' day would be a huge annoyance. And there's my reasoning, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 Vydra, what a goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulletsaint Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 That was one of the sweetest examples of a cheat getting their comeuppance. Absolute quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 Diving git missed the penalty. And fluffed the rebound too. lol'z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 Amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulletsaint Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 And then has his nose rubbed in it as Watford go up the other end and put the match to bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottery st mary Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 Diving git missed the penalty. And fluffed the rebound too. lol'z Totally agree.. Dive all day long and the ref fell for it.. The extra time was going to be a Leicester win in my opinion.. Old saying about cheats;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JINFHeux3tM Zola falling on his arse is funny also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai_phil Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 Hahaha But what could have been the odds on it happening in 3 games at the end of the season? Unreal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 12 May, 2013 Share Posted 12 May, 2013 Diving git missed the penalty. And fluffed the rebound too. lol'z Hardly fluffed the rebound, Almunia made a superb save. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Jim Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 That match is why I love this game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatch Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 Same referee at the Brentford Donny match as at the Watford Leicester match. spooky coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Who? Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 Come on Brighton, keep up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St.Jeweller Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 Shame they have to be supplied with some Crappy Clappy Thingy to generate any kind of atmosphere there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plonko Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 I really don't like to see a happy Holloway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minty Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 Brighton capitulating poorly... go a goal behind and meekly surrendering it seems... Zaha scores a second and the fans stream out. Watford to beat Palace in the final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 Thought Palace looked great in the 2nd half, Brighton didn't really do anything in either leg. Looked a very limited and predictable side. The final should be a good one, 2 evenly matched teams with very attack minded managers and players. 4-3....to either side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Diamond Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 Lesser of two evils, Holloway or Poyet. Not sure. Anyway, Palace will go down should they beat Watford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 13 May, 2013 Share Posted 13 May, 2013 Lesser of two evils, Holloway or Poyet. Not sure. Anyway, Palace will go down should they beat Watford. And Watford will go down if they beat palace. Not bad looking at it from a purely selfish reason. League should be much weaker next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farawaysaint Posted 16 May, 2013 Share Posted 16 May, 2013 Always had a soft spot for the eagles and the need the money. I hate old uncle Ian though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 16 May, 2013 Share Posted 16 May, 2013 Really hope Watford go up. Despise Holloway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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