The play offs: who will go up?

Who will it be? West Ham, Blackpool, Birmingham or Cardiff?

Conventional wisdom has it that a team that narrowly misses out on automatic promotion and finishes well ahead of the other teams in the play offs will find it difficult to get through the play offs as psychologically they will not be up for it. In other words West Ham may well stumble. In any case it's a bit of a lottery when a slice of luck or a bad referring decision can easily turn a tie...

West Ham are probably the best equipped to bounce back up so the smart money has to be on them but I'd love to see Ian Holloway back in the big time.

That said I'll stick my neck out and go with a West Ham/Birmingham final with the Hammers class seeing them through.

I hope you're right Freekshow.

Of recent times Hammers haven't played well or got good results against Birmingham...

The law of averages will soon make that right my friend! I also think having the second leg at home is a massive advantage.

FreekShow wrote:The law of averages will soon make that right my friend! I also think having the second leg at home is a massive advantage.

Not sure that that applies to West Ham. I think we would be happy to have played both legs of the tie away considering our excellent away form and very poor home form!

Not sure if this contravenes house rules or not but check out my take on the forthcoming play-offs where I predict who will take that final premiership spot...

http://aviewfrommyarmchair.blogspot.co.uk/

Carfiff. The one season they don't finish 3rd will be the season they go up.

Anyone but West Ham preferably

Think west ham will get to the final but pressure will get to them come may 19th. Sorry for the plugging guys but if anyone does take a look at the blog then feel free to leave a comment, follow the blog via 1 click sign up or just tell others about it.

Owen
Think you will find that there are not 42 teams in the Championship! The season would be only halfway through if there were.
Nice blog but a bit of proof reading may help.

Thanks for pointing that out pal. Edited...usually do proof read, but the big game tonight has got me taking shortcuts!! Perhaps not the best day to choose to do it.

Big Sam is sending out email to supporters saying: "For four of the last five seasons, 86 points were enough for automatic promotion and that shows you how close we were but now we’ve got to master our own destiny and prove that what we’ve got is good enough."

I fear that come play off matches W Ham may still be thinking about what might have been....

Here are my predictions:

First Leg
Cardiff 2 - 2 West Ham
Blackpool 1 - 0 Birmingham


Second Leg
West Ham 1 - 0 Cardiff (3-2 agg.)
Birmingham 1 - 1 Blackpool (1-2 agg.)


The Final
West Ham 1 - 1 Blackpool (West Ham win on penalties)


I see the Hammers just sneaking promotion.

Cardiff cannot lose for a 4th time in the playoffs. They will beat West Ham and then Blackpool. Grr another Scottish manager in the PL.

Dyrewolf has been commendably specific - I will just tho give the predic ted aggregate scores:

Cardiff 1 West Ham 2
Blackpool 0 Birmingham 2

Final Birmingham 1 West Ham 0

Cardiff 0 - West Ham 2

But bear in mind that Hammers often play poorly at home.

Blackpool to go up.

That's one final berth secured. As average as West Ham have been at home I can't for the life of me see them blowing it now. Game over in this one.

Wow. Wasn't expecting that. Hammers to win the home leg 3-0.

Good result tonight for Blackpool but it should have been more than a 1-0 win. Birmingham were dreadful. Not sure if it will be enough though. Brum can't play any worse than that surely?

As a Forest fan, a 2-0 lead going into a home leg in the playoffs is by no means secure. Cardiff now have nothing to lose.

Gregers wrote:Anyone but West Ham preferably

Hammers winning 2 - 0 at half time (4-0 aggregate). Unlikely Cardiff will score at least four in the second half....

Can't get much more empathic than that! It'd be a brave man to bet against the Hammers on this form.

5 - 0 This should give them a lot of confidence for the final.

Within three hours of beating Cardiff Big Sam has sent me an email saying "Corporal [or words to that effect] get your official Play Off final merchandise"

Ironsssssssss, was there yesterday, brilliant atmosphere

as a blue nose i hope we beat Blackpool tonight but if we do i cannot see us getting past West Ham, i think they will be too strong for us.

WESTHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

big sam will get us promoted!

jimbohammers wrote:Ironsssssssss, was there yesterday, brilliant atmosphere

Must make a change from the sort of restive, querulous atmosphere at Upton Park when we were only drawing against teams well down the division. Anyway, good to get to Wembley....

So, can Big Sam expect to start feeling a bit more love from Hammers fans if, as I predict, you beat either Birmingham or Blackpool in the Final?

He seems to have copped a serious amount of stick for someone who's guided you to the brink of promotion.

well it was nice while it lasted we have just given up, i suppose we have played a lot games this season

Currently 3 - 1 on aggregate to Blackpool. Looked all over at 3 - 0 but Birmingham have pulled one back.....

Birmingham get another goal. 2 - 2 on the night and now only one goal behind on aggregate...

Blackpool it is. 3 - 2 on aggregate.

Really good match that. I honestly thought Brum were going to snatch a late equaliser. Should be an entertaining final.

Who else is going to wembley? Got my ticket on Saturday, COYI

See if you can spot Steve Harris (Iron Maiden bass player) in the crowd.

West Ham are currently trading at evens to win inside 90 minutes. That's one helluva cracking bet. I'm having some of that!

Freekshow - sounds like good odds.

I suppose they are taking into account that Blackpool have an exceptionally good record in the play offs. I read somewhere that they had gone all the way up from league two to premierships via unbroken sequence of play off victories.

I have a feeling it's going to be Blackpool to snatch it late on. Kevin Phillips for one last hooray?

I will be gutted if Kevin Phillips scores against the Hammers. At approaching 39 he must be one of the oldest strikers to be playing in the top divisions.....

he must but man he has had another good season!

Since my earlier predictions were fairly poor, time to update with a prediction for the final of 2 - 0 to West Ham.

I have just wedged 50 of my hard earned pounds on West Ham and if they don't deliver I am blaming you Corporal!

Congrats to West Ham.

Well done on your bet coming in FreekShow!

I'm delighted, we deserved that and even if we performed a bit iffily, we will be back in the prem!

I'll probably lose it on the CL final later on!

Good luck to you boys next season.

FreekShow wrote:I have just wedged 50 of my hard earned pounds on West Ham and if they don't deliver I am blaming you Corporal!

FreekShow - the Corporal is currently on extended patrol. Please feel free to pass his commission to me.

guildfordbat wrote:

FreekShow wrote:I have just wedged 50 of my hard earned pounds on West Ham and if they don't deliver I am blaming you Corporal!

FreekShow - the Corporal is currently on extended patrol. Please feel free to pass his commission to me.

Half of it is going on Chelsea. I wonder if the Corporal has come down yet!