The Playoffs.. who are we going for?

[birchfest 397]

Simple enough question, I'm going to hazard a guess that most will want Barnsley to win. It's who i'll probably be backing, largely as it would be good for some fresh bloody and another 'unfashionable' side to go up, but also that I could see them struggling and that might be to our benefit next season. 

 

Don't want Bournemouth as I think they could a tough one next year, Swansea also capable of building a decent squad... Brentford, tricky one as in a way I like them, but we all know they would become the media darlings.

[Wardogz 72]

Brentford for me, I like they way they're run and enjoy watching them. Though I'd be happy for Barnsley to do it. 

[WD40 720]

Brentford an easy enough away day for me, but wouldn’t mind Barnsley. Hope Brentford do Bournemouth and Barnsley do Swansea to set up that final. 

[HazzaJet 256]

I’m actually glad we didn’t beat Barnsley as if we did they would have had to play Brentford in the semis, and I want either Brentford or Barnsley to win. Don’t want to see Bournemouth go up, and Swansea have been very poor recently so don’t deserve to

[Move Klose 303]

1 minute ago, HazzaJet said:

I’m actually glad we didn’t beat Barnsley as if we did they would have had to play Brentford in the semis, and I want either Brentford or Barnsley to win. Don’t want to see Bournemouth go up, and Swansea have been very poor recently so don’t deserve to

Swansea being poor is a very good reason for us to want them to go up.

[Chelm Canary 404]

Barnsley are my first choice to go up. 

Swansea my least desired for promotion. 

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,041]

Barnsley, Brentford, Swansea and Bournemouth , in that order.........

[cambridgeshire canary 6,802]

Barnsley. Everyone want's Barnsley.

 

Thankfuly Brentford will (probablyonlysayingprobablyandnotwillitsnotaguarenteetheywontgouptheymightstillgoupsoyoucantquotemeonthis) bottle it so don't have to worry about them

Edited May 10, 2021 by cambridgeshire canary

[HazzaJet 256]

43 minutes ago, Move Klose said:

Swansea being poor is a very good reason for us to want them to go up.

I see your point there, and I certainly wouldn’t mind them to. Bournemouth are the only team I don’t want to see go up, even though I think they probably do deserve to for their recent form to make sure they didn’t miss out on the playoffs. Barnsley improved a lot over the course of the season, similar to how we did when Alex Neil arrived and Villa in 2018-19 so also deserve to. Maybe Brentford don’t for throwing automatic promotion away again.

Brentford or Barnsley are the teams I like the most, but I’m happy for Swansea to do it 

[BigManInTheBarclay 75]

I'd like to see Barnsley do it...but realistically Brentford will.

 

[corbs 147]

Brentford is a fair trip but a home game for me. Mainly looking forward to the east Anglian Derby - Cambridge v Gippeswyk 

[Vazzza 62]

Brentford is pretty local for me. Wouldn’t mind checking out their new ground as well, so will go for them 

[......and Smith must score. 1,360]

9 hours ago, birchfest said:

Simple enough question, I'm going to hazard a guess that most will want Barnsley to win. It's who i'll probably be backing, largely as it would be good for some fresh bloody and another 'unfashionable' side to go up, but also that I could see them struggling and that might be to our benefit next season. 

 

I think we all that when Sheff Utd came up with us a couple of years ago. 12 months later it didn't quite pan out like that.

Even so I suppose Barnsley and Swansea are the two weaker teams on paper. Good away days to Barnsley, less so Swansea so I'll go for it in that order.

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,153]

I'd be happy with anyone but Bournemouth. The other 3 would struggle big time. Brentofrd are very similar to us last year and would need an exceptional transfew window to be competitive, Barnsley haven't quite got the quality but their workrate could see them get some results and make a good go of it and Swansea's owners wouldn't back them in the transfer window and they have a fairly average squad back to front and are where they are because they have a good manager. Bournemouth are already strong and can spend, I'd also like to see us go after Billing so I just hope it's not them

[Feedthewolf 4,892]

13 minutes ago, Christoph Stiepermann said:

I'd be happy with anyone but Bournemouth. The other 3 would struggle big time. Brentofrd are very similar to us last year and would need an exceptional transfew window to be competitive, Barnsley haven't quite got the quality but their workrate could see them get some results and make a good go of it and Swansea's owners wouldn't back them in the transfer window and they have a fairly average squad back to front and are where they are because they have a good manager. Bournemouth are already strong and can spend, I'd also like to see us go after Billing so I just hope it's not them

I've wanted us to go in for Billing since he was at Huddersfield. Sadly, though, they paid £15m for him and he still has three years left on his contract, so no chance that we'd go in for him even if Bournemouth were happy just to recoup what they paid for him.

Agreed that Bournemouth would be the worst-case scenario. Barnsley and Brentford in the final, please.

[Uncle Fred 526]

Barnsley is one of my fav grounds to visit but I spend a great deal of time down in Bournemouth with work so either for me 

[Greavsy 2,429]

34 minutes ago, Uncle Fred said:

Barnsley is one of my fav grounds to visit but I spend a great deal of time down in Bournemouth with work so either for me 

Is Mrs Fred aware who she needs to look out for ? 

[Branston Pickle 3,690]

6 hours ago, HazzaJet said:

I’m actually glad we didn’t beat Barnsley as if we did they would have had to play Brentford in the semis, and I want either Brentford or Barnsley to win. Don’t want to see Bournemouth go up, and Swansea have been very poor recently so don’t deserve to

Pretty much my thoughts - I was happy with a draw so that Barnsley and Brentford would avoid one another; would be happy with either of these two going up for a change.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Branston Pickle

[Alex Moss 2,165]

Barnsley, there can be no other. And I say that knowing Bournemouth would be a nice easy game for me to get to. But I can’t stand them at all.

[HazzaJet 256]

2 hours ago, Christoph Stiepermann said:

I'd be happy with anyone but Bournemouth. The other 3 would struggle big time. Brentofrd are very similar to us last year and would need an exceptional transfew window to be competitive, Barnsley haven't quite got the quality but their workrate could see them get some results and make a good go of it and Swansea's owners wouldn't back them in the transfer window and they have a fairly average squad back to front and are where they are because they have a good manager. Bournemouth are already strong and can spend, I'd also like to see us go after Billing so I just hope it's not them

I agree with you there. Bournemouth, having spent several seasons in the PL before getting relegated last season have loads of PL experience in their squad as do Watford, something we had very little of last season which I believe plays a major role in survival. That’s the reason why I don’t want them to go up, and I think the main reason why everyone else doesn’t want them to. Thankfully having spent last season in the top flight most of our squad has some now, something we heavily lacked last time 

Here are my thoughts on the current squads of the other 3 although I don’t know who their top players are

Brentford - Toney was amazing this season, might cut it in the top flight. Don’t know if they have any players with PL experience, but if they do I doubt they have much

Swansea - I believe one of their forwards did quite well for them this season - Ayew was it? I know they have been in the top flight recently so might have some in the side but why were they so poor towards the end of this season? Did any of their key players get injured? Considering their recent form I’d be stunned to see them win it

Barnsley - towards the end of last season they were close to playing 3rd tier football this season. Earlier on this season they also looked like they would face another relegation battle, but improved massively to change it to a promotion battle. Carlton Morris has done quite well since signing for them, although considering he barely has any Championship experience I can’t see how he would cut it for them in the top flight. Just like Brentford if they do have any PL experience in their squad, I doubt it would be much

 

I don’t know anything about the owners of these teams but I do believe they would all struggle. The playoff winners often go straight back down, some people say they think it’s because they can’t plan for the PL soon enough but I think the main reason is because they’re just not strong enough (they only managed to get promotion via the playoffs, weren’t good enough to get automatic promotion). Villa only just scraped survival last season, but they also did have the money to spend on new signings. Our club has said they’ve been planning for the PL for several weeks now, although like others have said on here I do believe that they may very well have started making rough plans last summer, in case we did manage to bounce straight back up this season

[USA Canary 7]

8 hours ago, Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB said:

Barnsley, Brentford, Swansea and Bournemouth , in that order.........

Exactly the same for me...

 

On 29/01/2021 at 06:05, Coneys Knee said:

One thing to learn from that table is to not write other teams off. Look at villa in there

[All the Germans 1,081]

8 hours ago, Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB said:

Barnsley, Brentford, Swansea and Bournemouth , in that order.........

This.

[Wardogz 72]

Brentford still very hard to beat, only lost 7 like us, score a lot of goals. That run of draws really hurt them, they must be kicking themselves to have not grabbed 2nd place. 

[Lord Horn (again) 133]

On 10/05/2021 at 14:22, Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB said:

Barnsley, Brentford, Swansea and Bournemouth , in that order.........

Snap!

[Canary Wundaboy 1,360]

Anyone but Bournemouth.

[City fan 78]

Swansea, they have glided into the playoffs right under the radar. 

[kirku 1,339]

Not sure why so many want Barnsley. We struggled against them in both the recent fixtures.

I'd take Brentford. We do everything just that bit better than them.

[......and Smith must score. 1,360]

1 hour ago, kirku said:

Not sure why so many want Barnsley. We struggled against them in both the recent fixtures.

I'd take Brentford. We do everything just that bit better than them.

Doesn’t matter if we struggle against them as there’s 18 other teams who may not.

[sgncfc 1,259]

Anyone but Bournemouth. The other three will all finish below us.

I think Barnsley will win it though. Brentford are perennial bottlers - very hard to shake that once it's part of the culture. Swansea are nowhere near good enough and Bournemouth think they just have to turn up to win. 

[cambridgeshire canary 6,802]

2 hours ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

Anyone but Bournemouth.

Anyone want to save up some money for tickets back to the fourth divison for them?