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March 29 2024 2.25pm

Playoff Final - a few thoughts

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View xomnea's Profile xomnea Flag 24 Jul 19 11.06pm Send a Private Message to xomnea Add xomnea as a friend

Just thoroughly enjoyed watching a repeat of the Watford final on sky and it’s made me realise a few things;
- it was fun winning something.
- the squad we had then was ‘proper’ championship (Wilbraham starting, O’Keefe, Garvan, Delaney).
- Glenn Murray is a legend regardless of how many times he has banged one in against us for Brighton since.
- Zaha was playing his last game for us on loan before heading to United - especially poignant in the current climate.
- We have never replaced Jedinak (rolled his ankle in the first half and said in an interview afterwards he would have had to have been dragged off).
In summary, the club feels different. Can’t put my finger on it. I was in the crowd that day and still consider it one of the best days of my life. I just feel like we’re currently lacking a team spirit and togetherness that we had then based on the fact that everyone had their role and whatever happened we were going to win that day.
Feel like with the inevitable influx of highly paid prem players and emphasis on commercials blah blah blah, we’ve lost something along the way, and I for one hope this season we find it again, whatever it is.

 

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View cryrst's Profile cryrst Flag The garden of England 24 Jul 19 11.14pm Send a Private Message to cryrst Add cryrst as a friend

Originally posted by xomnea

Just thoroughly enjoyed watching a repeat of the Watford final on sky and it’s made me realise a few things;
- it was fun winning something.
- the squad we had then was ‘proper’ championship (Wilbraham starting, O’Keefe, Garvan, Delaney).
- Glenn Murray is a legend regardless of how many times he has banged one in against us for Brighton since.
- Zaha was playing his last game for us on loan before heading to United - especially poignant in the current climate.
- We have never replaced Jedinak (rolled his ankle in the first half and said in an interview afterwards he would have had to have been dragged off).
In summary, the club feels different. Can’t put my finger on it. I was in the crowd that day and still consider it one of the best days of my life. I just feel like we’re currently lacking a team spirit and togetherness that we had then based on the fact that everyone had their role and whatever happened we were going to win that day.
Feel like with the inevitable influx of highly paid prem players and emphasis on commercials blah blah blah, we’ve lost something along the way, and I for one hope this season we find it again, whatever it is.

A playoff final on two years might be the
money bet

 

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View kennybrowns leftfoot's Profile kennybrowns leftfoot Flag Reigate 24 Jul 19 11.32pm Send a Private Message to kennybrowns leftfoot Add kennybrowns leftfoot as a friend

Originally posted by xomnea

Just thoroughly enjoyed watching a repeat of the Watford final on sky and it’s made me realise a few things;
- it was fun winning something.
- the squad we had then was ‘proper’ championship (Wilbraham starting, O’Keefe, Garvan, Delaney).
- Glenn Murray is a legend regardless of how many times he has banged one in against us for Brighton since.
- Zaha was playing his last game for us on loan before heading to United - especially poignant in the current climate.
- We have never replaced Jedinak (rolled his ankle in the first half and said in an interview afterwards he would have had to have been dragged off).
In summary, the club feels different. Can’t put my finger on it. I was in the crowd that day and still consider it one of the best days of my life. I just feel like we’re currently lacking a team spirit and togetherness that we had then based on the fact that everyone had their role and whatever happened we were going to win that day.
Feel like with the inevitable influx of highly paid prem players and emphasis on commercials blah blah blah, we’ve lost something along the way, and I for one hope this season we find it again, whatever it is.

I kind of get where you’re coming from but I also think there’s a bit of rose tinted specs a bit. Yes we had a championship standard side because we were, essentially a championship club...

I don’t think we’ve lost anything along the way.. We have simply moved with the times and established ourselves as a Premiership club.... Something that we had always failed to do in the past..

I look back with fond memories and still stand by the fact that Kevin Phillips was one of the best loan signings we had...

Let’s not forget we went into those playoffs as a side badly out of form and still managed to get up.. A true achievement!

 


Don't waste your time with jealousy. Sometimes your ahead, sometimes your behind, the race is long. But in the end it's only with yourself!!

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View xomnea's Profile xomnea Flag 24 Jul 19 11.46pm Send a Private Message to xomnea Add xomnea as a friend

Thoroughly fair and accurate response to my initial emotion filled rambling.

 

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View Bangell's Profile Bangell Flag Oxford 25 Jul 19 8.49am Send a Private Message to Bangell Add Bangell as a friend

It was a really well balanced team, with players in their best positions and very few injuries to disrupt us throughout the season. Murray scored a ridiculous number of goals up front, serviced by Wilf and Bolasie on either wing so that defenders couldn't double up on both. Jedi barely failed to win a header all season in defensive midfield, and Delaney was a revelation at CB. Holloway did almost mess it up by screwing around with the beautifully simple 4-3-3 system, but did a good job with the play-offs.

It's sort of true that there's not quite the same team spirit now, but personalities like Delaney, Jedi, and Ramage (a personal favourite) are hard to come by, and in the PL you need large squad of professionals rather than a small band of warriors. But I don't think we've ever lacked for team spirit - if we did, we wouldn't be able to pull off our annual relegation escape or beat the big teams in the way we frequently do.

 

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