Form going in to the play-offs, does it matter?

[RamFromCornwall]

Does form really matter when going into the play-offs or is it literally perform well on the day and you're up. Wigan go in to the play-offs with the worst form of all four sides, yet have game winning players & I don't think the form of the side matters at all. However saying that, West Brom went into the play-off final against us with a lot of game winners, but that didn't get them anywhere in that game.

The form of the four sides over the last 10 games:

Derby: 7W 1D 2L = 22 points
QPR: 5W 2D 3L = 17 points
Wigan: 3W 2D 5L = 11 points
Brighton: 4W 4D 2L = 18 points (8 matches unbeaten)

Judging by form, it should be a Derby v QPR play-off final with Derby winning it, but we'll have to see if that's actually how it pans out, I wouldn't complain if it did.

[sheeeeeeeeeep]

Not sure form plays much of a part at this stage. All 4 teams will be on a high and lets be honest, our end of season run in has been a fairly easy one so we really should be in good form. I do fancy us to beat Brighton over 2 legs, but I don't fancy either Wigan or QPR in the final. They both have players who have played in big one off games in their careers and I think that will swing it in their favour. QPR will be the team to beat in my opinion, regardless of form going into the play offs.

[AdiSalisbury]

We were totally out of form in 2007, having practically thrown away automatic. So no, I don't think it matters, and I'm kinda happy our winning run came to an end before the playoffs started as I fear players would become complacent.

Just gotta give it our best and hope the stars are shining on us.

[Ramondo]

Well I've been doing some analysis of form and results from the play offs over the past 13 years.

Firstly, it's always subjective. For example, how many games do you take into account for current 'form', the OP has 10, I have used 6 because I felt what was happening 10 games ago is probably not relevant to whats happening now.

Also, the final game of the season can throw the stats out, there are often some odd scores involving top 6 sides and it often depends on who they're playing and if either side still has anything to play for.

So nothing is perfect. But if you look at all the final positions and the form in the last 6 matches for each side, there doesn't appear to be much of an argument to support the 'form team usually wins' theory.

Going back to 2000/01, only four seasons have seen a team who has the best form in the last 6 matches get promoted. That has been the 3rd place team on two occasions, once for 5th and once for 6th. In those years, the team finishing 4th has never

[ellafella]

Does form really matter when going into the play-offs or is it literally perform well on the day and you're up. Wigan go in to the play-offs with the worst form of all four sides, yet have game winning players & I don't think the form of the side matters at all. However saying that, West Brom went into the play-off final against us with a lot of game winners, but that didn't get them anywhere in that game.

The form of the four sides over the last 10 games:

Derby: 7W 1D 2L = 22 points
QPR: 5W 2D 3L = 17 points
Wigan: 3W 2D 5L = 11 points
Brighton: 4W 4D 2L = 18 points (8 matches unbeaten)

Judging by form, it should be a Derby v QPR play-off final with Derby winning it, but we'll have to see if that's actually how it pans out, I wouldn't complain if it did.

It helps an awful lot.
That said, having been at Wembley and experienced disappointment will make Wigan very difficult to beat, especially as they won the FA Cup 2 seaso

[ellafella]

[quote="Ramondo"]Well I've been doing some analysis of form and results from the play offs over the past 13 years.

Firstly, it's always subjective. For example, how many games do you take into account for current 'form', the OP has 10, I have used 6 because I felt what was happening 10 games ago is probably not relevant to whats happening now.

Also, the final game of the season can throw the stats out, there are often some odd scores involving top 6 sides and it often depends on who they're playing and if either side still has anything to play for.

So nothing is perfect. But if you look at all the final positions and the form in the last 6 matches for each side, there doesn't appear to be much of an argument to support the 'form team usually wins' theory.

Going back to 2000/01, only four seasons have seen a team who has the best form in the last 6 matches get promoted. That has been the 3rd place team on two occasions, once for 5th and once for 6th. In t