If the players are too pumped up for the play-offs it can spell disaster
TWO matches is all it takes to reach Wembley but, believe me, Brentford and the other play-off teams are about to face something unique in football.
Brentford and Middlesbrough kick off the play-off drama at Griffin Park tonight and I can promise them a real rollercoaster of emotions.
I’ve been involved in them four times as a manager — losing in the semi-finals with Blackpool and Bolton before going up with the latter. Of course, there was then the success with West Ham, where we beat Blackpool in the final with that late, dramatic Ricardo Vaz Te goal.
In the second leg of the semi-final the nerves can really kick in and, to my mind, there is more anxiety about that match than the final bec ause that’s a glory day out at Wembley. You have to get there first.
Although you would be gutted to lose a play-off final — something happily I haven’t experienced — to lose out in the semi-finals is a real downer.
My advice to Mark Warburton at Brentford — and the other managers involved — is to not put too much pressure on the players. It’s vital you keep them relaxed, rest them up, maybe take them away to a spa before that second leg, give them some time with their families and let their minds and bodies rest as much as possible.
There’s a completely different feel about the play-offs, the atmosphere is like nothing the teams will have exper i e nc e d, a b i g c o nt r a s t to l e a g ue matches or even cup games.
The weight of the previous 46 games rests on these semi-finals and there is the stark reality that, for the losers, the whole season is effec tively destroyed. Added to that, there is no trip t o Wembley — a re a l d o u b l e whammy.
So it’s vital the players are relaxed, in the right frame of mind and not over-trained. The managers need to give them markers from the season and accentuate any positives from the two League games they have played against the same opposition.
Believe me, the players won’t need motivating for these two games — the reverse is more accurate. If they are over-anxious and the manager winds them up even more, generally it will end in disaster. It’s vital to play things down, keep calm and get on with the job.
That does not stop freaky things happening. When Blackpool reached the 1996 Second Division semi-finals, we led Bradford 2-0 after the away leg. Three days later, in the second leg, they had three shots on target and won 3-0.
Apart from me, almost everyone else was saying it was all over after the first leg. Therere were maps printed aboutut the best way to Wembley,mbley, p r i c e s we r e q u oo tt ee dd for the trips down.wn. I thought, “oh, no!””
Have Brentford got momentum on theirheir s i de by qu a l i f y i ngng for the play-offs on the final day? I’mm not sure, althoughugh a ny team who just missed out on auto-utomatic promotion byby finishing third could need to dig a little deeper to go again.
I made two of my biggest decisionss as a manager in the ssemi-emifinals against Westt Brom in 2001. In the first leg, Bolton were 2-0 down and I took off my captain, Colin Hendry, as he was on the way to being sent off.
The second big call was changing to a 4-3-3 formation in the second half against a team who were playing three at the back.
I put three of our quickest players up front and took off our leading scorer, Dean Holdsworth. The Bolton fans sangsang, “you don’t know what you’ryou’re doing”. We ended up drawdrawing 2-2 and winning tt hh e h o m e leg 3-0. Our semi-final against Cardiff in 2012 was ssttrraiaightghtforfo ward — we won 5-0 on aggregate — but the problem was the ff ii nn a l . We h a d a ll rr ee aa d y beaten BlBlaacckkpool t wice, 4-1 aat their place with 10 men, so as ffar as a lot of pp ee o p l e w e r e coconcerned the ff ii n a l w a s a ddone deal. In the end it took that late ggoal from Vaz
to win it.
The weight of the previous 46 games rests on these semi-finals. Lose and the whole season is destroyed
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