Speaking to BoyleSports, Sky Sports pundit and ex-Wolves striker Don Goodman gives his thoughts on the playoffs and how late-season form impacts success.
Goodman also offered his insight into the Premier League potential of some of the Championship's top talents, but also argues that this was a weak Championship season in terms of depth of quality.
Sunderland Playoff Prediction
I look back to February 17th when Sunderland lost 2-1 at Elland Road, courtesy of two late goals from Pascal Strujik. In reality, that all but ended their automatic promotion hopes, and the young group didn't cope too well with such disappointment and started losing games. That's where we'll look back and wonder if experienced heads could have helped.
They've stopped scoring goals, too. They've scored just four in their last ten games and one in their last six. Up until that Leeds game, they were one of the best attacking teams in the league with Wilson Isidor, Eliezer Mayenda, Jobe Bellingham and Enzo Le Fee. Nobody could convince me that they would have struggled to score goals.
It's culminated in a horrific end to the season. They're going into the play-offs with a lack of confidence from recent results and performers, which, for me, makes them outsiders.
Jobe Bellingham Destined For The Premier League
Sunderland are a team laden with terrific young players, who will be of interest to some top teams like Tommy Watson, who we know is joining Brighton. So if they don’t get to the Premier League, I’d expect several of their youngsters like Jobe Bellingham to attract interest.
He's lost a bit of form at the wrong time, just like a whole host of other players, but for two-thirds of this season, he proved how talented a player he is. I've got no doubt that, if not next season, then in the not-too-distant future, he will be a Premier League player.
Bristol City Written Off
The game at Ashton Gate is absolutely huge for Bristol City. The contrast between their home form and away from home tells me that they need to be taking a lead to Bramall Lane. 22 points is a massive gulf between the two teams, and I'm told it's the biggest of its kind since the rebrand of the Championship.
But when the two teams played at Bramall Lane and drew 1-1, the gap was actually 23 points. So, Bristol City have technically closed that gap on Sheffield United. All four of the teams will be focusing on positives, and the fact that Bristol City probably should have won at Bramall Lane is definitely one of those.
But I do think they need to win the game at Ashton Gate and, if they don't, then I wouldn't give them much chance of reaching Wembley given their recent away form.
The “Perfect Fit” For West Brom?
The big question is, how attractive is this job? Experienced and ambitious managers will want to know what the financial situation is like, if there will be investment and if they will be able to keep hold of the best players. With that in mind, it's all a bit up in the air.
Will they go foreign? There are plenty of examples where it has worked, but there are probably even more where it hasn't. Instead, they could gamble on a young and upcoming British coach and, if they do that, they should take a look at Dave Challinor at Stockport County.
He plays front-foot, attacking football, which is largely possession-based. Stockport fans will not like me for saying it, but if I were West Bromwich Albion, I'd be looking in that direction. He's done an incredible job and has gone slightly under the radar if you look at other managers who have been given opportunities.
He could be the perfect fit with West Bromwich Albion's development. In nearly every single season, he's helped a team reach the play-offs and improve on their previous points record."
Boro The Biggest Dissapointment
Other than Luton Town, Middlesbrough have been my biggest disappointment this season. Their performance levels and statistics throughout the first half of the campaign were so strong that I thought they may have been able to push on and close the gap on the top two. They were just being derailed by individual mistakes and goalkeeping errors, which meant they didn't win as many games as they should have.
But following their defeat against Preston North End on January 25th, which was the last game in which Ben Doak and Emmanuel Latte Lath featured, there has been a notable drop-off in performance levels and, more importantly, goalscoring. From then on, they scored just 18 goals in 17 games.
The recruitment in January didn't live up to expectations in January, with the exception of Mark Travers, who solved their goalkeeping problems. Kelechi Iheanacho, Morgan Whittaker, Samuel Illing-Junior and Ryan Giles managed to contribute just two goals and three assists between them.
Weakest Championship For Depth
As results then became an issue, you could see confidence just dwindle away, and the team finished tamely in 10th with supporters becoming disgruntled. The disappointing thing is, and I've said it before, this was one of the weakest Championship seasons that I've seen in a long time in terms of depth of quality, which meant it was a great opportunity for the likes of Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City to make the play-offs, but they all failed.
Michael Carrick has done it his way, but he's come up short. He'll reflect on the costly errors, missed chances and the unproductive January recruitment. The fans are understandably frustrated and are venting their anger at Michael Carrick, which he'll understand.
Finishing 10th in this season's Championship is not where Boro will have wanted to be, and it will feel like a missed opportunity.
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