Championship Play-Off Final, West Ham United vs Blackpool: Open Thread
The richest game in football kicks off today with West Ham United against Blackpool, live from Wembley. The winner will play in the Premier League next season. The loser will remain in the nPower Championship.
Here’s a preview of the match, which — for viewers in the United States — will be shown live on FOX Soccer at 10am ET.
Blackpool team: Gilks, Eardley, Baptiste, Evatt, Crainey, Ferguson, Dobbie, Angel, Ince, Matt Phillips, Kevin Phillips.
West Ham team: Green, Demel, Taylor, Reid, Tomkins, Noble, Nolan, O’Neil, Collison, Vaz Te, Cole.
Before, during and after the Championship Play-off Final, post your rants, raves, questions and observations in the comments section below.
May the best team win.
40 Responses to Championship Play-Off Final, West Ham United vs Blackpool: Open Thread
C’mon Stephen Dobbie!
— Hoping to see a goal or two from the Blackpool attacking midfielder/striker, who is on loan from Swansea.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Blackpool should have been ahead, Philips misses two golden opportunities. Will Blackpool regret these misses?
Life isn’t so stressful now but still is… quite a number of things to do and worry about
Nicely taken goal by Carlton Cole, against the run of play really.
Hammers fans are jubilant.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Cole couldn’t “finish” his breakfast in the Premier League last season but well done on that goal.
Ince is a gifted player but his selfishness and wanting to dribble past everyone near him is why Liverpool let him go and we just saw how he cost Blackpool dearly for West Ham’s goal as he lost the ball trying to go past 3 defenders and West Ham went straight to the other end and scored.
Blackpool are not out of it but they will need to take their chances when they come.
Oh and my dad rocks! He helped me underline so much in the textbook! Thanks Dad.
Blackpool needs to regain their composure and refocus their efforts in the second half at playing the time of free-flowing passing game they were doing in the first half. If they play their brand of football they do best, they’ll create more chances.
Should be a good second half.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
May I know what the score is currently?
WOW looks like the 2nd half could be enjoying lets go Pool.
Ince scores to make it 1-1.
Tangerine dreams?!
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Thanks Gaffer. What time was the goal scored?
Blackpolo look the better team so far. The physicality of Blackpool seems to be the tipping point.
Blackpool damn iPhone
Ince took the goal well. Game on.
Dobbie is having a match to forget what a awful miss.
That’s the thing with Dobbie. He’s too inconsistent to be a regular Premier League footballer, but he has good positioning sense so he can get into those spaces to create chances.
Looks like Dobbie is moving up top to be striker now that Kevin Phillips is off.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
C’mon Webb, that was a free kick
Ince is really hustling
Is the score still 1-1?
Yes
Yes. In the 80th minute.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
West ham look tired, maybe they ate some dodgy lasagna?
Excuse me, could you tell me what the latest score is? Is it still 1-1?
okay thanks
Ricardo Vaz Te makes it 2-1 to West Ham United. Hammers fans go wild!!
Cheers,
The Gaffer
This comment is de ja vu. I think I saw this in a dream and in that dream Chelsea won the CL.
Blackpool will rue those missed chances wow
Blackpool did not capitalize on their chances and they came back to bite them in the backside.good on you West Ham Fans welcome back to the big boys table.
Blackpool should have had a pen at the end wow.
When?
I was for Blackpool, but certainly wouldn’t have given a pen there.
Congratulations West Ham United!
Cheers,
The Gaffer
A trophy for 3rd place. Brilliant!!!
Why not? They deserved it. Congratulations to West Ham United and Sam Allardyce.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Congratulations Gaffer, for not using “Big”.
Hello again EPL… Miss us?
welcome back. honestly glad to have yall back in the PL.
Sorry to see Blackpool staying down. If they can keep Ollie and the current squad mostly intact(BIG if with their tightwad ownership) they should be a favorite for one of the automatic places next year.
They really aren’t tight… they are just a small seaside town that they forgot the close down. They have a small stadium, a limited fan base (couldn’t even sell out their allocation for the FINAL). What they are is a small team that plays well above their heads. They should have won today, they could have won today. But West Ham are a PL team that under performs.. But they do have quality for that level. and that won out. And sad thing is next year will be twice as difficult for them. You get teams like Reading that catch lighting in a bottle, teams like Southampton that gel, and you get three PL squads that come down and don’t like losing. Look at Leeds. That is a squad that could have come up for years… But they always fall short. Its a great league, with great play. but what separates it from the PL is any team can win a match.