Carvalhal was twice involved with Sheffield Wednesday and his comments should be heard by all at Elland Road ahead of the Whites’ clash with Derby.
With Leeds United preparing for their Championship playoff semi-final against Derby County, the Whites should take heed of comments made by former Sheffield Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal on the subject.
The Whites were in the top two of the table for much of the 2018-19 season and were involved in an exciting three-horse race for the automatic promotion places along with Sheffield United and Norwich City.
Unfortunately, inconsistency since the turn of the year has ended up costing Marcelo Bielsa’s side dear as they stumbled towards the finish line and have had to make do with a third-placed finish.
In contrast, semi-final opponents Derby County only secured their playoff spot on the final day of the regular season, holding off Bristol City and Middlesbrough to claim sixth spot.
Carvalhal, who twice narrowly missed out on top-flight promotion via the playoffs, spoke to Sky Sports News and, while his comments were not directly aimed at Leeds, he did speak about the disadvantage that teams who narrowly missed out on automatic promotion face.
“The teams that fight until the end of the season to gain automatic promotion and ultimately don’t achieve it are left feeling massively disappointed and can struggle to react quickly ahead of their playoff semi-final tie,” he said.
Carvalhal spoke of how he steered Wednesday to sixth place in his first season and his side went on to beat Brighton & Hove Albion, who had collected 15 points more than them, in the playoffs.
“The fact that we clinched sixth spot in the final run-in boosted the confidence and motivation levels amongst the players and the fans. That was crucial to us beating a Brighton side that was wounded after having missed out on automatic promotion on the last day,” he added.
“The teams that are sitting comfortably in fourth and fifth can start to prepare for the playoff semi-finals by resting some of their players and this can hand them an advantage if they reach the final.”
Bielsa will no doubt realise that his players may be feeling a bit gutted about missing out on automatic promotion but, backed up by the comments of a manager who has experience of the playoffs, it’s absolutely crucial that he can get his players in the right frame of mind against a Derby side buzzing for just having finished in the top six.
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