The Football League Paper spoke to former Chelsea, Sunderland and Leeds United striker Tore Andre Flo to discuss the upcoming Championship play-offs.
With the stakes for promotion to the Premier League being so high nowadays with the finances involved, clubs from the second tier will do everything in their power to get up to the big time.
This has led to the quality of the division being at its highest level, and every team having the ability to win on any given matchday.
Flo backs Black Cats
Finishing in the top six is an achievement in itself, and Flo gave his view on the club that he thinks is most likely to go all the way in an interview organised by goldenpanda.com.
“At the moment, I would put my bet on Sunderland. I think they seem very, very keen,” he said. “Sheffield United was fighting a long time to get up directly and has been probably the best of those sides that go into the playoffs. I don’t know. I have a feeling Sunderland can do well, at the moment I would put my bet on Sunderland.”
Sheffield United have been the best side outside of the top two, having taken Leeds United and Burnley all the way before losing dropping a few points and losing at Turf Moor.
Sometimes teams who manage to hit good form at the right time are those who end up getting promoted, Flo gave his view on the importance of form going into the play-offs.
“I think that’s a big thing to be in form. I have a feeling, I haven’t seen the stats, but I feel like those who come into the playoffs in good form, they tend to go up as well,” he added.
“And it doesn’t matter that much if you’re number six or number three. If you come in with a good spirit and you feel you’ve got nothing to lose, I think that’s a very good way of coming into the play-offs.”
Why no striker has taken the Golden Boot race by storm this season
The Championship being so evenly matched has led to there not being any players who have scored over 20 goals going into the last game of the season, as a former striker himself with over 150 career goals, Flo gave his view on why this may be the case.
“I think that the Championship is a very strong league. Stronger than some of the top leagues in some other countries.
“The teams are organised really well. I can see that every team almost, if Cardiff gets one more point from the last game, every team has an average of one point or more.
“So, it’s definitely a tough league. But if you talk about strikers, there’s not that many of them around that score a huge amount of goals.
“A lot of teams play with one striker and several players in the team contribute goals. They come from set pieces and all that stuff now, so it’s part of the way that football have evolved in recent times.
“You don’t find that many teams that are reliant on one striker to win them games, but it’s always nice to have a player in your team that contributes 25 plus goals a season.
“I just feel like the Championship is a really evenly-contested competition, and that has a role in strikers scoring less goals.”
Changes since his playing career
In his playing days, which ended in 2012 when he retired, a striker was simply there to hold up play and score goals. A lot has changed since then and now they are expected to contribute across the pitch.
He spoke on the changes to strikers that he has seen since he was a player and how that may impact the lack of goals scored by individuals in the Championship.
“I think the strikers nowadays are not just there to score goals. They have to work really hard. They have to come back, sometimes even back to their own box to help with the defending. The team is more important than an individual. You play as a unit defensively and offensively and you attack with more players, and you come back (with more).
“It’s not like before when a striker could stay up front and wait for a chance. You don’t get that anymore. So, they do a lot more for the team than they used to. Nobody allows a striker just to sit there and wait to score goals.”
A tall striker who was deceptively good technically and had an eye for goal, Flo talked about whether there are any current players that remind him of himself from his playing days.
He said: “There has to be a tall, slim guy, I guess. I don’t see many of that type, to be honest. Kieffer Moore was the only one who had the exact same build that I have, but I’m not sure if he’s quite the same player. A player that I used to like to see similar to me was Peter Crouch. He’s even a lot taller than me. I really liked the way he played, being such a tall player.”
Tore Andre Flo was speaking on behalf of goldenpanda.com. For more information, visit https://www.goldenpanda8.com/en.
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