Spurious Correlations

Looking ahead to the second leg of the playoff semifinal between Orient and Peterborough I couldn’t help but think of all the wondrous facts fans on both sides use to prove that the final result in this match series was determined long before kickoff.

Everywhere you look there are facts that support any given standpoint. Goals scored in the away leg in previous playoffs. Winning promotion through playoffs in earlier attempts. Final league position. League form leading up to the playoffs. Number of players in the squad with earlier playoff experience. This experience being positive or negative. Having your supporters being the 12th man. Number of matches won from a losing position. And of course that most coveted of abilities, having played at Wembley before!

Cheese and stairs = dangerous combination

I’ll be the first one to admit falling into this trap myself at times. It’s an effective way to ease frayed nerves. Finding facts, evidence, that removes any pressure by just being believable. Calm and assured you state the obvious. Everybody knows this right? Why worry? Orient have never lost a weekday game at home against an opponent with the word borough in their name and having an all white away kit. This is going to be so easy.

But let’s face it. This season has been all about smashing records and killing off old bad runs against various opponents. Do we really want to know the outcome before the game is played? Isn’t a flutter of butterflies essential to the whole matchday experience? I’ll imagine that many Man U fans had to seek medical advice this season in order to explain that upset stomach on match day. To them it felt like defeat. As Orient fans we should embrace that bubbling and put our faith in a team that cost the exact same sum as our spurious correlations are worth. It’s worked before this season, right?

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The End of the Beginning

It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. Orient are in the playoffs.

When Sweden won the bronze in the 1994 World Cup, the manager Tommy Svensson read poems by Karin Boye to the players. If this had any part in what was a wonderful summer for the national side I don’t know, but Boye did commit suicide in 1941. Slade opting for Winston Churchill in 2014 may be just the thing to ensure success. Personally, and as an Orient supporter, I find more comfort in Charles Dickens.

It’s been a season filled with wonderful memories and great achievements. But it’s not over yet. There’s the possibility of even higher levels of awesomeness. Promotion. With the real chance of heartbreak as well. Defeat. That would put a large smudge on the canvas of this Mona Lisa season.

I really want this to be the best of times all the way up to and including 90+ minutes at Wembley. Slade and a few of the players have been here before and lost. Just rewards and all that. The worst of times are easier to imagine. Just summon up memories of Roots Hall and the JPT. Apply to Peterborough. Orient bossing the game but failing to score. Then losing to a Britt Assombalonga goal.

It really is a girl's name - Britt

Perhaps Churchill is better suited to the role of motivator but I cannot really see him as an Orient man. Dickens on the other hand, he could very well have rooted for Orient Football Club had he lived into the 1880’s. Be that as it may. I have decided to embrace the playoffs. Orient can do this. I have great expectations. We will have a tale to cite in years to come. There will be a Twist or two before this is over.

I’ll end with a quote. Not from Slade’s playbook but from Svensson’s. Worked twenty years ago so why not now?

“Yes, there is goal and meaning in our path - but it's the way that is the labour's worth”. Karin Boye from the poem On the move.

Being Boo

Southeast of Stockholm there’s a football club called Boo FF. Imagine the chants at home games Orient fans.

Russell Slade was angry after the 1-1 draw against Oldham yesterday. The late equaliser one reason to be fuming but most of all he was mad for being booed at full time. I think it’s OK to show emotions, but manager and supporters both could do with a bit of, think before you speak, humble pie.

There are definitely times when teams deserve to be booed off the pitch. Yesterday was not one of those moments. Even more frequent are the occasions when fans deserve criticism for what they perceive as support. A manager should defend his team but also realise that a stand of supporters has a pretty low combined IQ. It cannot be argued with in any usable fashion. Just don’t go there Russell.

If you fall into the supporter category that have trouble seeing the whole picture and need instant gratification. The option to project your disappointment onto somebody, or something else. Well then, make Boo FF your team of choice. Win or lose you still get to boo. Always go home happy, proudly flying the burgundy and black of Boo.

Orient threw away two points yesterday. That’s my opinion. If you disagree it’s fine to argue with me. You may not boo. Because even though the effort was less than stellar it wasn’t indifferent or bad enough to warrant jeering. Orient should have put the game out of sight during the first 30 minutes of the second half. But our attackers are far from deadly at the moment. Lisbie cannot hit the target. Mooney can but opts for spectacular and fails. Dagnall and Simpson are the terrible twins at the moment. A for effort, F for finishing. The only reason to pick Chris ahead of Robbie is that the former has a better historical goal scoring record. That’s how I pick my teams anyway.

Until automatic promotion is truly impossible, as in: We cannot finish in the top two! I call bullshit on your schemes to rest players in preparation for the playoffs. Slade should field his best starting eleven from those fit. Fight to the finish. Charge of the light brigade. If you think this Orient team cannot surprise us you haven’t been paying much attention during the last year or so.

Seven games to go. It may end in the playoffs. Whatever. Stand up for the Orient. Cheering all the way. Save the negative stuff for a cold rainy day in November. Sharing an away end with 25 other Orient fans watching the team being dumped out of the Johnstone’s Paint by Bury. The score line 0-4 with 20 minutes to go. Then you can moan. But only then!

On my way to work this morning I passed a redhead that smelled like candy. Boooo!