With the visit of Stoke at the CCS, Norwich play Liverpool and Fulham play Tottenham, we could well be in the relegation zone on goal difference only. Leaving the Sunderland game as a MUST WIN. Lose next Saturday and we have no chance! The confidence from this week should grind out a result against Stoke! BLUUUEEEEBIIIRRRDDSSS!
Would agree with you but for the fact that, this last few weeks, our away form has started to pick up - the way this season has gone i wouldnt write off our chances of losing to stoke then getting 4 points from the trips to the north east! Which would, very possibly, mean a result against chelsea (remembering they may well be out of the title race with a champions league final to look forward to) would keep us up! more coincidences needed than an episode of Jonathan Creek, but it could happen! In all likelihood though, I agree with you. In fact I would go one step further. If we beat Stoke, our next game will be against an all but relegated Sunderland. I would say 6 points from the next 2 games, given Norwich and Sunderland's run in and the fact that it is unlikely Fulham and WBA will match those results, will have the great escape theme playing on repeat play.... Who knows any more!
We are all looking at the fixtures and hoping to pick up a couple of wins and a draw but if we lose against Stoke it's all over.
lets not get carried away at the moment we are still down....... we need to get behind the boys like we did at the man city game, not get on their backs if things arent going their way... we just need to support the team!
The biggest plus from the win against Southampton was seeing Whitts back in the team and delivering those dangerous crosses. Surely he must play every game if fit.
Ole said in his post match interview yesterday that Whitts would start all the last four games. He had that air of quality about him again yesterday - hope it lasts.
Got to agree with the Whitts comments. That side yesterday reminded me of the sort of team and style of play we started the season with. Protecting that back four may not be the rebranded (entertaining ) style of play some crave, and Campbell may have looked isolated at times, but it is exactly the style which plays/played to our strengths.
It will be great if Whitts can sustain that form into the last 4 games. Perhaps he was burnt out having been a more or less permanent fixture for 3 seasons? The rest might have done him good.
Every game is make or break until the end of the season. Shame you lot didn't break yesterday as you've pulled us back into the mix again If it had been Stoke under Pulis I'd say you would get a point at best as he would have set up for a draw, however under Hughes they have been playing more openly so there will be more opportunities to hurt them on the counter attack. Great result yesterday
Think we need 6 points. It seems that Stoke and Sunderland our are best chances though Newcastle seem to have gone on an early holiday. My fear is that we may draw games we need to win, so while I think we can get out of it, but still think the odds are against us just because we still don't play as a team. Against Southampton it was like watching a pile of elephants against a slick team of stallions. Can we get wins against the run of play again this season??
I went to Southampton on Saturday and still woke up this morning grinning, and thinking about this for a scenario: Sunderland finish bottom and we stay up above both Fulham and Norwich on goal difference - seriously, think about it, look at the Norwich games. If we get six more points they will NOT have a better goal difference than us at the end of the season. Now that would make up for the Preston 'not in the play-offs' disaster a few years ago.
City need to do what they have not done all season - win back to back games. Palace have won 3 out of 3. Fulham have won 2 out of 2. Stoke will be not unlike Palace but with better players. OGS needs to get his tactics spot on. Let's be honest, playing Southampton away was an ideal game as Soton were relaxed, didn't press on and missed Rodriguez whereas City who were awful for an hour with constant passing the ball away, and not defending tight enough in central midfield and at full back, got lucky with a deflection that smacked the bar for once, a decent handball shout going their way coupled with 2 amazing Marshall saves and a wonder goal from Cala. City need to carry on riding their luck, get an early goal and defend so much tighter, and not give the ball away. Mark Hughes will be looking for Stoke's highest ever PL finish. He'll ensure his players aren't quite on the beach yet!
I hope it isnt as simple as that. It is one thing being a professional, doing your job, preserving the league's intergrity. But footballers are human. They cannot be up for it to the same degree as when they were fighting relegation. Stoke are there for the taking. Yes they are a better team than us - the league table does not lie. But they are beatable and like you said Ole has to get his tactics right. What he cannot do is what he did against Palace. Aimless passing in front of the opposition, commiting men forward and then getting massacred on the break. He needs to think very carefully about the approach we will take. We cannot underestimate the role the crowd will play in this aswell. Just for 4 games I don't give a s*** if they are in red - the crowd need to get behind the team, no infighting, no protests against tan, just get behind the team!!
Nothing to do with whether Tan is right or wrong - WE ALL KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT! - but this sentence is right on the money! Any display of club loyalty should be directed at the pitch, and not divisive chants aimed at Tan from the stands. Who knows what effect it has on him, but it's a dead cert that it has a negative effect upon the team. Overused term it may be, but "the twelfth man" needs to be just that against Stoke, not be used to display it's anger at an out of touch owner.
That's the key! We have to grind out the result, we can transform (slowly) the playing style but this squad is built to grind out results. If Witts can put a shift in then his set pieces are essential. He was so off the pace it was like having 10 men before he was dropped. It would be amazing to see him back to somewhere near his best though I echo the comments about the crowd, the shirts don't ****ing matter on Saturday like they didn't seem to matter against Man City. The players need to put in their performance of the season and so do we.
Whittingham was anonymous on Saturday. What dangerous crosses? I forgot he was playing until he took a free kick. City so lightweight in midfield. Southampton didn't have any uncompromising midfielders like Palace, Hull and Stoke and he'll get found out next week as will Kim if he plays. Whitts best role IMO is playing ahead of the midfielders and getting forward but with Mutch in the team, who carries the ball so much better I wonder what Whittingham actually does? He's too slow, hardly ever gets on the ball and when did he last play a killer ball or shoot accurately from distance?
Clearly you were not as Saints and only saw the highlights. The only time we put them under any pressure in the first half were three consecutive corners where Whitts hit the same spot (high at the near post) every time and frightened their defenders and goalkeeper schittless - hence a few panicky punches and three corners in a row, which at least provided a bit of relief during a desperate first half hour or so. You can moan about his delivery this season all you like - nobody else at the club can do that for us, and nobody has done it since Whitts has been out of the reckoning. I think Ole may have realised that without him we pose much less of a threat from set pieces.
