would you take newcastle winning europa but getting relegated over neither happening?

This

 

Relegation would be a massive blow to our future.

It's a no-brainer as far as i'm concerned - we stay up, forget the Europa League!

A 4-0 thumping at Manchester City has set the alarm bells ringing with me.

We need league points, and quick.

 

It would be 3 steps forward, 10 steps backward.

 

Im getting slightly nervous if i'm honest

 

I must admit I'm not massively worried bar the Europa getting in the way of our next two fixtures. Fulham and Sunderland are of critical importance. Two wins and we're safe. Both teams are beatable but the drop off after European games for ANY side is there for all to see. Its no good pretending it doesn't exist or its down to Pardew/the players, the reality is any team who plays in Europe suffers massively. Hence the top sides have deep resources to cope. I think we might have to sacrifice playing our top boys in Portugal for the sake of the league.

 

Dunno if this has been mentioned previously somewhere else but Newcastle are 16-1 to be relegated and 14-1 to win the Europa league. That doesn't sound right to me.

 

Kinda sums up our season

 

Wonder what the odds of both happening?

Think we should go to Benfica aiming for a draw and then seeing what we do against Fulham before deciding our game plan for the second leg. A draw against Benfica and a win against Fulham to me should mean us still treating the Europa as competition. A loss in either game and we should cut our losses.

 

I don't know if its because I was born in 1969, but European competitions have always had a special place in my heart. I was even at the semis and final that year (not a great view but nice and warm). I love seeing us do well in Europe and would absolutely love to see us win another European trophy, and get another season in Europe on the back of that. however, even to me, winning he Europa is not worth getting relegated for. I don't want to see us putting out a weak team on Thursday. I want to see us do well Thursday AND Sunday. I would however take just avoiding relegation and winning the Europa, though if that were to happen it might be too much for the old ticker and I might get the claim to fame of being born and dying in European winning years!

 

Staying up, I've seen us win a European Tophy.

 

I agree with most that staying up is the priority. Would be a disaster to go down again so I'd like to slightly alter the premise of the question.
Assuming we beat Fulham and have those 3 points in the bag, would people prefer that we beat Benfica or Sunderland. Now obviously we'd all like to win both but if it could only be one, do you want advancement in Europe accompanied by mockery from the SMB's or another 3 points and the bragging rights for another season over the local rivals?

For me it's Europe all the way. I'd trade a derby loss to keep the silverware push alive.

 

I'd accept a draw but not a loss! If you were guaranteeing me the Europa win then fair enough but not for a semi final spot.

 

What a cracking shout mate!

Work would be a nightmare if we lost to the mackems, but rather have the win over the unwashed and stay up than stay in Europe.

 

If we lose tomorrow night by a 3+ goals margin (I'd even be inclined to say a 2 goal margin) with NO away goal scored, I would be inclined as manager to revert to our Europa B team for the return home leg.

I'd tell the boys to just go out, express themselves and enjoy it without consciously trying to go for broke and turn it around.
If the kids pull off a miracle you could bring our better players on, but otherwise bow out with some respectability and key players kept safe, fresh for league.

If we now chase a cup I seriously don't believe we've ever really gone for from match 1 and lose to Sunderland as a result it will be catastrophic.
The derby game has now become so much more important than it should EVER have been because it's never a normal match.

Psychologically a defeat for the loser could be terminal for remaining games...

 

3 Points against the mackems and 2 losses against Benfica is what I'd take.

The likeliest three going down right now are QPR, Reading and Aston Villa.

But to lose against the mackems would be so embarrassing... but possible, considering that our results straight after Europa games have been usually poor, which is the scary part with the drop zone pecking at our backsides.

 

Agreed.

It goes further than just embarrassing though, it's the one result that could seriously turn the fans against the team and spread negativity big style.

For what would become crucial games thereafter morale around the club would be lower than a snakes belly...