Must Win Game

I was chatting to a lad at work today and he said we HAVE to win on Saturday - or else we're down.
I wasn't sure at first, but I'm a little worried he may be right.

Lose and we'd be right down in the danger zone.

Player confidence would drop.
Fan confidence would drop.
Owner confidence would drop.

Any thought?

Reminiscent of last time we went down.

 

My thought is that its December. There are never any must win games in December unless you are an unstable club and you have the grim reaper constantly looking over your managers shoulder. Or you are seriously adrift at the bottom.

I would say that it is a game we should be looking to win and viewing as a chance to pick up some much needed points prior to Christmas.

Nothing this season reminds me of when we went down. Then we had a lot of players who's heart was not in it, and didn't have the stomach for the fight. The last four games have shown categorically for me that should we end up in that scenario (we won't), we'd be a lot better prepared to scrap our way out. Fortunately this squad has been built on solid foundations.

 

A bit over the top with the OP in my opinion.
If you was in QPR's position then nearly every game is a must win.
Surely you dont believe that you will be in relegation trouble come the end of April.

 

I thought it was OTT at first, but my fear is if the fans get on players backs then we might struggle.
We need to be the famous 12th man, not the monkey on their backs!

 

To be fair Davey is not alone, many of our fans are getting a bit worried. I have to also say while I think it won't make a difference because I think we'll get the requisite points regardless, I think he makes a valid point about our fans. We have a passionate fanbase and on occasion it has worked against us. When we went down last time we had players who didn't fancy it or here for the money. The fans knew this and turned on them. It didn't help overall but was understandable.

I have faith in this team though and after witnessing what I did in defeat last week, I have faith in the fans too. It was a cauldron again against Citeh and only their class kept them from being rattled out of it. The players are showing the right attitude, the fans are and that will stand us in good stead if we do get dragged down. It won't happen for me. The fans need to keep realistic about this Xmas run of games though.

 

Cheers WP.
If we can create a cauldron, we can take on any.
However, there are too many people who are over-optimistic/lack reality.
We probably over-perfoermed last season and players haven't lived up to eir performances.
That said, we've been hammered by injuries - unlike last season!

 

This game against QPR is absolutely massive.

It will determine just how good we actually are and what chance we have of being dragged into a relegation battle.

QPR have been the worst team this season but are now just starting to show signs of recovery under 'Arry.

They look dodgy in defence and we really must go for their throats - The battle will be in the midfield and that fact doesn't fill me with any confidence.

We simply have to beat the teams around us, if we fail in that effort then the job of staying clear of trouble will begin to be too much.

Alarm bells started ringing for me when we went down at Southampton... no fight but with plenty of time left to put it right, and the transfer window possibly being the most important one for years for this club.

We simply must win.

 

Its too early to talk of relegation.
We need to see what January brings.

 

Anyone who talks about relegation now is ******ed.

Everton have found themselves around the bottom 3 at this stage many times, but always finish strongly. Liverpool were near the bottom three at the early stages of last season, but picked themselves up.

It's too early, and there are points to be won.

 

I'm with Davie and I am worried and I do feel we must win on Saturday.
We have three tough games after Saturday and a win will give players and fans a boost.

 

Diplomatic as always Tash

 

End of Jan is when I will start to panic. Look like we have some fight in us this year though and we will survive.

 

QPR on Saturday will be a good time to get back to winning ways.

Other home games against teams in the bottom half of the league that should be winnable are:

Reading on the 19th Jan.
Southampton on the 23rd Feb.
Stoke on the 9th of Mar.
And of course the Mackems on the 13th April.

 

See that is the definition of a must win game!

 

What have Everton got to do with anything?

Newcastle United are in real danger of getting into a horrible struggle this season.

It's not "******ed" to mention relegation - I would suggest that it's foolhardy to ultimately dismiss the possibility of getting drawn in.
Do we have the worst squad in the PL? No.
Did that stop us getting relegated last time? No.

Overly simplistic, insulting comments are of course your forte Tash, but please at least try to accept that other peoples opinion will differ from yours.

 

It is natural to be a bit worried. I am. And in my opinion EVERY game is a must win game because that is the mentality that will be needed to get us back up the table. The MUST win mentality is crucial because you have to treat each game as it comes.

If we lose - I do not think it is cut and dry that we will be relegated but it will dent our confidence and raise QPR's significantly.

I said a couple of weeks ago at the West Ham game that the game would make or break our season for varying reasons but what I meant was that in my mind if we won we would have kicked on and been top half and if we lost we would be where we are now.

I think that we will win against QPR but I think it will be scrappy. I then think that if we do then our christmas fixture list will be a mixed bag of results.

We will then hopefully strengthen in January but at a financial cost but the club are already making signals that they accept that they got it wrong in the last transfer window.

Do I think Demba will leave rather than fight for the club.... maybe. But if he stays we know he will give his all and if he leaves then we MUST replace him.

So to wrap up my pennies worth and the relate it to the OP post. His points are valid. There is concern that we are where we are and we have some difficult games coming up. But I have faith that we have the quality to stay up....... But I said that the last time!

GG

 

I think QPR is a must win for Pardew himself, not necessarily the team, but we've got to get points from somewhere and it'd make their job easier. There are enough points out there to move up the league as my stats thread proved, and 3 of those are against QPR at home!

Pardew's record in the last few weeks, performances aside, has been abysmal to the highest degree. So many losses, and then factoring in the opposition and it's amazing he's not under intense pressure right now, and we're not having a few boycoutts . Will Ashley lose faith in him? Big question. Hughton was sacked for (a lot) less.

Going back to the fans though, I'd like to echo the sentiments already expressed about the crowd. Different beast to years gone by, not so fickle, not so sensitive. We're upset at defeats of course, and might have a rant or two on here and down the pub, but nobody is going to the game with any other intention than to support the team. The Man City game was electric second half, and the gallowgate was sucking the attacks forward. Better defending from us, and I think Man Citeh could have capitulated second half.

Adding performances back in, and I'm more optimistic about our season, having seen us play better. The fact we are losing is still concerning however, but if we get a bit of luck, I genuinely think we'll thrash someone and it'll all click.

 

Both Zach and Gandalf are disappointed with the pressure you are putting on our great leader

 

Will the atmosphere really come into play when you're facing a team second from bottom? It's easy to get excited and make a noise Vs the champions who you know you're major underdogs against, but surely your fans will be expecting to win this. An early goal for QPR, or a nil nil at HT, and i'd imagine the ground will be more edgy than exuberant.

 

To be fair, we've been in that situation lots already this season and the fans haven't given up until it was obvious there was no hope. Considering Pardew has never won a game after going behind, any right-thinking fan would have left whenever the opposition scored first... Yet it hasn't happened.

I expect the tenseness of the situation to make for a pretty positive atmosphere, and I hope it would remain positive til the final whistle regardless of scoreline. Chanting abuse doesn't help anyone