This is one of those nightmare weekends when you find yourself at the wrong end of the table. Sometimes all the clubs around you have horror fixtures so you feel confident that, at the very worst, your problems won't deepen but, on weekends like this, if you don't get a result, your condition moves from serious to critical.
Leaving aside ourselves, the candidates for relegation probably cover Wolves, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Burnley, Hull, Blackburn, Stoke and Bolton. Of those, Wolves, Pompey, Birmingham, Hull and Burnley must be favourites for the drop and four of those play each other, whilst Hull host the inconsistent and unpredictable Wigan. One way or another, teams at the bottom are therefore going to pick up points. If Burnley win, they will already be on 12 points and making strides towards securing their place in the Prem - just as Hull did last season. To make things worse, to keep Bolton in sight, we need Spurs to win at the Reebok!
Our game against Fulham really is a Cup Final therefore. The omens are good: Fulham played on Thursday and that generally spells an underperformance on the Sunday for a team in the YourRopey League; and our record against Fulham is brilliant. We are actually a club's bogey team! This isn't just a game we can or should win, however, it is a game we MUST win. Will the kids and newbies cope with the pressure? If we go behind, will the fans turn on the team? Will Zola get his tactics right this time? Will our desperation to score leave us vulnerable at the back or will our desperation not to concede leave us short on attacking options going forward? Who will be determining the offensive and defensive balance of the team, Zola or Clarke?
I don't expect to have any nails left by the end of the weekend. A defeat on Sunday will see us up to our noses in shite and a single point won't help the cause much either. Here's hoping for three VITAL points!
good blog. but Fulham v West Ham ain't been a cup final since 1975, and that wasn't much of one.
ReplyDeleteTonyboy
True but that's because we didn't want Bobby Moore to be humiliated. Where should Alan Taylor figure in the immortals list? Two goals in each of the quarter final, semifinal and final - not great as a player but he won us a Cup - and we haven't won many have we?
ReplyDeleteto the same end teams around us are also going to not get any points but the Fulham game is a must win for the confidence of the players even more than the points, which are vital
ReplyDeletealan taylor was a better player than people thought, fast, tricky and with an eye for goal. Unfortunately he never really got it back after a serious injury. A hero, undoubtedly, a great player,mmmmmm
ReplyDeletetonyboy