“Football isn’t played on paper”

It’s a lesson which some of our more deluded fans are finding out the hard way. The majority of fans do have a realistic view on the way things are going and I applaud them for not burying their heads in the sand.

Even after our defeat at Spurs yesterday, I have read numerous comments on various websites about us winning all three of your remaining home games. Cloughies quote certainly applies to the mentality that some of our fans have to towards these games. On paper, you would normally fancy Newcastleto turn over Pompey, Boro and Fulham at St. James’ Park.

However, some of our fans seem to be forgetting two crucial things. Our team is devoid of any confidence and the pressure that will be on the players from the fans will be through the roof.

Having watched both our last two games, I personally am extremely worried, and I’m sure Ispeak for a high percentage of Newcastle fans aswell. We have no real fight or leadership within our team. We seem incapable of keeping clean sheets and despite an impressive looking forward line, they don’t even look remotely like scoring.

Shearer also seems to be extremely naive when it comes to tactics, which isn’t at all suprising given his lack of experience. His decision to opt for a 3-5-2 formation is practically suicide from my point of view. It might work well on most console games, but I can’t for the life of me recall a Premier League side using this formation to great effect. The first thing any manager worth his salt will tell you is that you need a settled back four. I know wehave had problems with injuries but the defence of any team is all about partnerships, communication and understanding. The teams that get out of trouble always manage to keep a few clean sheets along the way and I wouldn’t be suprised if we failed to keep another all season.

Given the fact that we play Liverpool after Pompey, it’s safe to say that we will still be in the bottom three with only three games remaining. Our only saving grace seems to be the form (or lack of form) of Hull. Having seen them play at the weekend, they lack any real quality and it’s easy to see why they have been falling like a stone in water. They do however fight from whistle to whistle and their fate might be decided on whether they can beat Stoke at home, as their other fixtures are all more than tricky. Saying that we still need to win our games to have any chance of survival and failing to do so against Pompey could be a terminal blow to our chances.

I reckon we are going to have to win 3 out of our remaining 5 matches. 39 points should keep us up as we have a favourable goal difference. I’ll stick my neck out right now and say that it will go down to the very last match, with is needing to win at Villa.

It’s going to be an interesting finish to say the least!