Sheff Utd REALLY IS a must win.

[Southcoastffc]

Lose and we're gone.  I only hope they don't work as hard and harry us as much as Burnley did.

[ChesterTheTabby]

Honestly, lose or draw and we're done. A draw would keep the status quo, that is not acceptable. All in, all attack, and crush them. That's all we can do.

[Fernhurst]

Sweep them aside and 7 points this week will be acceptable.

[SP]

What worries me is the mood of their manager after their last game/defeat. If they're not feeling the pressure of the relegation fight they have nothing to lose.  I'd freshen the team up to get at them from the start.

[Southcoastffc]

Sweep them aside and 7 points this week will be acceptable.

yes. But what odds I wonder?

[Twig]

Fail to win and we are down.  SP and the players will know that and I fear that may affect their nerves.

[FFC In Oz]

What worries me is the mood of their manager after their last game/defeat. If they're not feeling the pressure of the relegation fight they have nothing to lose.  I'd freshen the team up to get at them from the start.

Remember though that media talk is more about what the fans want to hear than accurately capturing the mood of the dressing room.

I think behind closed doors Wilder and his men will definitely be feeling the pressure

[FFC1987]

Sadly, I think this draw and subsequent draws with Brighton and Brom mean we're likely down now. We need a win run, not an unbeaten run and even with 6 points from Sheffield and Palace, we could still be 4+ behind with a tough string of fixtures. We'll see I guess, but that's a significant dent again tonight.

[FFC In Oz]

Sadly, I think this draw and subsequent draws with Brighton and Brom mean we're likely down now. We need a win run, not an unbeaten run and even with 6 points from Sheffield and Palace, we could still be 4+ behind with a tough string of fixtures. We'll see I guess, but that's a significant dent again tonight.

I agree.

6 points against Sheff Utd & Palace is crucial to our chances, but I'm not counting my chickens.

[clarkey]

Bang on, makes the decision to send Kebano and AK47 off on loan all the more stupid. Bringing Cav on for Bobby was dumb whereas if he had Kebano coming on we might get some joy.He can hit a sweet dead ball too.

The team looked really tired.Lots of mistakes, and we allowed Burnley to rattle us. Shame but if we win at the weekend then 7 points in one week is a good.But to be honest Parker has taken far too long to switch to 4 at the back and 3 up top. We need Cairney instead of RLC too. Desperate. Parker should have subbed RLC at half time and brought on Anguissa, to strengthen us in mid field. Would have livened up Lemina who was error prone today.

[Whitestone]

We're at the stage of the season given our league position where every game is must win.

[clarkey]

It's not so critical.A win would be great. But a draw is not the end of the fight.

To avoid relegation we need to catch Newcastle, which means at very least going into the last game of the season just three points behind with a better Goals record. So we just need to gain three points on them over the next month.That will do the job.

A win does it now.

[Holders]

We need to win this and Newcastle lose to Man U. That's the form indication. IF that happens, then we "just" need to go point for point with Newcastle and beat them on the last day.

But: football often doesn't go to form, Newcastle will be just as incentivised and I don't like leaving things until the last minute.

Except for needing Newcastle to lose to Man U, whether we stay up or go down will be far more in our own hands than for a while.

[SuffolkWhite]

Yes 3 points is needed but if we don't achieve that there is no reason we cant get points from supposed tougher games like Citeh and Liv etc. We are in with a chance in most games at the moment, even if we have a off night!

[SG]

After the first six games of this season where we gained 1 point and conceded 14 goals, we have, from 18 games gained 18 points and conceded just 18 goals. This clearly suggests we can escape as we have played all the top teams in those 18 games. A point a game would put us on 33 points. So not a lot needs to change to make that total say 37 and possible safety.
We can do this even with a draw on Saturday

[AJW48361]

Sheffield United are tough ravaged by injuries but their frontmen will test our defence. Then Palace Roy knows how to play us we get plenty of ball and they've usually break on us and cause damage especially Zaha who I bet will play next week. Bookies make us favourites to win next week big call.

[FFC1987]

I think one big thing people are relying on here is Newcastle not picking up any results in next 3 games. They have United, Wolves and WestBrom. I can't say enough how vital a win was yesterday, its not 'over' but its very bleak right now. I can see Newcastle getting at least something from WestBrom, and maybe even something against Wolves. Yet, I'm not confident we'll get maximum points from Sheffield and Palace.

It's exhausting watching us time and time again not taking opportunities. How many more times are we going to play opposition rife with injuries or bad form to somehow come way with something against us. I said it before this game, but I think we're down. You can't win 3 games from 24 and expect to stay in this division. We'll go down fighting, and we'll pick up some nice wins along the way and theres absolutely pride in that but something I've found typical in Fulham is coming close to something and failing when it really matters in the top flight. Yes, we did ok in playoffs in the league below, but this is a different kettle of fish and we simply aren't cutting it.

[Lordedmundo]

I think one big thing people are relying on here is Newcastle not picking up any results in next 3 games. They have United, Wolves and WestBrom. I can't say enough how vital a win was yesterday, its not 'over' but its very bleak right now. I can see Newcastle getting at least something from WestBrom, and maybe even something against Wolves. Yet, I'm not confident we'll get maximum points from Sheffield and Palace.

It's exhausting watching us time and time again not taking opportunities. How many more times are we going to play opposition rife with injuries or bad form to somehow come way with something against us. I said it before this game, but I think we're down. You can't win 3 games from 24 and expect to stay in this division. We'll go down fighting, and we'll pick up some nice wins along the way and theres absolutely pride in that but something I've found typical in Fulham is coming close to something and failing when it really matters in the top flight. Yes, we did ok in playoffs in the league below, but this is a different kettle of fish and we simply aren't cutting it.

But - we only need to gain 3 points (4 if you want to remove goal difference from equation) on Newcastle from now until the last game of the season.  So, 'if' we beat Sheffield United, we will make up those points within days if they lose against Man Utd. We then need to match their points total over the period until we play them on 23 May, when of course a win will be required.

I'm not saying we will do that - or that it will be easy, but it is certainly achievable. Without Calum Wilson, they have lost their main goal threat - so as long as we close the points gap (whether this weekend or over the next 13 days, we do have a chance.

If we get 6 points from the next 3 games, then I would hope and expect that it will be higher than they achieve over the same phase.

[Fulham1959]

Fail to win and we are down.  SP and the players will know that and I fear that may affect their nerves.

That is obviously nonsense.

Psychologically of course, it will not be good.  But we are going to lose matches between now and the end of the season.  If we lose on Saturday, that's one of those matches.  As someone pointed out above, we could then get an unexpected win in another match.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Exactly, league positions count for nothing when it comes down to it. Like many teams, we can beat anybody on our day, but are capable of losing to anybody on their day.
There are no dead certs only ifs or buts. We can lose to a lower team one week and win against a higher team the next week. That is why it is crucial to be consistent. 3 points for a win was brought in to encourage teams to attack and score more goals and try and win games to avoid boring 0 0 games when teams just went out to stifle the opponent with very little intention of looking to win it, a case of hold on to what we have right from KO. Now even 0 0 draw can be entertaining if both teams go for the three points.