It doesn't matter what other sides do !

[Riversider]

Has to be the most stupid statement of all time, I'm sick of reading that it doesn't matter what the others do its what we do that matters most,
Can anybody even begin to explain the logic behind the statement,
From where I'm sat I was gutted when Newcastle scored in the 94th minute, I was equally gutted when Everton couldn't be bothered to try against Burnley,  and don't get me started on Southampton !
And I'll tell you what I can't see Scott Parker disagreeing too much.

One other area of concern is that Sheffield United look as though they have thrown the towel in with Chris Wilder now gone, sounds like the players were fully behind him and saw him as the man to bring them straight back up and you certainly won't find a Blades fan happy that he's gone, the significance of all this is that we've played them twice but Newcastle,  Brighton and Burnley have still to play them,
Nobody was expecting anything against City but a bit of luck from one of the other matches would have been nice.

[bobby01]

Looking more and more likely it is between us and the toon.

[SouthIslandWhite]

It's obvious that we need help IOT get out of all of this trouble, no question. Equally obvious, this weekend we received ZERO help from anyone.

We also didn't do ourselves any favours with that diabolical 10 minutes to start the second half against City.

[RaySmith]

But we need to focus on our own games, whatever the others do, because that's the one thing we can control.

No use if the other teams lose- and they are bound to have ups and downs, as are we, if we don't get points on board ourselves, including wins obviously.

If our players  start  focussing on what the others do too much, they can  lose their  own focus, have highs and lows in  confidence and positivity- as we do on here, and the players  can't afford that, they have to try and be single minded - 'we have a game coming up and we're going to win, and make sure we stay up.'

[Andy S]

Nobody is saying it doesn't matter what the other sides do but it certainly does matter what we do as we have to keep getting points.

[Tabby]

I guess we should have just expected three sides to have Derby-tier seasons in order to stay up. Anything else is unfair.

The point is that going on and on about other teams is nothing but excuses. If Southampton plays poorly against Brighton, then why don't we beat them? If Newcastle gets a niggly draw, we need to do better.

Everton were dreadful when we won against them. We had West Brom there for the taking in the first half and let the game slip. Just got to keep picking up points.

[St Eve]

Has to be the most stupid statement of all time, so will people on here kindly refrain from using it,
I'm sick of reading that it doesn't matter what the others do its what we do that matters most,
Can anybody even begin to explain the logic behind the statement,
From where I'm sat I was gutted when Newcastle scored in the 94th minute, I was equally gutted when Everton couldn't be bothered to try against Burnley,  and don't get me started on Southampton !
And I'll tell you what I can't see Scott Parker disagreeing too much.

One other area of concern is that Sheffield United look as though they have thrown the towel in with Chris Wilder now gone, sounds like the players were fully behind him and saw him as the man to bring them straight back up and you certainly won't find a Blades fan happy that he's gone, the significance of all this is that we've played them twice but Newcastle,  Brighton and Burnley have still to play them,
Nobody was expecting anything against City but a bit of luck from one of the other matches would have been nice.

Absolutely correct. I have been saying the same thing. Of course we have to take care of business but we need those around us to drop points.

[RufusBrevettatemyhamster]

We're playing championship football next season. Doesn't matter what the other teams do. We can't score, which means we can't win, which means we can't stay up. Newcastle are awful, Steve Bruce is a dinosaur that shouldn't keep getting jobs. His tactics are woeful, but they score and have won enough games to just pip up to 17th.

[Riversider]

Nobody is saying it doesn't matter what the other sides do but it certainly does matter what we do as we have to keep getting points.

Plenty are saying it.

[roberto w6]

Of course it matters, it's just we can't do anything about it so let's focus on our own performance

[SuffolkWhite]

Nobody is saying it doesn't matter what the other sides do but it certainly does matter what we do as we have to keep getting points.

Plenty are saying it.

I think the point Riverside is that we can only control our own destiny by our own results and to concentrate on others will drive you mad, clearly! Sure if the others win all their games then we are buggerd whatever we do.

[Woolly Mammoth]

We need victory's at least 4 which is not a huge ask, and if we fail it is because we never invested in a decent striker 6 months ago and that was another bad mistake, and that could come back to haunt us which would be a real tragedy when you consider the rest of the squad.
However I will worry about that if it happens. If we survive which I still think we can, and a lot will depend on if we can beat Leeds and Villa which I feel we may need to.   

[Logicalman]

Of course it matter what the other teams do, though I would suggest that, given the position we are in, it matter just a little more than we do as well as we can.

It's akin to the saying "you cannot win the lottery without buying a ticket" inasmuch that we need to do well, and then just pray that the other teams do badly enough so our effort tops them, but both sides of the equation do count.

[colinwhite]

Its a question of focusing on the controlables ,not the uncontrolables. One game at a time ,focus on winning matches. Parker knows what he is doing Dave  keep the faith!
Every time I watch one of our rivals play and support the other team they pick up points,so Ive given up on that.

[Logicalman]

We're playing championship football next season. Doesn't matter what the other teams do. We can't score, which means we can't win, which means we can't stay up. Newcastle are awful, Steve Bruce is a dinosaur that shouldn't keep getting jobs. His tactics are woeful, but they score and have won enough games to just pip up to 17th.

I'm not sure we cannot score, just look at the Liverpool and Spuds matches (albeit they changed the rules following the latter to show that should have been a goal) and that was against 2 of the top teams still battling in Europe. We just need to be more consistent in our play, and take the chances when presented. Sometimes it reminds me of the Arsène Wenger team of old who kept trying to walk the ball over the line.

[Dodgin]

All down to the last game and we grab a ninety minute winner at St James's.

[Logicalman]

All down to the last game and we grab a ninety minute winner at St James's.

.. from a free kick, perhaps?

[Sgt Fulham]

All down to the last game and we grab a ninety minute winner at St James's.

Hope not, else there will be an empty net at the cottage for Newcastle to play against, and I think they may snatch a draw to send us down.

[filham]

Fully agree with the OP. All of the teams above us seem to be doing well, just wish one of them would go into free fall but that is unlikely,
Hard to see how , without scoring goals , we are going to get above any one other than Shefield U. and West Brom.

[Plodder]

It really is not "the most stupid statement of all time". To take the most extreme example, if we won all nine of our remaining games and reached 53 points, we would be guaranteed to stay up (barring the most freakish set of results possible in all other Premier League matches) - other teams would be dropping points when they played us and to each other when they played. More realistically, if we win four, draw two and lose three of our remaining nine, and get to 40 points (odds  against it happening, but hardly an outrageous proposition), it would be very surprising if that did not keep us up.  Of course it helps if teams nearer to us drop points, because it reduces the ultimate target number of points (which is obviously an unknown), but at this stage of the season and with the table as it is, it is very much in our own hands and depends much more on what we do than on the results of others.  Better for us the more Brighton and Newcastle struggle, but if we do well, we don't need to rely on them struggling.