At this stage of the season, these games carry even more significance. The gap between us and 7th place is healthy, but has remained 11 points for a while now, even though we've won 4 on the spin. Had we not had that sparkling run of form, the chasing pack would have closed on us, just as they've done to Bournemouth and Reading. With the other three around us, continually winning it's vitally important not to lose this game. All that good work achieved by those 4 consecutive victories, could be dented with a defeat in this game. Make no mistake this is probably a bigger game in terms of importance for Bournemouth so we must be wary of their threat. If we could win this one, it would be huge. Not only for establishing us as almost certain play off finishers at the very least, it will continue the pressure at the top. Eventually, if we keep winning, something will give and those other teams will fall away to a degree. This is one game we cannot really afford to lose, maybe it's more important not to lose than actually winning.
I said that before we played Swansea, and we lost. Yes obviously I’d love to win and I sincerely hope we do, but they most important thing in these games is just don’t lose. If we’d drawn with Swansea there would’ve been a three point swing compared to now. Apart from three of our last four games against at the teams at the top which we might have to win, at any other point of the season the priority against teams around us should always be avoid defeat at all costs. That said Bournemouth are rubbish at the moment, and we should win on paper!
I like Bournemouth. They're just like us and a small club, despite having a billionaire owner. We should help each other out when needed as we are both small clubs with pitiful supporter bases. As they are struggling, we should heavily consider letting them win and getting them back on track as we are both small clubs. Here's hoping we lose so we can help out a fellow small club.
Yes, it's vital we build a little bit of fat around us (and I don't mean recalling Deeney before anyone uses that joke). We need to be well placed, by having a big margin between us and third place before that final run-in. Those last 6 games are dreadful. They could be really good if we win, but knowing how wobbly with a tendency to choke Watford are, we really don't want to be chasing with those final 6 matches. Now is the time to make hay, sow our seed, and harvest in April.
Fair shout, edited my post. Edit: I can't edit it for some reason, but the odds are 690,394,639,019,903/1 assuming a bookie allows you to place such a bet by my calculation.
It's a slightly weird situation because they have 2 games in hand on us (in a packed schedule), but the way I see it is that every game is a must-win game, if they win both their games in hand, it's a 5 pt deficit, drop points at the weekend and it takes the pressure off massively for them as they can effectively afford to lose two more games than us, with us having a harder run-in
I fxcking hate Bournemouth. I hope we beat them and never have to play them again because we get promoted and next season they get relegated precipitating their slide back to their normal habitat of the 4th tier.
Joao Pedro against Steve Cook could be a thing of beauty. Cook takes 5 minutes to turn around these days doesn't he?
You can't say that around here. We're basically one club, we get promoted together and we get relegated together. It's all about looking out for each other, that's what football is all about isn't it?
The top 4 can't all keep winning their games, some have said that recently Swansea have looked tired, and in most cases all 4 are a critical injury away from dropping off the pace. Norwich and Brentford face each other next week and soon after Swansea play one of their games in hand. Obviously we have a tricky match at Muff despite their form, then we have two very winnable home matches after. We soon have to travel to in-form Cardiff.
Exactly. We're both tiny little clubs according to our supporters (though not theirs) and should join hands and skip freely through the fields of wheat.
I hope when fans are allowed back both sets of supporters can join together for a kickabout on Bournemouth beach and share ice creams.
Obviously Bournemouth aren't "rivals" by any stretch of the imagination and are nowhere near Luton, but they definitely fall into that category of "those c*nty clubs I can't stand" along with Leeds, Palace, Liverpool etc. Institutionalised cheats, Russian billionaire owner, and nauseating "fairytale" media narrative. I think fans of other clubs have wised up about them, even if half arsed pundits and sport journalists haven't. I feel fairly optimistic about this one - we're in great form, and they're terrible at the moment. We'll probably have a great start, make a nice comfortable goal cushion, but then give away a stupid goal and settle in for a heart attack inducing final 10 minutes. Weirdly it feels like our record against them isn't that great, but they've only beaten us twice since 2015 and both times were mainly due to stupid early red cards. 2-1 win, possibly with a sending off or two... as long as the ref stays wise about the hacking tw*ts.
Solanke also out and only returning to fitness. Stanislas is their man to keep an eye on. Just do what we are doing. Working hard, pressing hard and moving the ball with speed. Hit them hard and early. We do not have the physical presence of a Cardiff so we need to show a little more cleverness on the ball. Speaking of which surely Morrison needs censure. His goal celebration appeared to involve lovemaking to the ground.
Bournemouth have conceded about 50% more goals than us this season. They've also scored more, but only by 3 (46 v 43). Given that we were barely scoring at the start of the season and that much of our tally comes from recent games where we've started performing well, this is encouraging. We're currently in good form, have found our scoring boots, and are playing with confidence. Muff are in pretty poor form and look a shadow of their former selves. I fancy us to get a result here. Gosling will also be wise to their cheating game, and I would expect him to offer some tips on what to watch out for. I suspect that Howe/Tindall's tendency to use gamesmanship won't have fully worked its way out of them yet. Interesting bit of trivia: apparently we haven't conceded a league goal while Hughes has been on the pitch this season. Not one goal conceded during his 11 hours of play. Source: https://twitter.com/secondtierpod/status/1364532839853735940
To go up automatically I think you need to be able to win 5 on the spin with relative regularity. Cardiff have now won 6 on the spin, so there is absolutely no reason why we can’t either.
Agree. The only person who can stop that is Xisco, perhaps feeling that Gray's half decent cameo last night earns him a start. If your reading this Xisco, DO NOT start Gray.
