Chelsea fans comments ahead of facing Newcastle United on Sunday – Interesting | OneFootball

Chelsea fans with a trip to St James’ Park.

A Sunday noon kick-off against Newcastle United.

At stake?

If either of the two teams win then Champions League qualification surely all but assured. With the losers having it then all to do in their final two matches. A draw would leave all options open for both teams.

Chelsea fans have seen their team lose in all three games at St James’ Park against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United, seven goals scored in total by NUFC and only one for the visitors across some five hours of football on Tyneside.

So what is the mood like amongst Chelsea fans ahead of Sunday’s match?

Comments from Chelsea fans via their message boards The Shed End and CFC Net:

‘This is the biggest game of the season for me. So much riding on it and a lot of permutations.

As Villa and Brighton proved, Newcastle are beatable. However if they get two wins, they are guaranteed CL so they will be looking to beat us and their game vs Everton.

We’re going to need to fight them as they are gritty and nasty. Does our squad have it in them to fight and be nasty?’

‘No one is going to help us other than ourselves, a point would be a decent result but we must be Utd…everyone else is…certainly can’t drop 3 points here that’s for sure.’

‘Agreed but in order of importance if we win 2 of our 3 games then it has to be Newcastle and Forest ahead of Man Utd.

If we beat Newcastle and Forest then we are guaranteed top 5.

Two wins that include 3 points against Man Utd doesn’t guarantee top 5 and would require us to get 7 points from our final 3 games to guarantee top 5 as it stands.’

‘A draw here might not be too shabby. With said draw, we can secure top 5 by winning our last 2 games.’

‘A great win against Liverpool has given us a small chance again of making the CL spots.

For us to get there though I do truly believe we must win this Newcastle game.

Easier said than done but I think we have to or we likely miss out.’

‘We played Liverpool reserves, this doesn’t wipe out the last 4 months.’

‘If Liverpool turned up we’d have lost that. The football was dire.’

‘I just think this fan base is so negative sometimes.’

‘The defensive tactics were abysmal in the 2nd half, the players deserve all of the credit for dragging us over the line, especially Palmer who looked back to something like his best. Liverpool were dominating us on the wings and the defending from set pieces was terrible. They probably should have scored 2 or 3 goals themselves.’

‘Maresca has already said we played the way he did not want us to play, but Liverpool made it not possible to play as he wanted us to.

Have no fear, Eddie howe has no interest in controlling possession. Maresca ball will be back on Sunday.’

‘If you can’t win this game, don’t lose it. Newcastle have Arsenal away after this game which should be a difficult match for them.’

‘TWELVE O’CLOCK ON A SUNDAY! They’re taking the pee.’

‘Well, bang go my dreams of an early train to Geordyland. Looks like I’ll have to get the wireless out again.’

‘The result against Liverpool has turned this from a must-win into a must-not lose. Not sure we’re built to play for draws though!’

‘We should play to win. Playing for draws is the cowards way, and is asking for trouble. Our record at St James Park isn’t very good however.’

‘We have the momentum now we will crush them. They looked rubbish at Brighton.’

‘They’re a nasty bunch of cheats , time wasters , injury feigners , scream whenever you go near them , fall over at the drop of a hat so I hope we win here.’

‘I’ve seen this fixture too many times.

However well we are playing, our players always go to pieces here. SJP is so loud and intimidating and the only way to quieten them is to score early.

I’ve watched Newcastle this season almost as much as Chelsea and I feel they’re going to cause us real problems. They are physically dominant, quick, direct, and exceptionally aggressive. They are going to start the game at 100mph and try to absolutely rattle us.

One thing we have in our favour is Joelinton being out. This means we have a chance in the midfield battle. It is absolutely critical that Lavia plays, although I am worried about the space Gordon and Barnes will have if Caicedo inverts.

Sorry I can only see a defeat. Our recent record is hideous, and they are so desperate to win. I would snap your hand off for a draw but I genuinely see us not just losing, but potentially getting smashed if we start slowly.

Going 3-1 Newcastle.

I am also absolutely sick and tired of seeing Chelsea go to pieces here every year.’

‘We do not win at st james park. I am not sure about this early sunday kickoff. We got smashed 4-1 last season and lost 2-0 this season in the cup.’

‘Would be a touch disappointing to get a win vs Liverpool and then not back it up with a result here. That said, Newcastle isn’t an easy place for us to travel.

We’re gonna have to dig in to get the job done.’

‘Hopefully the early kick off + Joelinton injury work in our favour.

If this was a Monday night game and Joelinton was around to commit his customary 15 fouls before a yellow, I’d have already accepted defeat.’

‘The main reason they’ve done so well this season is the midfield three of Bruno, Joelinton and Tonali. The former two have exceptional physicality and Tonali has exceptional skill, technique, and has even developed a good shot this season. When those three are on form, I actually don’t think there’s a better midfield 3 in the league.

Without Joelinton there is a bit of a question mark. This is in principle something we can exploit. But it absolutely requires Lavia to play and for Caicedo, Enzo and even Palmer to be ready for a battle. If we are inverting Caicedo, the RCB is going to need to be ready to pick up Barnes or Gordon if we lose it.

Lavia is also going to be crucial because he’s probably our best midfielder at playing through the press. And they will press like demons.

They are the antithesis of positional play. It is fast and aggressive when they play well and they’ll mix their passing both short and long. So what we cannot do is play slowly and I definitely wouldn’t sit deep.

There is no point in just hitting and hoping with crosses. This is a team with Schär, Burn, and Botman in it. We aren’t winning anything in the air against them.

I want to be optimistic but their team is set up to ruin teams like ours and we are just so poor here normally. But I guess at some point it has to change, right?’

‘Caicedo is not a natural RB, so asking him to shut down out and out wingers like Gordon or Barnes is going to be difficult. Either Reece or Gusto have to play at RB for this one and allow Caicedo to play his strongest position.’

‘I agree, but to do this Maresca would have to change the formation (he’s never done this) or drop Lavia or Enzo, which I can’t see him doing. So whilst I agree this is what he should do, I think he will come to the conclusion that sticking to 4231 and keeping Caicedo, Lavia and Enzo on the pitch is the better option, which to be fair, it was vs Liverpool.’

‘This is all very true. But going with Enzo, Lavia and Caicedo as a MF 3 (which I think would be great) would mean pushing Palmer onto the wing – which again, cant see happening.’

‘Neither of their central defenders are that quick. In fact we played on Burn’s lack of speed and turning circle of an articulated truck in the home game versus them this season. Played the ball into Jackson on or near the halfway line quite early and got him to spin Burn. Worked for a while too, if I recall correctly.