How Important is a Good Result Against Leeds?

[ElectroClaret]

No gonna start going on about it being "must win" at this stage of the season, and of course
all points are valuable, but certainly some are more achievable than others.

So a good result on Saturday would go some way to showing that we can compete against the
teams that will be down there at the end. (Of which Leeds will be one, I reckon.)

Or is it no more important than any other?

[Bow]

Seeing as how we've proved we can't beat the decent sides in the league (despite some ok performances) I’d say it is as close to a must win as we will get at this stage.

I would take a draw right now though

[Awayfromburnley]

Without doubt we have to win our home games against:

1) Promoted teams
2) Teams we hate
3)Teams we really, really hate.

Leeds are all 3

So it's a must win game for me

[ollieclarets8]

Must not lose.

[beddie]

As I live in an area that predominantly Burnley & Leeds I think you have your answer.

[Conroy92]

This league is about momentum and form.

Get cut adrift at the bottom your done for.

The confidence in a couple of results cannot be understated.

Require 4 points from the next two games.

8 points every 8 games will see us finish around 38 points and potentially stop up.

[ollieclarets8]

I think along similar lines in that we're playing catchup as we don't have 7 points after 7 games which to stay up I think we should be on.

[TheFamilyCat]

A win will get us 3 points. Points are important.

[Woodleyclaret]

All out attack we must put DL to the sword

[blatherwickstattoos]

It is a must win.

[DanH90]

100% must win. Let’s not pretend anything less is good enough.

[groove]

If we can't beat Leeds we are in trouble.

[Dark Cloud]

I said the same about the Sunderland game and I acknowledged it was ridiculously early to say it and it's still ridiculously early in the season to be saying it, but the Leeds game really is a must win. If we don't win these kind of games where exactly do we expect to get the required points to stay up??

[boatshed bill]

If we can't beat Leeds we are in trouble.

To be fair we are in trouble regardless of any specific result. But it would be a morale boost to win this game and the complete opposite if we fail.

[Vino blanco]

For the sake of our relatively young team, I hope we pick up three points with a good attacking performance. I hope SP goes more attacking than ultra defensive.

[Boss Hogg]

If we can't beat Leeds we are in trouble.

This

[Vegas Claret]

season defining, if we lose confidence will be rock bottom

[dougcollins]

All out attack we must put DL to the sword

You really know that it won't happen though.

[ClaretPete001]

This league is about momentum and form.

Get cut adrift at the bottom your done for.

The confidence in a couple of results cannot be understated.

Require 4 points from the next two games.

8 points every 8 games will see us finish around 38 points and potentially stop up.

It would be 8 points in 9 games, which is 34 points and squeaky bum time.

I think the next two games represent added to the last seven represent a fair selection of the teams in the PL. If we end up with 8 you could argue that all things being equal we are in the mix after a start erring on the difficult side.

Anything less than 7 points and it's down to evidence versus opinion. The evidence being relegation and the opinion being that we might turn it around after Xmas. Two poor performances would deflate the fans and the players alike.

It's early doors but it would be good to see strong competitive performances at the very minimum.

[Quickenthetempo]

We need to win 10 games to have a chance of staying up.
Beating the worst 10 sides at home is our best chance.

[Firthy]

It's definitely a musn't lose. I just hope Parker doesn't see it like that and play 5 at the back. We need to go for it and get our season back on track.

[Spijed]

We need to win 10 games to have a chance of staying up.
Beating the worst 10 sides at home is our best chance.

Didn't we do that in our first survival season with SD, getting a few points away from home, beating just Crystal Palace away?

[NewClaret]

Don’t normally subscribe to the melodramatics so early in the season but the way the fixtures have fallen, with only three realistic chances to pick up points so far, it’s now a very big game.

It’s must not lose, not quite must win.

Fans need to be up for it and properly behind them throughout, even if we concede.

[RVclaret]

Didn't we do that in our first survival season with SD, getting a few points away from home, beating just Crystal Palace away?

Yep.

Home wins: 10 (Liverpool, Watford, Everton, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Southampton, Leicester City, Stoke City)

Away wins: 1 (Crystal Palace)

Average position of teams we beat was 12.6.

[jrgbfc]

If you offered me 4 points from next two games i'd snap your hand off right now.

[Rileybobs]

If you offered me 4 points from next two games i'd snap your hand off right now.

That's a bit ungrateful.

[jlup1980]

These are the games that will define our season. I can't understand how anyone can say it's not a must win. Where else are we going to pick up points if not against the fellow promoted teams at home? As with previous successful PL campaigns, you absolutely need to win the bottom 6 mini-league. Leeds, Wolves, and WHU all present huge opportunities to get more points on the board. SP has to target these games specifically and set us up to not only stay in the game, but win!

[Ampth7]

Hopefully the players will be focusing on the performance required of them with the result to follow from that.

However, as fans, we all know that realistically this is a must win game. Otherwise, you do start to wonder where the 9/10 more required wins coming from if we can’t beat a fellow promoted team at home…..?

[Bezbfc01]

Without any shadow of a doubt this is a must win game for me

[claretspice]

I don't think its an exaggeration to consider it season defining.

Win and we'll have 7 points from 8 games, which is an OK if not amazing start. Draw and we'll have 5 from 8 games which is shy of where you'd want to be and puts huge pressure on the games to come, but isn't fatal. Lose though, and the arithmetic begins to look very difficult indeed, even at this early stage. It's always possible to recover from a bad start, but it's not likely. Apart from the statistics, there's a confidence factor that follows a similar line of logic.

[BurnleyFC]

It’s pretty much a must win, but the likelihood is we’ll still be relegated at the end of the end of the season, regardless of the result.

[nyclaret]

must win - end of

[Buxtonclaret]

Doesn't matter how we do it.
Just get the buggers beat.

[AmbleClaret]

A home game against fellow relegation rivals, we're already in the bottom 3, of course its a must win.

[mikeS]

Three points would be welcome from our position right now.

[mkmel]

It’s pretty much a must win, but the likelihood is we’ll still be relegated at the end of the end of the season, regardless of the result.

It's my turn to say it

That's the spirit!

[Deathtrip]

Very important like every game,what a stupid question to ask.

[daveisaclaret]

Lots of discussion about how important it is for our survival, but it's also very important for the mood. We've had some early positivity but a loss at home to Leeds and the atmosphere at home games is going to quickly start feeling like the last two PL seasons.

[Elizabeth]

3 points is 3 points wherever they come from. More likely to be against bottom half teams and would be most welcome on Saturday.
We hope the game goes our way of course but a defeat, if it happens, will not derail the season.
Leeds are one of the weaker teams so every reason to be optimistic it will be the three points similar to Sunderland. Every faith in the boys.