Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has demanded his players lift themselves from the pain of their latest agonising defeat if they are to avoid the ultimate hurt of relegation.
With the club three points from safety and with a far inferior goal difference, it appears certain Boro will have to win their final two games, at home to Aston Villa on Saturday and at West Ham on the final day.
"We owe it to the fans to put on a performance against Villa, do everything possible to win the game, and keep ourselves in the melting pot," said Southgate.
Monday's 3-1 loss at Newcastle has left Boro dangerously close to demotion to the Coca-Cola Championship and Southgate must try and rally his troops again as they lick their wounds from the loss to the Magpies.
"The Newcastle game was tough and it has taken a lot out of the players," Southgate told the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette.
"But they have to lift themselves while there is still a chance, we have to keep going. We have a lot of proud young kids in our team, but they are still very raw.
"They are desperate to be involved in a winning side, and they have still a chance to do that.
"Monday's pain will take time to heal, but we have to give our supporters two final performances to be proud of.
"We have to win on Saturday and we have to make sure we are ready. It's our job as coaches to make sure they are fully primed for the Villa game.
"It's still possible, however slim the prospects. If we beat Villa, then we will take it to the last game of the season at West Ham. Then who knows what will happen?"
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The mistake was moving out all of our experienced players pre season. This needed to be done over 2 or 3 seasons. It must have been Managerial inexperience or a need to dramatically reduce the wage bill. We will now loose 3 or 4 of the better prospects. We need to replace with players who will bring experience of getting out of the Championship. The kids will struggle alone; it looks a competitive league. We need a spark - remember the impact Merson had!!!! I hope for a miricale but realistically we are down.
only if most of the players had heart like tuncay
As a Boro fan of course i want us to win.I wonder if the players have it in them though.I think they are a broken
bunch of dispirited footballers.They've lost their mojo.Good luck Boro,please give your fans something positive
to shout for. shout for
The last two months Boro have needed experience, it is not there, it was all sold off last season. Marlon King has not prooved to be the answer. Emnes was the favoured one up front against Newcastle, how many starts has he had this season.
i was born in the boro whatched them be relagated in 97 do not wont to see it again got all my faith in boro to pull this off
it would be a miracle if we beat villa,fingers crossed etc.
I saw the Newcastle game and I think that if Borough play like that they will probably win. Although I'd like Villa to finish 5th I think Borough should want it more and all attention for Villa should now be on creating the kind of squad to compete in all competitions.
I honestly think 'the boro' might win this one.
Villa have absloutely nothing to play for and their form has been very, very ordinary lately.
We'll just have to make sure we beat fulham, that's all i can say!!
if we win i will laugh and maybe southgate should demand wins every way show the players some discipline because its what our players need . a kick up the backside to get them moving
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