SUPER MAC Cautious managers will have to go for victory to survive

THIS is a game of dare - but will it be who dares to win or who dares not lose?

That is the burning question as we are about to enter the most nailbiting game of the season.

The immediate future of both Newcastle and Southampton greatly rests upon the outcome at SJP today.

Any loser will be staring down the barrel of relegation and while everyone can see a draw it will not really benefit either side unless they think they can crawl to safety one point by one point.

Let’s be truthful – the first priority of both managers will be not to lose. That is their nature.

Rafa Benitez is known for his ability to set up defensively and Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino has been roundly criticised on the south coast for his ultra-cautious approach.

Perhaps both will privately cast envious eyes at Brighton, who stand 10th in the tell-tale table in their first season after promotion because of the shrewdness of Chris Hughton.

He has done a magnificent job, just as he did up here, with Brighton playing good stuff and looking as though they are enjoying Premier League life.

The trouble for Newcastle this afternoon is they always find life difficult when at home and faced with having to force the match because of the attitude of the opposition. They are geared much more to a counter-attacking game trying to utilise pace on the break. The Saints will sit in and try to make life tough. Frustrate United and the fans. They did not face that in the last home match when second-top Manchester United came to town and so this will be a much more nervous, tension-packed game. Therefore facing Southampton Malcolm Macdonald will be more difficult than against Man U because both sides dare not lose.

If that happened to the Magpies with three weeks to stew before the next game and Huddersfield up here in another nail-biter it would be hell.

What both sets of fans will worry about is who can score the goals required for victory.

The desperation of life in the relegation cellar was best illustrated by the activity in the January transfer window when everyone wanted to bring in a striker.

United and West Brom really gambled with their signings and so far neither has paid off.

Newcastle took Islam Slimani on loan from Leicester when he was already injured and here we are in March and he still has not played.

Equally Daniel Sturridge was a gamble. He has a horrendous fitness record yet Alan Pardew dived in to take him on loan from Liverpool – pipping Benitez

who also wanted him. Sturridge has been seen as rarely as Howard Hughes!

The question I always have with United is how will a goal come about – who will supply the killer pass and who will then finish?

Bob Moncur was not one for handing out lavish praise but he did pay me a compliment recently when he said with our 1974 FA Cup final side he always knew when defending under the cosh it took just one ball knocked up to me and the whole complexion of the game could change.

It happened in the semi-final at Hillsborough when Terry Hibbitt provided the killer pass and I went on to score after our goalkeeper Willie McFaul had kept us in the game with a succession of unbelievable saves.

With the current Newcastle, Jonjo Shelvey can provide that sort of pass, as he did for the 1-1 home draw with Liverpool. Who else has his range?

Who will finish it off? The nearest we have is Dwight Gayle without him being a top-notch Premier League striker.

As I say, this is a real tensionfilled 90 minutes ahead of us. We can only pray Newcastle United emerge as the winners.