THERE’S no time left to debate tactics, selection or where we went wrong – someone needs to step up and become a legend right here, right now.

We need to leave the big inquest for the summer. If mistakes have been made, then let’s talk about them in a few weeks when we can look back and smile about what a freakish season this has been.

This is a chance for one of the players to put themselves into the history books. You talk about legends, but if you are the one who scores a goal to keep this club up, you won’t have to buy a drink in the town again.

Yes, there will be nerves, but think about what an opportunity it could be for one of the lads who have under-performed all season to suddenly stand up and say ‘I was the one who made a difference.’ I think it will be one of the more experienced lads who will rise to the top. It could be Nigel Reo-Coker, Kevin Davies, Martin Petrov or even Ivan Klasnic if he gets on. They are the kind of players Owen will be looking to, they have been there before and got the scars to prove it.

I can understand there is frustration in the stands, but there’s no point looking back now and wishing we’d done this, or that. It boils down to two games, and no matter how disappointing it was against Spurs, I still think we can stay up.

Lose against West Brom and QPR win at home to Stoke and it’s game over – but that simplifies the whole situation. We know exactly what we need to do.

It’s a horrible time as a player. The pressure is huge and every mistake is magnified, but it doesn’t matter whether it is pretty, or whether we play good football over the next two games, it just matters that we get over the line.

The pressure applies to everyone else, and though we are looking at QPR as our main rivals now, you can’t completely write off Blackburn yet, and Wigan and Aston Villa could still be dragged into it.

It seems destined to go to the last day, and it could be that two of five teams are fighting to save their skins. In that case, I think I’d better get some new batteries for the remote control.

MARTIN Petrov has supplied no end of ammunition in the last few weeks – all we need now is someone to fire the bullets.

Some of his crossing from the left has been outstanding, and though his career at Wanderers has sometimes been chequered, I think he is finishing this season really strongly.

You know you are going to lose a little in terms of defence with Petrov but it is about striking that right balance with him.

It can be the same with Chris Eagles on the other side, although I think he has been more inconsistent.

Given the number of quality balls he has put into the penalty box in the last six games, I’d say Petrov is the most potent weapon we have got in our arsenal at the moment.

I HOPE a lesson has been learned after the Spurs defeat, because pressure can do funny things to a football team.

Patience went out of the window at times on Wednesday night and I lost count of the number of times we lost possession.

We were looking to play the killer ball too quickly instead of taking our time and playing the right pass. And when we were on top – with the crowd egging us on – we got over-excited and tried too hard.

It needed someone like Mark Davies to put their foot on the ball, because when you surrender possession to a team like Spurs it makes the game too open. You are basically trading attacks and saying ‘I’ll have a go, you have a go’. And against a team with as many attacking threats as they have, there was only going to be one winner.

We need results against West Brom and Stoke and there will be times when we have to force the issue. But we have to use our hearts and our heads.

YOU wouldn’t necessarily wish to throw a young man into a relegation battle, but Josh Vela looks right at home.

For a teenager he has really impressed me coming on against Sunderland and Tottenham and it looks like he might be one to keep an eye on in the next few years.

It’s a credit to Jimmy Phillips, David Lee, Tony Kelly and the rest of the boys at the Academy that we are producing players now after quite a long gap when the conveyor belt looked to have stalled.

And it must be great for the young lads who are coming through the system to see the likes of Vela and Joe Riley breaking into the first team.

It might seem all doom and gloom at the moment, but at least we can see some shoots of recovery in that sense.

IT’S okay moaning about Sandro’s handball in the build-up to Luka Modric’s wonder goal at the Reebok – but Owen will know in his heart of hearts that he should never have been given that chance.

Yes he handled it, and yes, Mike Riley should have spotted it, but we should definitely have defended that corner a lot better than we did.