Crystal Palace (H) Post Match Thread

BillyShears said:
I think it's compounded by the fact that it means we don't have Stones/Laporte as the CB pairing. Otamendi's not been great recently, Walker's form has been iffy. You'd think Pep would want stability in the back 4 and better ball players on the park.

Anyway, it's gone now. There's a game Boxing Day to put this right and get some rhythm back.
Click to expand...

Who are you!
 
BillyShears said:
I think it's compounded by the fact that it means we don't have Stones/Laporte as the CB pairing. Otamendi's not been great recently, Walker's form has been iffy. You'd think Pep would want stability in the back 4 and better ball players on the park.

Anyway, it's gone now. There's a game Boxing Day to put this right and get some rhythm back.
Click to expand...
Good to “see” you mate.

Yesterday was a horrible selection by Pep, he thought we’d be able to get away with it knowing we had big guns on the bench for the second half. Going 3-1 down to the shitty penalty just made it a bridge too far and we panicked.

Shit happens, we move on.

p.s. I agree with your earlier post about Stones/Laporte, said the same yesterday.
 
Play defenders in defence and midfielders in midfield.

When Dinho is out, let Gundogan play in his role. Foden must be royally pissed off
 
imho the next three matches are premiership wise the most vital for us Leicester won at Chelsea and Southampton have had an upturn in form since they changed manager It is imperative that we go into the liverpool game no more than 4 pts or at worst 5 pts behind i cannot see liverpool losing in excess of two games whilst we were poor at Chelsea and sluggish v Everton and yesterday follows a pattern However we no doubt can feel unlucky with injuries to are best 3 players Having said that we have a manager who despite head patting all our players at the end yesterday. would have felt it as deeply as we do and will not give up our title ambitions with ease
 
Bob Loblaw said:
Challenging for 4 trophies will always open you up to injury and fatigue. Both Chelsea and City lost winnable games yesterday after playing in the League Cup midweek. Yes Leicester also played but they haven't had to also play in Europe in recent weeks. A 2 legged semifinal against Burton plus a final (presumably)are 3 more matches than we have play more than Liverpool. Add to that the PL game that will have to be moved out to accommodate the League Cup final. Mind you, by then, the Champions League will be back in full swing.

It's all good and well to be competing on all fronts but there is a reason no one has ever done it before. It doesn't matter whether you're playing Burton or Schalke. Minutes on the legs are minutes on the legs. Liverpool are already benefitting from an early League Cup exit. If I were Klopp I'd also "throw" the FA Cup tie against Wolves and just play the kids. City will definitely recover from this blip but Liverpool will be pushing us all the way.
Click to expand...
Doubles are won all the time,we have done it twice recently
 
OB1 said:
Yesterday was a freak result by any measure but that does not mean Pep and the players are immune from criticism. I have no issue with rotation in general but I do feel that sticking with Stones and Laporte as the CB pairing for most league and UCL games is the way to go.

I don't like to single out players or focus on the negatives too much but Walker's mare of performance could have been directed by Wes Craven. I'm in the club that considers him to be overworked and in need of a rest.

I do think we should break the bank as it were for a Fern successor in January.
Click to expand...

Definitely, and of the two bookies’ favourites, I’d favour Ndombele over De Jong, if only for the physicality and that ability to drive forward quickly. There’s just no margin for error whatsoever this season. I half expected to lose yesterday as soon as I saw the names Stones and Gundogan paired together in the engine room (and I mean no disrespect to either player, but they both lack any kind of zip). As regards Walker, that performance had been coming. Several times this season he’s lost track of where the ball is (usually after having let a high one bounce) and let opponent’s wriggle away from him, or tried, unsuccessfully, to shepherd balls out of play only to get robbed, and he seems congenitally incapable of preventing any kind of cross coming in. Unfortunately, Mendy was equally poor prior to his injury, Delph isn’t quite living up to last season’s heights either, and Danilo’s been out injured long-term, which reasons combined are probably why we look like conceding every time the opposition attacks at the moment.
A left back and a centre forward have got to be on the shopping list as well next summer.
 
OB1 said:
Yesterday was a freak result by any measure but that does not mean Pep and the players are immune from criticism. I have no issue with rotation in general but I do feel that sticking with Stones and Laporte as the CB pairing for most league and UCL games is the way to go.

I don't like to single out players or focus on the negatives too much but Walker's mare of performance could have been directed by Wes Craven. I'm in the club that considers him to be overworked and in need of a rest.

I do think we should break the bank as it were for a Fern successor in January.
Click to expand...


City won't break the bank in the sense of overpaying for a player. That's laudable in some respects but has a downside best example being Van Dijk. It also applies to Sanchez Fred and Pogba though they might have been bullets dodged. But they illustrate the point.
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
Definitely, and of the two bookies’ favourites, I’d favour Ndombele over De Jong, if only for the physicality and that ability to drive forward quickly. There’s just no margin for error whatsoever this season. I half expected to lose yesterday as soon as I saw the names Stones and Gundogan paired together in the engine room (and I mean no disrespect to either player, but they both lack any kind of zip). As regards Walker, that performance had been coming. Several times this season he’s lost track of where the ball is (usually after having let a high one bounce) and let opponent’s wriggle away from him, or tried, unsuccessfully, to shepherd balls out of play only to get robbed, and he seems congenitally incapable of preventing any kind of cross coming in. Unfortunately, Mendy was equally poor prior to his injury, Delph isn’t quite living up to last season’s heights either, and Danilo’s been out injured long-term, which reasons combined are probably why we look like conceding every time the opposition attacks at the moment.
A left back and a centre forward have got to be on the shopping list as well next summer.
Click to expand...

We didn't actually concede many goals with Mendy in the side but clearly he does have work to do on the defensive side. If we'd had Mendy yesterday, Delph could have played DM.

Danilo has been a big miss for me. He looked to have found his feet at City towards the end of last season but the has been blighted by injury. He can provide Walker rest and competition.

A DM who is a bit of a beast, in addition to have the requisite technical chops for a Pep team, would be my preference. There are times in the Premier League when you need to compete physically.
 
City Man said:
City won't break the bank in the sense of overpaying for a player. That's laudable in some respects but has a downside best example being Van Dijk. It also applies to Sanchez Fred and Pogba though they might have been bullets dodged. But they illustrate the point.
Click to expand...

Van Dijk seemed to want Liverpool and I think there is hope that Laporte will end up being a better player.

I don't expect City to overpay but the January market is tricky; also, we could be argued to have missed out on more players than we should. We can't win every transfer battle but we have the financial muscle to get the job done where it really matters. Surprising us all in January by bringing in a top target would be a good thing to do.
 
OB1 said:
Van Dijk seemed to want Liverpool and I think there is hope that Laporte will end up being a better player.

I don't expect City to overpay but the January market is tricky; also, we could be argued to have missed out on more players than we should. We can't win every transfer battle but we have the financial muscle to get the job done where it really matters. Surprising us all in January by bringing in a top target would be a good thing to do.
Click to expand...
More importantly, it might perk up a squad that hasn’t been measurably improved by a few flashes of Mahrez, plus another year in the legs of our older players. Paying a club record for a “super sub” so Sterling can play CF for a bit every now and then was a joke, especially when one considers the holes we needed filling.
 
I think they’re allowed an off day. That, coupled with playing against a team who played very well and scored a very good goal and an absolute worldy, meant we lost a game of football. There is sometimes a rag-like sense of entitlement to win for some posters on here and that, given where we’ve come from, is not at all understandable.
Equally, I’m not sure whiy people are so critical, especially as the manager we’ve got seems to get an awful lot more right than he gets wrong.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
More importantly, it might perk up a squad that hasn’t been measurably improved by a few flashes of Mahrez, plus another year in the legs of our older players. Paying a club record for a “super sub” so Sterling can play CF for a bit every now and then was a joke, especially when one considers the holes we needed filling.
Click to expand...
The biggest hole IMO being Fern's successor. Merlin is peerless but at least you can see Bernie as a reasonable successor. But we've now got to the stage where it's getting difficult to play Fern every game and I feel we've dropped the ball a bit on this one.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Half a season to go and the title is over????

A few people had a little too much to drink in their pre-Christmas commiserations!

Lest minds be so foggy they forgot, United and Liverpool we’re BOTH miles ahead and dead certs for the title in 2012 and 2014 and NEITHER won it! Liverpool were 3-0 up at Palace and drew 3-3 in the last few minutes. United drew 4-4 at home to a shit Everton team. It is almost NEVER over when it is a few points and a few games to play.....and we have HALF A SEASON and to play them at home in the coming weeks!

Of greater concern is the lack of new ideas, the constant shipping of goals, the erosion of a once (a month ago? Two, maybe?) dominant goal difference, the “4 shots, 3 goals and one hitting the post” type stats that are coming from these displays. We are afraid to tackle around the box, so we try to block. Walker hop, hop, hopping to get in a block when he is shepherding the player away from the goal...even though he is taking him ONTO HIS STRONG FOOT...and diving into a sliding challenge with his leg in the air IN OUR BOX. Or, how about having a full back who can simply block a cross as a start? It’s great to be a lung busting runner, but stopping the cross is the BASIS of being a full back...or was in the olden days of football.

As has been said, Stones and Laporte at the back should pick itself unless we have injuries. These players are not running 10-12K per game, they are shuttling little passes back and forth like a training session. No, it is the midfielders and forwards, playing every game with a knock or a niggle, that need the rest, which is why most substitutions take place amongst that group of players. With the midfielders we have, two of them should be getting subbed out after an hour almost every game, with one of the forwards getting a break, too. THAT is how you create desire to play AND rest the weary, because running 30+ year olds for 90 mins every week for 3+ months in the hope that they can get a rest over the busy Christmas season gets you exactly where we were yesterday...NONE OF THEM ON THE FIELD BECAUSE THEY ARE INJURED WITH MUSCLE INJURIES.

The reason we have no one who seems to know how to fill in for Fernandinho is because we never give the poor bugger a break at 60 minutes and rotate a player into the position....even when we are 2 or 3 goals up. The reason Silva is injured is because, in the absence of KDB, we haven’t given him a rest even though Pep said he was going to be a part timer this season. Foden will run all day in that hole, even if he isn’t Merlin.

I’m hoping that game is a wake up call, not only to the players, but the coaching staff. However, to even mention writing off the season because we lost a game and are now a whole 4 points behind (but we still have better GD) a team that is playing out of its skull at the moment and is unbeaten is flapping of the highest order. Unless you believe they will be invincible and not draw many either, it is not over. Unless you believe that City can’t go on a run, or that no one else will stumble for the rest of the season, it isn’t over.

Rather, for me, this is EXACTLY the time I want to see just how good of a coach and team we are. Where do we go from here? What do we do in response to that result? When, if ever, this season will we get our best XI on the field together and what do they have in the tank?

No, this isn’t the time to flap and write us off, unless you think that is all we are worth.

And, did you hear the crowd when we were trying to come back? Best atmosphere for a meh home game all season!!! Blue Moon ringing in the ears, pulling the team on! THAT is the City of old, when the Kippax was heaving and the sound coming out of the smoke filled upper reaches of the Kippax was a sound to behold! No, there’s some life left in this old dog...players and fans alike...and we have just been slapped in the face by a leather glove, so are we going to fight Iike men or lie down on the field of battle like whipped dogs afraid they have been mastered?

I know which my money is on...and I’m looking forward to the battles ahead.
Click to expand...
Erm shouting again
 
City Man said:
The biggest hole IMO being Fern's successor. Merlin is peerless but at least you can see Bernie as a reasonable successor. But we've now got to the stage where it's getting difficult to play Fern every game and I feel we've dropped the ball a bit on this one.
Click to expand...

The issues this season are the same as last season, the difference being that we maybe got away with it last season. Hopefully we will get away with it again. But going into the season with 1 LB with a poor fitness record and a DM wasn’t a wise decision imo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top