Crystal Palace PL (H) Post match thread

[toffee balls]

Well, look, to be fair, we haven't exactly had much to boo about, have we? It's dead easy not to boo the team when they're winning everything in sight. That's easy. Personally, I'd never boo the team when things aren't going quite our way. And I was fuming like everyone at full time.
It's the behaviour of a spoilt, mardarse baby.

You pay your money, you make your choice.

The management told us we need to be more demanding and not to settle for mediocrity.

You cannot have it both ways.

 

[TrentGrisham]

The main characteristic of City under Guardiola is our control & workrate. For the first time in over a year, I saw a team (Luton) up the tempo, workrate & physicality against us & we matched & surpassed them.

Since Haaland & Alvarez came into our team, we seem happier to cede control, sit back & hit teams on the break with a long ball over the top, or a through ball which plays to Erling's strengths.

Because we're happy to cede a certain amount of possession to play longer balls over the top to bypass a midfield press, we end up playing football closer to our area, which statistically presents a bigger danger to our goal.

In the 2021-2022 season, if we lost possession, typically it'd be in the opposition half, so they'd still have a lot of work to do to pressure our defence.

Now because we tend to drop deeper, a mistake means the opposition are on top of our defence, in our defensive third & within striking distance of Ederson.

Remember all those typical City goals we'd score with a player getting to the byline in the area & cutting the ball back for either an attempt on goal, or a pass leading to an attempt?

Previously, because we lacked an Erling or a Julian, we'd have to play higher up the pitch, strangle the shit out of teams, & literally have to walk a goal into the net through a packed defence. We rarely seem to score those anymore because of the way we've adapted to play to Haaland's strengths, which means we play deeper & with less intensity.

We really need to return to basics & rediscover ourselves. Another issue is our bench. Kova is no Gundog. Nunes nor Philips are nowhere near the elite midfield level we're used to.

After winning the Treble, we've further diluted the quality gene pool of our once world class midfield. On paper we've the strongest defence I can recall us ever having, which suggests it's other things & not the quality of defenders why we're shipping late equalisers, & conceding so many goals per game.

This is a good comment. I completely agree and it's why I think Pep feels the need to play Alvarez with Haaland as frequently as he does. Haaland simply isn't physically 'built' to press like we have in the past over 90 minutes so I believe Pep's thinking is that he needs Alvarez there to help pick up some of that slack for Erling. Looking at Alvarez's energy levels yesterday makes me think that all this running has caught up with him.

 

[burning blue soul]

Same with Palmer and Marhez
We won't keep a players wife here that doesn't want to be here.

There, that's more accurate :)

 

[the-ecstacy-of-eight]

Challenging an opponent for the ball or attempting to play the ball when it impacts on an opponent makes you offside as well as blocking the line of sight

...sometimes ;)

 

[the-ecstacy-of-eight]

Big guy tugs arm of little guy but that’s not a foul!

It is when Haaland does it!

 

[Chi-town blues]

125 .

 

[heslops barnet]

The boos were for the ref surely?

I was there and in hindsight I reckon it was a bit of both……..frustration with the team & VAR officiating

 

[JewelZee]

Sorry mate but Walker hasn't totally lost it. Playing a bit indifferent at times just like quite a few other squad members, so he's not alone in that respect.

Washed...

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

How many fuckin times does it have to be said????
Gundogan's missus did NOT like living in Manchester.
SHE wanted to move to Spain
HE wanted to make his wife happy.
THEY decided to move to Spain.
Why the fuck do people go on about 'letting Gundogan go'??
He fucking wanted to go!!!

He wanted a longer deal for ages, by the time we finally fucking got round to it Barcelona had their claws into him. We didn't show a vitally important player the right respect and thought we could low ball him into a year extension.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

It’s not entitlement it’s expecting probably one of the greatest teams to go on the offensive and no disrespect to palace but brush them aside yes shit can happen but come on,2 up against that lot ffs something is not right going forward..

We've defended magnificently from the front for years and years and tended to snuff-out the park the bus and hope for something on the break teams. Although a week is a long time in politics, our recent defensive lapse is the width of a page in a very thick book. It's perfectly normal and natural (the team aren't robots) and has happened to each and every legendary team in the history of football. To me, it would be seriously weird if these temporary lapses didn't happen. We play risk and reward footy in the pursuit of glory - it's in our DNA - we pass the ball to players being marked and on the edge of our box we pass the ball inches from opposing players - 99.9 per cent of the time. Under Pep we will never be a play it safe team. If you want a play it safe, park the bus and hope for something on the break coach, you hire Maureen, Simeone or to a lesser extent, Poch. If you want a coach to revitalise your fading galactico superstars and massage their egos, you hire Ancelotti. If you want to see a mixture of hard to beat, solid and some attacking football you hire Klopp. If you want to see beautiful football and trophies that none of us ever dared dream about, you bring in Pep. Make no mistake, Pep is the greatest coach in the history of football anywhere on the planet.

While our attack and defence are going through a poor patch at the same time, I'm not worried - been going to games since the 60s. No medals given before Xmas. Wait a minute - we picked up one trophy in August and have a reasonable chance of grabbing another this week - and everything except the Carabau still to play for. Yes, fans of other clubs slag these competitions off because they ain't in them. Look at Arsenalhole in the Community Shield - celebrated like it was the Champions League.

 

[CityReddish]

Disappointing throwing a 2-0 lead away at home ffs, but every team has a bit of a bad spell.... City's just happens to be now, they will come through it. Yes, we are 4th but been worst off in previous seasons and still come through because everyone else in the Premier is inconsistent, put a nice run together and City will be back on top after christmas.

Now it's the World Club Cup (who'd have thought that 15 years ago eh ?) was normally fighting relegation. but here we are, and i think it's something we really want to win, World Club Champions.... you don't get to say that everyday of the week do you, so next week the real City will turn up and blitz them, just hope Erling and Jeremy are ready.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

We've defended magnificently from the front for years and years and tended to snuff-out the park the bus and hope for something on the break teams. Although a week is a long time in politics, our recent defensive lapse is the width of a page in a very thick book. It's perfectly normal and natural (the team aren't robots) and has happened to each and every legendary team in the history of football. To me, it would be seriously weird if these temporary lapses didn't happen. We play risk and reward footy in the pursuit of glory - it's in our DNA - we pass the ball to players being marked and on the edge of our box we pass the ball inches from opposing players - 99.9 per cent of the time. Under Pep we will never be a play it safe team. If you want a play it safe, park the bus and hope for something on the break coach, you hire Maureen, Poch or Simeone. If you want a coach to revitalise your fading galactico superstars, you hire Ancelotti. If you want to see a mixture of hard to beat, solid and some attacking football you hire Klopp. If you want to see beautiful football and trophies that none of us ever dared dream about, you bring in Pep. Make no mistake, Pep is the greatest coach in the history of football anywhere on the planet.

While our attack and defence are going through a poor patch at the same time, I'm not worried - been going to games since the 60s. No medals given before Xmas. Wait a minute - we picked up one trophy in August and have a reasonable chance of grabbing another this week - and everything except the Carabau still to play for. Yes, fans of other clubs slag these competitions off because they ain't in them. Look at Arsenalhole in the Community Shield - celebrated like it was the Champions League.

I admire your optimism - however the current malaise is deeper than poor patches of form seen in previous years.

There is no quick fix for multiple problems now facing.

Agree that Pep is the greatest coach but we are approaching his final 18 months and that brings a world of problems on top of the current issues which won’t have a happy ending.

 

[blue ranger]

Was really frustrated yesterday after the game. As soon as the penalty was awarded I knew Ederson wasn’t saving it. Kyle Walker looks like he is playing on fumes. I’m sick of playing him pushed up on the right wing. If that’s what we wanted we should have kept cancelo who could have done THAT role better. We have paid £85m for a CB and played him LB. He looks like a duck out of water at times while Ake who plays LB brilliantly is playing at CB. Why not just swap them around. John Stones plays in a dead rubber in mid week which then means he can’t play on the Saturday. Kovacic plays well at Luton, Nunes plays well in midweek and so none of them get on the pitch. The match was crying out for some control in last 10 minutes. And I’m really sorry, unless Rico Lewis is playing as an inverted RB he shouldn’t be in the team. Rant over :-)

 

[mick10]

I tend to not bother selecting my favourite turd out of the shits I have had.

Fuck me ahahahaha that did make me laugh.

 

[Dannyblue52]

Maybe it was aimed at Pep for not using any subs, he’s always quick to show his displeasure with the atmosphere by the fans, so it can work both ways.
The sooner VK gets the push at Burnley and we bring him in as Pep’s 2 the better.

I thought they aimed it at the ref for not giving the obvious foul on Bernardo leading up to the goal.

 

[Goro]

The problem is that we are not learning anything lessons. You think that after Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal the team would have learned to hold on to a lead. Absolute bottlers at the moment.

thats true
at least its not too late to start learning

 

[Blu1]

Lot of negativity on here from myself too & it’s justified. But let’s not forget how great the last few seasons have been.

The boys need our full support regardless of results moving forward

 

[Legal Alien]

Was really frustrated yesterday after the game. As soon as the penalty was awarded I knew Ederson wasn’t saving it. Kyle Walker looks like he is playing on fumes. I’m sick of playing him pushed up on the right wing. If that’s what we wanted we should have kept cancelo who could have done THAT role better. We have paid £85m for a CB and played him LB. He looks like a duck out of water at times while Ake who plays LB brilliantly is playing at CB. Why not just swap them around. John Stones plays in a dead rubber in mid week which then means he can’t play on the Saturday. Kovacic plays well at Luton, Nunes plays well in midweek and so none of them get on the pitch. The match was crying out for some control in last 10 minutes. And I’m really sorry, unless Rico Lewis is playing as an inverted RB he shouldn’t be in the team. Rant over :-)

I agree with that.

I don't understand using Walker or Gvardiol as wingbacks when their final ball is pretty much shite.

The main concern for me though is finding a consistent partner to play alongside Rodri.
We need someone to hold when Rodri goes forward and vice versa or else we are wide open if a through ball is played.
I thought Kovacic would be that player and at times he's done it and we look more solid and control the midfield.

We were crying out for some solidity yesterday but for some reason Pep decided not to change it.

I remember Pep was one of the loudest voices in wanting 5 subs and now he has that option he barely uses it.
He needs to trust the players the club has bought and be a lot less stubborn.
If we were playing at the top of our game i could understand it, but in our current form the side and players need a change and a boost now and again.

 

[BolinCell]

I think there's a contradiction in what you say. We've defended magnificently from the front for years and years and tended to snuff-out the park the bus and hope for something on the break teams. You say 'We can't defend........... it's been going on for weeks now'. What's happening is the 'weeks' you describe where we've dropped below our monstrously high standards. Although a week is a long time in politics, our recent defensive lapse is the width of a page in a very thick book. It's perfectly normal and natural and has happened to each and every legendary team in the history of football. To me, it would be seriously weird if these temporary lapses didn't happen. We play risk and reward footy in the pursuit of glory - it's in our DNA - we pass the ball to players being marked and on the edge of our box we pass the ball inches from opposing players - 99.9 per cent of the time. Under Pep we will never be a play it safe team. If you want a play it safe, park the bus and hope for something on the break coach, you hire Maureen, Poch or Simeone. If you want a bit of both, you hire Klopp. If you want to see beautiful football and trophies that none of us ever dared dream about, you bring in Pep. Make no mistake, Pep is the greatest coach in the history of football anywhere on the planet.

What you forget to mention is these draws are likely to cost us the title this season.

 

[Middedon]

My concern has been his ack of pace, that wont change because he goes to centre back

Although I don’t ever recall his pace being criticized at RBL/with Croatia. And I don’t think he’s slower than Dias who has managed fine. I think fullback/winger speed and mobility is totally different than “required” CB speed. (Sure it’s great to have it as CB) He’s usually being asked to turn around when he’s in our final third. Honestly, at this point I’m not sure it’s going to matter. After what will be a year of playing LB, he’s losing a year of development as CB at an important age. He’ll be replaced at LB if we finally buy a new one and then have no experience as a CB on this team. It’s like we’re just burning the money we spent on him.