Crystal Palace (H) - Post Match

[Eds]

Thought we played ok but yet another team to the park two buses and take something from the game. Anyone tell me why no penalty for the push after a KDB hit the bar? Ref way out of his depth and let Palace get away with time wasting all game. Thought he was going to book Ederson at the end which would have summed up refs performance. Palace get a lot of decisions their way, wonder why.

 

[Kenward Garg]

Also agree. Palace deserved fuck all.

Yep. Deep defensive block with the onus on City to break the team down. Set-pieces and counter-attacks against a defence that is built to play offensive football and thus exposed, because of this approach. Still, 2-2 ain't that bad. Two points above Leicester, 3-1 advantage in the semi-final's of the Carabao Cup, Fulham in the next round of the FA Cup and a mouth-watering ding-dong against the mighty Real Madrid. In the good old days, the only prospect for the season was avoiding relegation, again.

 

[BlueDan91]

Just a thought, what's the difference between the penalty given to us and rescinded and the penalty that Watford were awarded for a similar thing?

Admittidely I've not seen a reply of the reidewald handball apart from seeing it live at the game.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

I don't know what other people aren't seeing, but if it wasn't for Fern since the start of this season, we would be around United's position in the table.

He is magnificent. His anticipation at the back gets us out of trouble time and again.

He saved us going two goals down when Ederson and Stones went walkies, getting his body in front of their player and earning a foul.

Rarely does he get beaten in a straight header, he's clearing lines, he joining up the midfield.

If we had two of him on the pitch, we would still be in the title race.

Defying age.

He's been awesome at CB - all 5 foot 9 of him.

 

[Kenward Garg]

As soon as I see Gundogan in the starting eleven my heart sinks.

I have to admit, I feel the same. Rodri is the man at pivot for me but I'm no manager of a multi-million pound, trophy laden football team.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

I don't know what other people aren't seeing, but if it wasn't for Fern since the start of this season, we would be around United's position in the table.

He is magnificent. His anticipation at the back gets us out of trouble time and again.

He saved us going two goals down when Ederson and Stones went walkies, getting his body in front of their player and earning a foul.

Rarely does he get beaten in a straight header, he's clearing lines, he joining up the midfield.

If we had two of him on the pitch, we would still be in the title race.

Defying age.

I agree. Definitely saved us going 2-0 down

 

[Gabriel]

I’m not going argue the toss with you, but Fernandinho is currently the best fit defender we have...BY FAR.

And, we were unlucky, but all the stats in the world don’t tell the same story as always...Smash and grab, City on the front foot in everything except scoreline!

And given that Laporte is probably not going to reach and produce his best this season, that’s either high praise for Fernandinho or an indictment on the quality of the rest. :-(

 

[Kenward Garg]

Forget about how weak Stones was, how do you allow a 2 on 2 to happen with 1 minute to go when you’re leading a match. That’s criminal, there should have been at least majority of the team behind the ball and kill the game off.

As the guy below eloquently states "Pep is off his head" because he won't do what most mortals do and "park the bus": something that I believe has been his achilles heel in Europe especially.

 

[come-on-barney]

The referee today was shocking. Let them waste time all game, and literally strolled back to the centre circle along with the palace players after their goals. Had a word with their keeper early on, and then he continued to waste time and nothing was said.

 

[Eds]

If Arsenal want Stones and are willing to pay, we should cut our losses.

He was truly appalling today. His positional sense was nowhere.

He's actually responsible twice for the first goal, needlessly heading out for the corner and then caught napping for the actual goal.

As for the second, he was again responsible twice. He loses a header in midfield and then morphs into Otamendi by backing off into his own box.

Pep was doing his nut all game and trying to communicate with him.

And then injured again.

Cancelo wasn't far behind him in his general sloppiness.

Felt sorry for Mendy. That is as good a full-back performance as I have seen in many a long year. Truly outstanding delivery and purpose in his game.

Hopefully a big step forward for him now.

Think you will find for their first goal the corner came after the Palace player graded it onto Stones. Thing is the cross came from a free kick that never was but ref happy couldn’t wait to blow. Second came from long goal kick that both Sergio and KDB watched to give them free header. Someone lost a tackle and Cancelo was five yards in front of Zaha. Stones should have taken him out before he reached the area and gambled on us defending a cross. Meanwhile Ferny was fouled when he was trying to get goalside of Wickham but as usual VAR didn’t see it.