Crystal Palace (H) - Post Match

Thought overall we played OK, bit too slow certainly first half and tried to be a bit too intricate in and around their box.
Defensively we are just too soft and managed to concede 2 goals from situations resulting in 1 shot on target.
My thoughts are why wasn't Walker playing, he had that diving twat in his pocket at their place and no way does their second get scored with him 1 on 1 there. Why did we not play keep ball after we scored what should have been the winner, hence why the fuck does Cancello go flying forward leaving his man in space in the dying moments. Palace deserved fuck all, I don't believe those kind of set ups deserve anything but narrow defeats, but it was our fault that they didn't get what they deserved. The league is gone anyway but worryingly, play against Madrid like that at the back and it will be carnage.
 
Pep was fallible for yesterday’s draw.

With the possible exception of Walker for Cancelo (to counter their biggest threat), we should have gone into the game unchanged.

Mahrez can be frustrating at times but he’s in excellent form at the moment. He posed a greater threat than the likes of Sterling and Bernardo despite featuring for just 20 minutes.
 
Conceding late goals most games now and they are starting to cost us.

Getting caught on the break without an attempted challenge in the 90th min was shocking, Stones had a good view without wanting to get too close.
 
simon23 said:
agree - its a balance between the risks and the rewards with the way he sets up

but do you think he should adjust it slightly when he knows its going to be a much bigger issue than normal (or another way of putting it - the risks start to outweigh the rewards -ie playing the scousers who have 3 of the fastest forwards in the prem who are all technically gifted on one vs ones and with space to operate - who only need a half chance to score let alone the gilt edges chances Pep system does afford any team at times.

I wouldnt change it for the world (or Pep) but there are times I think he could just be a little different.
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Pep's philosophy is all risk and reward. However, when up against Barca a few years ago, he modified things and it didn't come off. As for the Liverpool front three - Salah's coming up to 28 but has only been scoring a significant number of goals since 2017. Sergio is a better striker than the Liverpool front three, Kane the lot. You judge a striker by the number of goals they score in a top team - it's a level playing field. Jesus near enough scores one in two.
 
I remember reading 5 or 6 years ago that Sergio planned to return to Barca at the age of 31. He probably didn't believe that at 31 he would still be improving his all round game under the greatest coach in the world and scoring more regularly than anyone in Prem history. A leaky defence can be fixed.
 
Long goal kick why? We’ve played out from the back against much better sides and retained the ball. We lose the header, we lose the 50/50, Stones then let’s Zaha run instead of taking him out and accepting the yellow card. Frustrating.
 
I'm afraid we've never been the best at game-management / killing-off a game. Frustrating.

Two thoughts on future team selection;

1) Pep really can't justify picking Sterling over Mahrez on current form,

2) Pep has only started Sergio & Jesus together 11 times ... but in those 11 games we scored 40 times.
 
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