Crystal Palace (A) | Post Match Thread

[remember arthur mann]

First time checking site after last night. Noticed from the stands pep having a long chat with their goalkeeper. Was this caught on camera? Pep literally walked from the dug out straight to the Palace goal on the full time whistle. Can only assume he was having a go at him regarding the time wasting.

Although Pep patted him on the back at the end, they certainly weren't exchanging pleasantries or talking an upcoming deal.

 

[Blue Eyed Dick]

I appreciate everything that Pep does for the club but there has to be a Plan B in matches like this when the other team puts 10 behind the ball on a small pitch. Similarly the players need a different mentality. 95th minute, last attack, a throw in on the left side, ball launched into the box, no one there to receive! Even clubs at the other end of the table would have thrown players forward.

 

[dobingsdobber]

Anyone counting on Arsenal is living in dream land.

Not much point playing the fixture then?

 

[Norman kneejerk]

I appreciate everything that Pep does for the club but there has to be a Plan B in matches like this when the other team puts 10 behind the ball on a small pitch. Similarly the players need a different mentality. 95th minute, last attack, a throw in on the left side, ball launched into the box, no one there to receive! Even clubs at the other end of the table would have thrown players forward.

Might be something in that. Of 3 teams who have given us trouble this year, Southampton, Palace, Spurs, they have all done it twice suggesting we don't change if it's not working.

 

[Vester]

You’re talking like we were 14 points ahead on the same games.

We’ve dropped 7 points in that time so if it was a true 14 points ahead, we’d still be 7 points in front of them. But they’ve had two games in hand. The most important thing in this sentence is in bold; we were 14 points ahead but they had two games in hand.

Besides, gaps at previous times in the season don’t matter because we haven’t played everyone. Another way to look at it is that we were two points behind Liverpool before our easier run of fixtures that ended 2021, and Liverpool are coming out of their easier run of fixtures between 1-4 points behind us. Look who both have played in 2022 (* = top half sides):

City:
Arsenal a*
Chelsea h*
Southampton a*
Brentford h
Norwich a
Spurs h*
Everton a
United h*
Palace a

Liverpool:
Chelsea a*
Brentford h
Palace a
Leicester h
Burnley a
Norwich h
Leeds h
West Ham h*
Brighton a

We’ve played five top half teams to their two. If they didn’t make up some points with that run of games, plus having two games in hand, there’d be something wrong! Plus the last tough fixture they had, back in the first week in January, they dropped points.

You’re taking like we’ve crumbled and lost points or games consecutively. Yet these dropped points have been sandwiched between our best performances of the season (Chelsea h, Norwich a, United h) and we’ve only lost 1 game in that run.

There’s still ages to go in this title race. It may be a case that Liverpool start to drop points as their tougher run of fixtures starts up, we may go toe-to-toe to the end, or we might be the ones to fall away as having no striker is impossible to win the league without two seasons running.

I specifically said 14 points WITH them having 2 games in hand which is 100% true. If I would have said we have dropped 14 points, I wouldn't have mentioned that they had 2 games in hand would I? Maybe I should have specified "2 games in hand means the distance could go down to 8 points if/when they win their games in hand", but I since I already specified we had played 2 games more I didnt think it was necessary. I assumed most forum members could figure that out by themselves since its basic mathematics.

Yes we had tougher games than them since then. That doesnt mean I expected us to drop 7 points already, or dont think its worrying we got 2 pts out of 9 against Southampton, Spurs & Palace in a short space of time. If you expected us to drop 7 pts the last 7 games and think thats a great result, then congratulations you were right. I didnt and think our performances lately is worrying (worrying, not a complete disaster), and us winning against the worst team in the league and Norwich with a few goals in between doesnt change that for me. That doesnt mean I think the title race is over, or that its now Liverpools to lose, we are still favorites in my opinion. I just think that if we dont start playing better than what we currently are (which I think/hope we will), we will lose this title race. Maybe its the City pessimist in me talking, and you are free to disagree, but thats what I believe or perhaps fear.

For me its simple. When my favorite team wins it makes me happy, and when we dont, it makes me disappointed, which will lead to me complaining about it. Thats just who I am, it doesnt matter if we are in a relegation battle or in a title race. Maybe you being positive about dropping points to Palace in the middle of a title race makes you a better fan than me. In my world I dont see how you can be happy with dropping 7 points in 7 games to the team closest below you in the table (assuming Liverpool wins their game against Arsenal, which is not a certainty), regardless if you are 1st or 16th.

With all this said, we can all agree on that we hope Arsenal win against Liverpool tomorrow, and that we then smash Liverpool at home in a couple of weeks! We all hope City will win, the differences in how confident we are about us doing so doesnt change that. And even if we dont win anything, we go again next year!

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Yes we thrashed United, and might still win the Premier League, but we struggle when the opposition don’t need to win, and we don’t score an early goal.

Palace had obviously watered the pitch, and on reflection, it probably disrupted their breakaways as much as it slowed our dribbling through the lines, particularly for Mahrez and Grealish. However, there are wider concerns and we desperately need a change in momentum.

Aside from Diaz and Gundogen that was our strongest lineup, as essentially Sterling, Fernandinho, Jesus, Ake, and Zinchenko are all a step down, and will form the nucleus of our FA Cup team at Southampton. It’s also a worryingly disjointed formation with Cancelo and Walker wandering all over the place, and when we lose the ball, the space behind them is frightening.

However, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one pining for a traditional central striker, particularly when Silva missed the late chance.

 

[Grassland Blue]

Agree but Raz & Jesus should be on at 75 mins for me. We had nothing to lose in my opinion. 3 points were vital tonight not 1

1 point is ok.
If the dippers win their game in hand (and it's a big if) they are still a point behind.
So we win the league by 1pt or 3pts it's still the same trophy.

 

[Coatigan]

you can't question Pep on here mate .
there are more sheep than an Australian sheep convention.

I love Pep as much as the next blue. And will happily 'defend' wherever I think he is the fucking man.

But I have no issue saying what frustrates me, when it does. And the persistence in not changing things up when deaperately needing changed even in the last 10 minutes, is one that keeps coming up.

Drawing/losing games happens. Part of football. Sometimes you try everything, and it hust doesn't go your way. Nothing you can do about it.

Last night, he didn't try everything. If he'd thrown on Jesus/Sterling, heck Zinchenko up front, and they did nothing, then I'd be totally fine with it. One of those, move on. But to watch the same passing round the box in the 94th minute, after seeing it come to nothing in the 93 minutea prior, I'm sorry, I am allowed to be annoyed by that.

Doesn't surprise me, seen it loads of times since his Barcelona side did the exact same againdt Inter in the second leg with a CL final at stake. Including our own CL final, when he could have brought Aguero on much earlier.

He will always do it. On balance, he will win plenty doing it, and I will celebrate it. And I will get annoyed the games he does it, and it comes out to nothing. I'm aware that is somewhat fickle. But it is how it is.

 

[swinton blue]

First time checking site after last night. Noticed from the stands pep having a long chat with their goalkeeper. Was this caught on camera? Pep literally walked from the dug out straight to the Palace goal on the full time whistle. Can only assume he was having a go at him regarding the time wasting.

Yes think it was
Ederson is the only keeper who gets booked for time wasting

 

[mcfcbill91]

Hard to pick fault with a majority of the performance last night. Reduced Palace to one shot on target and minimised the counter threat well. Certainly avoided the mistakes of the game from October by constantly working them and not playing into the traps they leave. They want you to play into those central areas and try risky passes early etc so they can nick the ball and run off up the other end.

Pitch was a dried out & scruffy mess with the ball bouncing around. Usual ridiculous 30-40 seconds stoppage each time the ball went out and any concerted pressure ended up with one of their players 'injured' for 2-3 minutes. We did well to stay focussed and create the chances we did.

However, the finishing was a big disappointment. We've created 3-4 absolute golden chances which have to be scored - this will be the difference between 1st/2nd & any other trophies we remain in.

Compared to Southampton, Spurs & Everton maybe, I felt the performance was there.


I'd suggest reviewing the PL fixtures played by City & Liverpool since the start of January. Hard to imagine a team playing a softer run of games given opponent's placing & form.

There's a long way to go and the margins are fine.