Crystal Palace (A) - Pre-Match Thread

[domalino]

Not confident on this one.
Palace have a good record against us in recent times and they are playing well.

I thought that we had a bad record vs. Palace, but I saw we've actually W8 D1 L1 from the last 10 games.

It's really just the 1 loss last season that was a bad result.

We drew 0-0 in the centurion season but we were so far ahead it didnt matter, we rested key players, Danilo and Mangala were playing, plus Bernardo was getting one of his first starts in his first season and not really integrated.

So it's really just the 1 bad game last december, which was a total freak with the goal of the season coming out of nowhere from Townsend.


I think we will win relatively comfortably compared to some of the predictions on here. 3-1 maybe with their goal coming late.

 

[Proy]

I should probably grow some bollox. My mind is in the same place as it was after the Wolves game. There is something missing so will be interesting how we recover.

Genuinely can’t see us winning this game

 

[keith's curle]

I thought that we had a bad record vs. Palace, but I saw we've actually W8 D1 L1 from the last 10 games.

It's really just the 1 loss last season that was a bad result.

We drew 0-0 in the centurion season but we were so far ahead it didnt matter, we rested key players, Danilo and Mangala were playing, plus Bernardo was getting one of his first starts in his first season and not really integrated.

So it's really just the 1 bad game last december, which was a total freak with the goal of the season coming out of nowhere from Townsend.


I think we will win relatively comfortably compared to some of the predictions on here. 3-1 maybe with their goal coming late.

Between losing to them last season and the Wolves and Norwich results recently I think many of us have lost a bit of nerve due to Liverpool's start. Some performances haven't been great either, so that won't help.

It's time for a deep breath, head wobble, reality check etc. We'll win this, steady the ship and get back on track.

*crosses fingers*

 

[King KdB of Belgium]

This has now become a must win game. We cannot afford to go any further behind the scousers. Yes I know it is still early on in the season. However now that we are 7pts behind the title is now out of our hands. Yes even if we win both games against the scousers it still would not be enough to win the title assuming we both win all the remaining games. We would still need the scousers to drop at least 2pts more.

 

[Father Paul]

Few decisions for Pep that are not immediately obvious:

Right back: Walker or Cancelo?
Central defence: Bring Stones straight back in, or put him on the bench?
Jesus or/and Aguero?
Mahrez or Bernardo on the right?

I would quite like to see Jesus, Aguero and Sterling as a front three with Bernardo playing central and KDB on the right of midfield.

We are going to get 75% possession. With KDB and Bernardo in midfield (surely they will play?) then a three-main forward line of Jesus, Aguero and Sterling should do well.

I was shocked at how few chances we created against Wolves but that midfield of Gundog, rodri, and David Silva played very poorly.

We found out later that Walker was ill, and Aguero was carrying an injury which made it all the stranger not to start Bernardo and Jesus. In hindsight, I think we can see that Pep made a deliberate decision to take Bernardo out because of all the media hype when in normal circumstances he would have been the first name on the team-sheet given the absences that day.

He is always slow to play Bernardo in midfield and it seems that he is now in rotation with Sterling and Marhez for the wide forward positions. My personal view based on the limited number of times that I have seen Bernardo play live is that he is potentially better in a deeper more central role. The front trio is interesting and I am surprised we have not seen it more often particularly as Jesus often seems to adopt that role for Brazil and his work ethic cannot be questioned. At the moment we are suffering because we have a surplus of players in the midfield/attacking midfield position and it appears difficult to get the right blend Wolves being a case in point. On the other hand we are threadbare at the back and a lot of time is now spent trying to sort things out. Nevertheless we need to win the next three games and I think we will just about.

 

[Father Paul]

Although Rodri has done well , Think we miss Fernandinho in holding midfield and also runners in midfield.

Ederson
Walker stones Rodri mendy
Fern
Kev Bernado
Mahrez Jesus sterling

I would be very surprised if Pep would switch Rodri and Fern around and that CB partnership has disaster written all over it.. As I said above he also rarely plays Bernardo in the middle. Mendy is probably unavailable yet again. Possible he would start that front three allright.

 

[Father Paul]

This has now become a must win game. We cannot afford to go any further behind the scousers. Yes I know it is still early on in the season. However now that we are 7pts behind the title is now out of our hands. Yes even if we win both games against the scousers it still would not be enough to win the title assuming we both win all the remaining games. We would still need the scousers to drop at least 2pts more.

Even worse I think we are 8 pts behind. Hopefully we can win the next 3 and with a bit of luck the dippers drop something. I think given our fixtures in December if we are more that 8 behind after we go to Klanfield it might be well beyond us come the New Year when we get reinforcements and men back

 

[bellsouth]

A lot of people have Mendy in their line-ups, thought he was injured? Is he better now?

 

[93.20blue]

I would be very surprised if Pep would switch Rodri and Fern around and that CB partnership has disaster written all over it.. As I said above he also rarely plays Bernardo in the middle. Mendy is probably unavailable yet again. Possible he would start that front three allright.

not sure why bernado can’t play in the middle , do people not remember him in the middle last year at home v Liverpool , he was a machine and out ran everyone and ran the show , ota and stones can’t play together , I’d personally rather have fern holding as he’s the best holding midfielder in the premier league , rodri being left footed would give us good balance like when Laporte plays

 

[Ric]

A lot of people have Mendy in their line-ups, thought he was injured? Is he better now?

He's been training with the first team this week.