Crystal Palace (H) - Post-Match Thread

Just had a flashback to Saturday’s game. Already one down, the red card is shown. Lots of really cheesed-off blues at half-time.

And then ‘She’s electric’ blasts out from the tannoy. Jesus wept.
 
The glaringly obvious issue in this team is that we don't have an out and out centre forward. When our opposition parks the bus, there's nothing we can do. We either score first or drop points.
 
well done ref for destroying the game, would like to have been a palace fan watching this game knowing ref was totally on you side.
if you get beat off palace at home you are struggling wining the league.
This seasons title will be won by a team that loses 3 games max all season, we have lost 2 so far. Not time to hang the boots up yet but makes our next games Vs chelsea and scousers at home a must win.
By the way pep rags will park the bus on saturday
 
Mike N said:
Just had a flashback to Saturday’s game. Already one down, the red card is shown. Lots of really cheesed-off blues at half-time.

And then ‘She’s electric’ blasts out from the tannoy. Jesus wept.
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The people who run the half-time tannoy live in their own world. I've thought it a thousand times. Completely insensitive to the feeling in the crowd.
I'd turn the thing down, markedly. Or off. You literally cannot chat to the bloke next to you without having to bawl at him.
 
trevorriley said:
if you get beat off palace at home you are struggling wining the league.
This seasons title will be won by a team that loses 3 games max all season, we have lost 2 so far. Not time to hang the boots up yet but makes our next games Vs chelsea and scousers at home a must win.
By the way pep rags will park the bus on saturday
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It will be won with less than 90 points, by us or Chelsea.Sataurday might be the difference, might not nobody knows.
 
It was incredibly frustrating on Saturday, but I'm conflicted between issues such as no striker and just players out of form/complacent & making errors.

One common theme recently in home games is the opponents have played a mid block, either using two forwards or a sole forward supported by the midfield (Gallagher on Saturday). They then play a narrower midfield and our initial build is forced wide. Either to the full back or the far side winger through a switch.

Laporte error was ignoring the easy switch, getting in two minds and half hitting the pass. Dias dived in but has a split second to react. Ederson not great but prob caught out by how badly Zaha struck the shot.

But repeatedly on Saturday the switch pass was awful. Either flighted totally wrong or as Rodri did once, skewed. Those passes have to be driven and easily controlled so that the winger is automatically at the full back.


We actually did a reasonable job of totally pinning Palace and forcing them into hacking the ball anywhere.

But regardless of a striker, if we're playing an opponent with 10 men in their own area, you can't ruin the momentum and allow them a nice 30 second break (aided by Marriner) by cheaply conceding the ball, whacking it out of play and panicking.

Cancelo was the worst culprit for this. 26 minutes he hits a ridiculous shot into the second tier, 30 second break. He then gets the ball from the goal kick and hammers it over the top for another goal kick. Another 30 second break. Effectively gives Palace a two minute break.

However, he then plays a pass that totally opens them up and Grealish should score!

Just felt there were repeated occurrences of being half a yard slow and then rushing.


KDB is completely out of form and had 5 minutes where he loses the ball 4 times. If he doesn't withdraw from the Belgium squad with an 'injury' to take a break (they're virtually qualified and playing Estonia in the first game) then think Pep may be forced into giving him one. We've shown we can handle teams without him as it means we play a simpler game, but he's such a game changer.


We had 5 mins ahead of the card where we did manage the tempo of the match much better and really created a lot of pressure. We don't play for high volume shooting - I always feel we'll look to create a precise chance and this felt like we would.

Red card is arguable but it's a mistake to try and nick the ball as last man. Just another error.


Second half we were playing fine, marginal offside unfortunately. We were totally worn out by the second goal.


It does feel like we need to manage the tempo of these matches far better. If that means working a team for 3-4 minutes then so be it. Our attacking play requires precision, striker or not. We can't be routinely turning the ball over as we have in recent home games and forcing stupid passes.
 
It's nowhere near a doomsday scenario, but I do feel as though we're at the start of a long term rebuilding process that will see half the current squad disappear over the next two summers.

As for Saturday, and beside all the other frustrations, we really suffered from the lack of a left-footed left back, as Palace had obviously done their homework and waited for the reverse pass from Grealish, safe in the knowledge that Cancelo was going to stop and allow them all to get back into position.
I'm pretty sure that just before the lockdown, Aguero had scored a header v Palace from a fantastic left footed cross by Mendy
 
alexmcity said:
Leagues are won and lost over 38 days, not only on days in which you play off the park the top team away from home (Chelsea) or lose vs a bottom half team at home (Palace).

To win 4 league titles over 5 years is extremely difficult anyway. The team will give their best, though, that's for sure.
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I'm sure they will give their best, they certainly tried hard on Saturday
 
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