Crystal Palace (N) | FA Cup Final | Post Match Thread

[1961_vintage]

You have to blame pep for the way we play though. Not telling me that the 11 on the pitch cannot have a shot from the edge of the box. They're all shit scared of him. As they know if you deviate from peps plan you're coming off.

The dichotomy being that I suspect that Pep would quite like the players to show some courage and take a risk now and then a la Vinnie's screamer vs Leicester.

 

[Earlyriser]

100% agree, and I wish some of those idiots would get it into their heads that NO ENGLISH CLUB has EVER done what we have done. 4 consecutive titles, domestic treble, EU treble, 7 consecutive FAC semi finals, 100 goals, 100 points, all the individual player records and so on, and so on...

You cannot have the number of injuries that were have had and expect the same results as we would have most likely had if everybody had been fully fit for most of the season. We had something like 11 squad players out at one point. That's an entire team. It's not an excuse, it's basic common sense. If you're under par you're more likely to lose, and if you're under strength for the next match you're likely to lose that one too, and the next one, and the next. That's exactly what happened.

Today we didn't do a lot wrong but when you're facing teams that park the bus it's going to work for them sometimes. It worked for Southampton last week, it worked for Palace today and you'll always get results like this for as long as the game exists. No club will ever win the title playing that way but they might win the odd important match and so it was today.

Do you not think that the injury crisis has been the result of Pep working with a small squad whilst the playing demands on them have been so great given their success. It was an accident waiting to happen. Secondly teams in our treble season and before parked the bus but we had players with genuine creative flair who could nullify such an approach. We no longer have such players.

 

[adr2.8i]

You have to blame pep for the way we play though. Not telling me that the 11 on the pitch cannot have a shot from the edge of the box. They're all shit scared of him. As they know if you deviate from peps plan you're coming off.

Doku said it after the forrest game. I'll go every time but I don't. He's been instructed as have the entire team to play this way. In some ways they've been over Coached and all their creative juices have been sucked out of them. They're devoid of it currently and it shows when you can't break down a team that as of last week we're the same level as the worst team to ever play in the top division.

And set pieces don't get me started on those.

What happened to the maraudering wingers when we had sterling and sane running into the back post to tuck it away, we don't break with any pace, it's slow, robotic and worst of all predictable.

The opposition have all week to setup defensively as they know what we're going to do. Pass it around the box. They know we won't take a chance it has to be the perfect goal. So they sit on the width of the box push 2 men out to a winger, we recycle they shift across. We're not pulling them out of position. No sacrificial runs and when we do make a good run we turn away. Echeverri had a couple of times screaming for the ball to have a run and kdb and bernardo turn away and lay it off 5 yards.

We need some dynamism and fast

Can't argue against much of this!
Surely Pep can see what we can all see??

I'm hoping with a decent summer window with the arrival of some young energetic pacey players we'll be a far better/dangerous team next season.
I'm not quite ready for a city without Pep just yet.

 

[sir baconface]

Pep never flushes

Then we’ll be left with a few floaters.

 

[DCS1]

My worry with giving Haaland a 9 year contract - how do we keep him hungry? He can play how he wants now and he knows he's set for life. Was there a reason we extended that long?

A crazy decision to give him such a huge and long contract . Huis hunger and fitness wont last that long =and as today proved he cannot take penalties . It is a very unwise decision because what team other than the Saudis could even afford to buy him if he wants to leave or we want to get shut of him ? NO PLAYER should get the contract he got .

Is Ali's legacy spoiled?

Yes it is-and I was and still am a huge fan--

 

[awest]

I agree it may help ,but when we can't score from the spot,the probability of us scoring past ten six foot odd defenders doesn't sound encouraging.

Vinny would argue with that point.

 

[ancoats]

4 guilt edge chances that should have gone in the net - wasted. Also a shocking penalty miss.
Sure the non-sending off has me scratching my head but really.
YOU HAVE TO SCORE TO WIN.
I doubt we'd have scored if we'd played all night.

I keep saying it, the handball outside the box by their keeper and VAR not doing their job changes the game,
What gets me is Why Haaland is used for touching the ball wide ???

What am i missing here ?? Didn't the goalkeeper handle the ball and knock it wide of Haaland
clear and obvious stone wall RED-CARD and everybody watching agrees with, even Rooney called it at half-time

I would love to hear the conversation with the VAR team and the Referee on how they got to the decision of giving nothing by claiming Haaland and the ball was going wide ?

So is VAR saying handball, but not a red card and just a yellow because the ball was going wide, so award City a free kick to Manchester City outside the box ?

WHY IS THE BALL GOING WIDE ? Maybe the keeper pushes and handles the ball outside the box

 

[Earlyriser]

A crazy decision to give him such a huge and long contract . Huis hunger and fitness wont last that long =and as today proved he cannot take penalties . It is a very unwise decision because what team other than the Saudis could even afford to buy him if he wants to leave or we want to get shut of him ? NO PLAYER should get the contract he got .

Yes it is-and I was and still am a huge fan--

The problem with Ali is thhat he

 

[coolcity]

Of course it is. Player blocks a shot and the ball hits his head he drops to the floor holding his head. Kills the game. Ok, let’s enforce a substitution, if you’ve used all your subs your allowed a head injury sub. It would disappear overnight.

Agreed. I've said for a long time, if any player goes down "injured" for any reason and it's supposedly bad enough that the game has to be stopped for a trainer to come on, make them leave the field for 5 minutes to recover or substitute them straight away. It won't affect them unless they're genuinely injured, in which case just substitute them. It would cut out all this dropping to the floor in the last few minutes of the game.

 

[El Gringo]

For the money does haaland offer us much? Pep’s trying me also nowadays.

It's not so much Haaland, it's the system we play, doesent maximise his strengths

 

[we are really here]

The dichotomy being that I suspect that Pep would quite like the players to show some courage and take a risk now and then a la Vinnie's screamer vs Leicester.

They don't though and that's the frustration. Wether it's at home you've 55k in there all seeing the same thing and anything from 2 to 5k in an away match. Thinking why don't we take a chance. Either they are scared and don't want to risk upsetting him. Or they're that devoid of confidence then there's a problem.

Last season how many times did phil cut inside and fire one in the top corner. Where's that been from anyone this year. I'd much rather see doku or savinho cut inside and attempt a robben squeeze attempt. But theu cut in and it's a ball to the edge. Which I wouldn't mind if it led to a shot. But it just goes the other side, rinse and repeat

 

[citytillicry65]

Fair point but I believe that most recent managers are wise to that and will make sure they teams don't bite, don't allow themselves to get drawn out.

I think we need to be a bit quicker on the break when the other team are attacking, especially when they have a set piece like a corner or free kick. We're throwing everybody up the field to defend instead of leaving a couple up, but then playing the usual style of build up game when we win the ball back so by the time we're back in their third of the field they've got everybody back behind the ball again.

Delete 'a bit'

 

[coolcity]

I keep saying it, the handball outside the box by their keeper and VAR not doing their job changes the game,
What gets me is Why Haaland is used for touching the ball wide ???

What am i missing here ?? Didn't the goalkeeper handle the ball and knock it wide of Haaland
clear and obvious stone wall RED-CARD and everybody watching agrees with, even Rooney called it at half-time

I would love to hear the conversation with the VAR team and the Referee on how they got to the decision of giving nothing by claiming Haaland and the ball was going wide ?

So is VAR saying handball, but not a red card and just a yellow because the ball was going wide, so award City a free kick to Manchester City outside the box ?

WHY IS THE BALL GOING WIDE ? Maybe the keeper pushes and handles the ball outside the box

We all know that if that had been a league match it would most likely been a red. They bottled it because it was the cup final.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

I don't really buy into that. Nothing's going to convince me that if we hadn't been hit so badly with injuries we would have been in contention for everything again.

It's always going to be tough no matter what system you play when the other lot throw 10 men behind the ball. You'll win most but you're going to get hit in the break and lost a few along the way. I wish we would point the ball in more often but then we're likely to get hit on the break more often. Teams are used to the way we play now and I think just tweaking it with fresh faces now and again it's all that going to change it.

I do wish we wouldn't drag everybody back when we're defending though, especially a set piece or a corner. Seems we rarely get to hit the other team on a break and we're capable of doing so much damage when we do.

All that’s fair. But because of our injuries, I wonder whether a bit more experimentation wouldn’t have helped. Anyhow, water under the bridge.

 

[Gordyola]

Fair point but I believe that most recent managers are wise to that and will make sure they teams don't bite, don't allow themselves to get drawn out.

I think we need to be a bit quicker on the break when the other team are attacking, especially when they have a set piece like a corner or free kick. We're throwing everybody up the field to defend instead of leaving a couple up, but then playing the usual style of build up game when we win the ball back so by the time we're back in their third of the field they've got everybody back behind the ball again.

Absolutely agree about the corners if 2 players stayed up field the opponent would have to keep
defenders back, baffling
Don’t have to get drawn out I want the creative players with the ball and more space and the defenders where they should be waiting to defend counters

 

[searsleftpeg]

Vinny would argue with that point.

Sadly the exception. Still a wonderful goal from a great man.Especially loved after the match with Sergio ,and Vinny saying, no one is telling me what to do.

 

[BolinCell]

Can't argue against much of this!
Surely Pep can see what we can all see??

I'm hoping with a decent summer window with the arrival of some young energetic pacey players we'll be a far better/dangerous team next season.
I'm not quite ready for a city without Pep just yet.

Pep is the one who has allowed all these average players to become our squad. Its obvious that they're not very good and could miss out on CL even with 5 places up for grabs.

 

[ancoats]

Apparently a two handed shove in the back in the box is "not enough contact " against Southampton last week.

I am still shocked..
VAR and the officials can not be that bad, can they?

Everybody watching the replay can clearly see its handle outside the box, its not even close ? its a good yard outside the box,

 

[we are really here]

Can't argue against much of this!
Surely Pep can see what we can all see??

I'm hoping with a decent summer window with the arrival of some young energetic pacey players we'll be a far better/dangerous team next season.
I'm not quite ready for a city without Pep just yet.

As am I. But I'm struggling to pick out players that want to play for us or who will be available to us that will improve us and not be of the level of a doku or nunes. We've rested to much on our 4 in a row to actually improve ourselves. And that unfortunately is down to tiki, pep, and the rest of the recruitment team. We could have had olmo 2 seasons ago and others of a similar ilk but decided not to pull the trigger

 

[Zenmanc]

Feckless, limp performance.

Cue 6th place and mediocre summer reinforcements as a result.