My positive for the day is that at least we've got trips to our 3 bogey grounds all done in the first half of the season.
Tim Sherwood? Really? He knows nothing. He is just a gobshite. Maybe others will echo that claim but I’m not convinced if he is the main / only voice saying it
Maybe, but he is a decent ex pro watching current players and I guess that’s his opinion. Was also talking to a friend that went today and he said there were a few chants at the end towards Ralph “you don’t know what you’re doing”, and a big swing in opinion that a change is needed.
A lot of people’s expectations on here maybe. Not in general Many sources outside of saints forums were waxing lyrical about the amazing business palace had done over the summer even if it was an overhaul. And Vieira I also don’t recall many really making a big thing over his novice status. Again - maybe on here and in some places but that was far from universal And I note you seem to use the view of our forum as a comparison for expectations. Why not the view of more “neutral” parties. The ones that said we had lost our two best defenders (we hadn’t) and best striker (that one is right). The ones that expected us to struggle Indeed if you take fan focused sites out I’d say many would have expected palace to have more points than us.
In response to losing away to Arsenal with a team ravaged by injuries and suspensions ? I’m glad those in the crowd aren’t involved in the decision making at the club We were forced to play today with a 40 year old goalkeeper who was drafted in due an emergency, two not fully fit central defenders and without their main defensive screen. And also the main pressing forward was also out and our main threat went off injured . I’m really not sure what people expected Maybe the performance is was sub par and perhaps the heads looked gone etc. But people expected a different result today? Really ?
Careful that’s dangerous talk round here. I’m becoming a bit concerned about relegation now. We’re just so easy to beat, even when we play well and take the lead teams don’t have a problem coming back into the game. I’ve been a fan of Ralph for a long time but this team should be doing better.
It's a funny one. I've always been Ralph-In up to this point, and I still am. My goodness he can test the patience, and he can be stubborn, and he can be slow to change things, and he can make odd decisions (I was surprised to see Stephens/Bednarek today and not Lyanco/Bednarek for instance). In some ways, I'm only slightly over the line in terms of 'Ralph In', and as someone else has been saying (sorry, can't be arsed to look), I do think if he had a good squad that could play to his game, he'd do very well. Maybe things have got stale here, I don't know. BUT What I definitely think is that I'm unsure the touted names of Lampard, Nuno et al are really going to be able to get any more of a tune out of this set of players. We could make the change, we could just stay up as a result, but I think we'll just stay up with Ralph anyhow. All transfers are a gamble, and at our minimal outlay that's even more true. We gambled on Armstrong, and I fear that might not pay us back. Personally I'd like to see Adams/Broja and Tella up front given a run, but as we all know, the main missing piece is the continued absence of Stu (and no, I don't think there's anything more to that story than just a persistent calf issue). What I think Ralph and the majority of people in the club are desperately clinging on to is the promise of new ownership at some point in the not too distant (and hopefully not disastrously distant) future. Clubs like Palace and Brighton have far more flexibility in the market than we do, and it shows. I think Ralph is a good coach when he has a good squad. I think he's struggling with the tools at his disposal right now. Yes, it might be more 'his' team now, but it's his team with massive provisos that that's within the confines of not spending an awful lot of money. Livramento and Salisu look classy signings. Lyanco looks capable enough, if mad. Theo was an odd one. Adarma is looking like exactly what the stats and Schad said he would be (though needs more time). I get it's frustrating. I get the Ralph-Out sentiment too. I just don't agree with it right now, as I don't actually think he's the problem, frustrating as he can be.
So expect to lose and not too be bothered by a loss? This is now the problem. Let's just roll over and blame injuries, suspension's etc after all we have a manager who is affable and beyond criticism.
In fairness to the fans who travel around the country, I don’t think it’s just about the game today. Think it has more to do with only 8 wins in 2021. 36 goals scored in 39 games with 76 conceded. Not many managers survive that. Out of the 17 teams that stayed up last season, that is the worse record of the 17 with a minus 40 goal difference with the next worse being Newcastle with a minus 22 goal difference.
A 40 year old keeper that RH decided to bring in A fit CB that RH decided to leave on the bench Maybe best tell the non decision making supporters not to bother going to palace as we have no fit strikers on Wednesday, so not RH’s fault if we lose
The second point I agree with. I thought that was strange. Not sure who else could have been brought in regarding the first though.
Think they could have looked at an emergency loan from another club, but if what RH said in his press conference on Thursday, FF was close to making the game today, so maybe available Wednesday, hence why they wouldn’t have been granted permission for an emergency loan??
I don't think anyone is saying that. Simply bit of frustration that so many people saying at lunchtime, 'not expecting anything today but the next two games are big' and then saying 'I've had enough of Ralph' before we even play those two important games. We're still where we were in the table so have not lost ground at all. And despite the loss the stats show a quite close game. As I said earlier, the difference was the two keepers. What I do draw comfort (albeit small!!) is that early in the season, we had plenty of shots but not on target. More recently we've had more shots on goal but generally straight at the keeper or too soft. Today we really tested the keeper on a number of occasions but in each case he rose to the challenge. We're all frustrated by the way things are at the moment but as mentioned earlier, a couple of decent results it will all be forgotten - such is the fickleness of fans... ...Oh, and a decent keeper back in goal (if you want something to cheer you up with a laugh, look back at the thread on the Willy signing and number of people who thought he would become our first choice even when Macca and Forster fit...).
Do you know for certain that emergency loan rules are still a thing? I don’t think they are If you Google “premier league emergency loan” the results are from 2016 so what choice really was there ?
The answer is “no one else”. Unless someone wants to go and point to someone better on the free agent list The second point is a symptom of us seemingly not having the budget and lure to sign a premier league ready defender. We clearly couldn’t afford a new starter so we got someone who wouldn’t be ready right away. If people want to blame Ralph for that then they can..I guess. But it isn’t reasonable in my opinion
