If that penalty went in the confidence would of been obliterated I would be tempted to put the under 23s out against Man City
That game showed how tough it will be for us to stay in this league. Palace are an average side in terms of the Prem and they are way ahead of us. The years of being a Prem team have given them the perfect balance of six-foot-six monsters and a sprinkling of high-quality players. Even if we can stay ahead of Watford and Burnley, we have to hope that Everton or Brentford continue to implode. I think it's our only hope. No arguments about the fight shown by the team, and Rashica was fabulous until he tired near the end. We need someone of his quality on the other side as well if we are going to play these long diagonal balls - Placheta has lots of pace in his legs but not much speed of thinking. Palace had sussed out how to combat them by the end of the first half and I wonder if we needed to change tactics or formation (if we could). What was worrying was how quickly the midfield ceased to exist and Gilmour and Normann did nothing to bring it back to life. I agree with the posters who quietly criticised my comment before the game about no longer playing tippy-tappy - the long-ball game we played in the first half was exciting and purposeful and not ugly - but in the second half all we offered was hoofball.
I'd have taken a point before the game - Palace are a really good side. We looked tired at the end, but that's due to effort and commitment
I think this is fair comment in relation to the second half, but not the whole game. If we'd been a bit more clinical in front of goal, it'd all been over by half time. As the game went on and fitness & subs became more of an issue, we struggled. Don't think the keeping was exceptional. Gunn pretty much did what a PL keeper should do. Defence was generally good and the midfield did well until they tired. The 2 up front for me weren't good enough, which has been a recurring problem all season under both managers and our inability to score in games like this is as much a factor in our poor goal difference, as our heavy defeats
Fair enough - i find the fitness bit slightly worrying as the likes of Williams and Aarons should be fine, though admittedly they have had a few weeks off. Ought to have been the same for Palace though and they got stronger as the game wore on
He's done a great job. But if he's still here after the Man City and Liverpool games, I will start to believe he has a hotline to God.
On that pen, surprised that Gunn appears to have picked up nothing from Tim "penalty killer" Krul. Gunn stood completely passively on the goalline, he had absolutely no presence at all. Reminded me of De Gea who has conceded something like 30 penalties in a row.
He picked the right way though and looked like he might have had it covered. You're right though, he could use a bit more sh1t-housery in the build up.
I looked up Brian Gunn penalty save and this gem from 14 years ago popped up please log in to view this image
Whoscored numbers - all pretty average for us. Aarons top scorer for Norwich but Palace numbers all generally a bit higher. Aerials won, Shots and Possession stats tell a story.
Agree with most of this, but I think you're being a bit harsh on Pukki and Idah. The early goal was classic two upfront after Rashica's wonderful wing play and cross. For something to work that perfectly generally doesn't happen often in a game. On the big chance Pukki missed, shame he didn't just hit it first time, but he doesn't often make the wrong decision. For me, the biggest problem was midfield, which more or less disappeared from about 30 minutes onwards, and I think this has been true for the whole of the season. I've no idea how this can be fixed. If we try to play possession football, they're not incisive or creative enough, but if we play Smith's style they lose control of the game and the other team slice through them like a knife through butter. I accept that Gilmour is trying hard, but I think loaning him was a mistake and we should have done something to get a replacement for Skipp instead. Even if he wasn't as good as Skipp, at least we would have someone with the discipline to be some kind of buffer.
