Match Day Thread Palace v Saints FA Cup 07/01 12:30

Didn’t change shape until the last 10 minutes or so.
Second half we just moved higher up the pitch, which made us more compact and able to make short passes instead of so many long, speculative ones.
It also helped with the press because if a Palace player avoided our first challenge there was another Saints player in his face.

 

I've said it before but a couple more wins than the teams around us and our position in the league will be ludicrously higher. Five points cover 13th to 20th. It's a phenomenon that seems to be becoming more extreme over the years. What it means is that you don't need suddenly to become a killer team, you just need to be marginally better than the other dross down here with us.

People still talk about 40 points but the last five seasons, a clear point above relegation has been 34,35,35,29 and 36 points. The league has changed.

I'm certainly not saying after one cup tie that we're flying but the doom-mongering and certainty about our demise has swung too far.

Now I'm off to drink my huge winnings: how far will £12.50 get me?

Vin

 

Didn't see any of the game but a win can only do the team good. Interesting to hear what Jones said afterwards about injuries, especially to get it confirmed that Stuart Armstrong isn't playing because of injury - he's only fit enough to play 15-20 minutes a game.

One thing I will say about Jones is that if he turns this around he'll deserve immense credit.

 

No. We simply pressed higher up the pitch and utilised the space down the wings.

 

£12.50.
That would get you 5 pints of Mahou in my favourite local bar.

 

There's bars in The Hague you'd have a good few beers for that, you wouldn't want to catch any ones eye though, rough diamonds indeed .

 

As Tella was subbed on at Cherry today it is unlikely he will be back early from loan as he is now Cup Tied.

 

Is there a sniff of the ****wit trackbackery I been reading about?

very pleased for a win, didn’t see the game but very pleased for a win. Hopefully it’s not once of those seasons where the relegated club does well in the cups.

 

Explains the lack of Stu lately.

 

Gakpo crocked, looked like a groin strain. Still 2 - 2. Playing on, hasn't done a lot.

 

No problem, happy to help mate, things get sensationalized in the media, click bait and all that, someone says something on Twitter and it's gospel to others who either don't look into it fully themselves or hear what they want to hear.

The fact that he does say they means that people are not wrong, he does say they a lot. But when you actually fully listen to it, it's all the past tense stuff, I personally don't see anything wrong with that.

Sure other managers would come in and say we haven't won much all year etc, but nobody cares what the manager says if results are going well.

I listened to the Adam Blackmore chat that was on BBC sounds after the Forest game and it was clear as anything, how he uses the 2 words.

 

I’m with TIOON7 on this - v happy to have won. Still deeply, deeply unconvinced by NJ, and one win isn’t going to change that. But let’s see where we go next.

 

We showed a bit more cohesion, and actually pressed for the first time since Jones arrived, but we still didn't create much. Both goals were flukes: JWP bounced a free kick in from 35 yards (that the keeper should have handled easily), and Armstrong took the ball off the keeper's foot and walked it into an empty goal. So it's a step forward, but not really a big statement for Jones.

 

The goal we conceded against Forest was a fluke from a defensive error - we didn't just let NJ off that one so not really sure we can take anything from him away today.

We won, that's all that matters at this point. Do the same against Everton and we can think about building something more.

 

This is good to hear tbh. (Obviously not the injury, just the communication). Ralph never mentioned this but I assume it’s been going on for ages.

I think it’s similar to rashford, he had that back injury for a long time hence his dismal form. I don’t really understand why players/clubs hide these injuries

 

I wouldn`t call them flukes. The first, JWP played a good ball that asked questions of the defence which they didn`t deal with. I don`t think it was the keepers fault, rather Ward didn`t head it. The second, AA worked hard to press and force the error.

 

Yeah, they were both “influenced mistakes”.

 

The criticism of the Forest “performance” goes far beyond a Lyanco **** up.
If we had drawn that match 0-0 then opinions would not have changed

 

I have to admit, Burnley look good under Kompany.

 

Absolutely. But they were still eminently avoidable mistakes by the keeper. If the roles were reversed, we wouldn't be talking about the pressure placed upon us, we would be (legitimately) criticizing Bazunu for gifting two goals.