I ain't disheartened whatsoever, I am very happy with the result tbf. I was surprised how much of the game we had during the second half. Even if Chelsea took their foot off. Just would've been nice to score a goal, preferably a Thudd missile...
I like Steve Bruce, he doesn't pretend to be something he isn't, but I do feel he got his team selection wrong today and he should have had Tommy and Jake both starting.
What was this about, by the way: please log in to view this image Leaving aside the fact that Palace were comparing themselves to a fictional murderer, when did they start doing that?
I thought it was called JigSaw? I've never seen Saw though. The only reason I recognise it is because of this [video=youtube;YsLBEVhsFQ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLBEVhsFQ8[/video]
I think he just wanted to stay true to the players who got us up. He said afterward he felt that both Thudd and Livermore arrived too late to really start due to lack of time with the team. I can guarantee both will start against Norwich!
Yeah its Jigsaw and unlike Mooprh I'm sad enough to have watched and enjoyed Saw, seeing people desperately trying to escape puzzles with their fingers sliced off!
It is more respectful not to start brand new arrivals. Plus starting Huddlestone against Chelsea, where he has to chase the likes of Oscar and Hazard, was viewed as not the wisest decision in a time not too long ago and a place not too far from here. Good luck for the season. I'd love to see Livingstone and Hudd play well (except against us...).
Agree with all the general summaries, 3pts away first game an all that, but creativity still seems scarce other than from wide areas, but even then the final ball from Messrs Chadli and Lennon more off than on. In the CM area we are going to struggle against better sides I think. As has been said Sig and Dembele just didn't provide it, and imo aren't likely too, but I am only on the fence with Sig, had his spin and turn first half or the other miss gone in his performance may have been spoke about differently. Worryingly I saw the most incisive passes come from Kyle Walker, slipping Lennon in a couple of times with a beautifully weighted throughball. We need to address this as working the channels is one of Soldado's strong points. Rose did ok imo, and Capoue looks a good find, but with Sandro and Paulinho, I still don't know what AVB's playing at there. My last observation which I'll need to see a few more times, but it looks to me as if Defoe maybe losing half a yard...he is the wrong side of 30 though. In his defence, he is a strong player and i think he'll be holding more players off than getting away from them this year. Imo today the defence opened up for him when he got his lame shot off, better defences won't do that. My concern is Defoe doesn't have much of a repertoire to fall back on, so when the pace does leave his game I worry what else he'll have to offer, impact PL sub, and a game in slower paced Euro matches may well be his thing. I too was taken aback with Paulinho as MoM, efficient, but I didn't see anything warranting that, bizarrely I'd have given it to the Palace captain who really did lead by example, best Spurs player on the day was a toss up between Walker and Soldado for me.
I said something similar on our Loan Watch thread regarding Livermore and Hudd (even though the latter is not loaned). Bruce saw Mark Hughes break up QPR and fail, so I understand his line of thought but it was a very inexperienced MF to put out against Chelsea. Hindsight is a lovely thing though.
Watch Soldado off the ball, you will change your mind, he didn't really get given a good chance at goal, he laid one on a plate for siggy and he ensures we have a presence in the box which we regularly didn't have last year.
He impressed me with his linkup play, from what I'd seen/thought of him I had the impression he was one of those forwards who stayed central and prowled the box, whereas today he was down the left and right looking for balls, excellent movement I thought.
I have just got back after my Palace brother in law got me in 10 mins before kick off. Soldado does have something special. His awareness , adds something we have been missing. Sigg as others have said is not good enough to service Soldado or be a threat. Pauliniho did not stand out. A professional efficient performance if not a little uninspiring. Creativity was sadly missing.
