Interesting scores just recently. Fulham wipe out Palace 1-4 but then Arsenal needed a penalty to open the scoring and then only score half of what Fulham scored, are they beginning to fizzle out a bit? People are praising Torres for his goal against City yet he was gifted it and couldn't miss from that range could he? Chelsea still riding their luck ie Cardiff and yesterday. Utd 1-2 behind against Stoke with only 10 minutes remaining? A better team would have beaten Utd. I thought City might lose to Chelsea as their away from has been wanting a bit. Losing to Cardiff and Villa told me that their away form hadn't improved enough to beat the league's luckiest team at their ground. Such is life and we'll have to wait and see. Can't say too much about Pool and Saints and hopefully we'll pull away from Everton a bit more this Sunday.
Comparing those two games is utterly pointless, for a start against Fulham, Palace clearly thought they could win, and went on the front foot, which gave Fulham more space. Against us, they just sat back and hoofed it to Chamakh, who at times was the only Palace player in our half, giving us zero space to work with. Also we played a pretty intense game against Dortmund in midweek, so the players, were clearly not at their physical best. It was like a tricky FA Cup game against a lower league opposition, who viewed the fixture as a cup final.
I think you missed out more of the "Chelsea riding their luck" stuff. Not only did they get gifted a win by City due to comical defending, they were behind against Cardiff when they were given a goal which is clearly in breach of the rules AND against Norwich they were losing when some awful defending plus a goalkeeper error allowed them to equalise. Oh yes - and against us Torres was not sent off for his assault on Verts leading them to have 11 on the pitch for longer. Didn't they also have some luck against Hull? Anyway the point is all you hear from the pundits is how brilliant Mourinho is, regardless of the amount of points gifted to Chelsea by no skill of their own. Chelsea will win the league because they only have to draw with the better teams - they know they will get the balance of the decisions against lesser teams. If they get a lucky win then even better. And if they had lost against Cardiff and Norwich, and drawn against City - unlikely but that is what was happening before the luck took over - they would have 8 points less and be in 9th place.
I missed those points Vim but they were lucky earlier on against Villa weren't they? Well we've a bit lucky recently too haven't we, I only hope it holds or our form improves because we are still behind the others in goals scored. You have made a fair point or two there Super but could it be that the amount of matches is making you fizzle out a bit? I think under normal circumstances though that you can compare scores to compare form.
...it's absolutely ****ing hilarious! It started off as a pop at Garth Crooks, but has developed into a discussion on theology and the nature of Man. It's like listening to The Sun's "white van man" debating philosophy and inadvertently developing a new Monty Python sketch.
The physical side I agree with you on, Arsenal were probably a bit jaded so weren't at their best but I thought Palace played quite well in periods. Admittedly they hoofed it a few times but they got up in numbers too and had to make Chesney pull off some fine saves and your defence probably had to work harder than what they initially expected before kick off. Don't think the score line reflected a fair result, 2-0 on paper makes it look like an easy win for you guys and personally I think it was far from that. You deserved victory don't get me wrong but I felt Palace at least deserved a goal.
Back to tonight's game considering Chelsea have made 10 changes to the team that played Sunday that is one hell of a team they have out out.
"considering Chelsea have made 10 changes to the team that played Sunday that is one hell of a team they have out" That is a serious squad Chelsky have. The Goons have made nominal changes.
They've got about 4 first 11 starters out from the looks of it, which isn't that many. They look a lot poorer for it than Chelsea do for making more changes.
"They look a lot poorer for it than Chelsea do for making more changes." Big statement by Chelsky if they win tonight (away to the PL leaders with effectively their best side out) with such wholesale changes.
Not sure it's close to Arsenal's best side out but it certainly is highlighting the difference in strength of squad. Jenkinson was about £1million(I think) and looks it. They can mock but I'd rather have a £30mill "flop" on our bench than cheap players look valued about right. Good game to watch though, hoping that Arsenal come out better in the second half, I quite fancy a cup game against them this year.
