OK line drawn and a chance to get back to winning ways. Palace have improved under Pulis but we should have more than enough to win. We badly need to start converting our chances and I'd be tempted to play Jrod up top and drop Rickie to the bench. Thought Gaston did OK in the last two games when he came on so he gets a start for me. I'd also give Reed a go to see what he can do. Boruc Chambers Fonte Lovren Shaw Morgan Cork Reed Gaston Adam JRod Subs KD Clyne Maya JWP Davis Vic Lambert COYR!
I'd be tempted to give Gallagher a start. Depends on how Lambert does on England duty though. If he scores a hat-trick there I'd probably keep him in the side
We have this young right back that used to play for Palace called Nathaniel Edwin Clyne, I'd play him.
RB is the one area we don't have to worry about...I'd be equally happy with Clyne or Chambers. However, Chambers has the shirt in the manager's eyes. Must have his reasons, but sadly we will never know them. Tough on Clyne...may have cost him an England place.
He's steady enough, and will obviously improve with time. Clyne's attacking play is on another level though.
Is it? I know he's fast and can go past players, but his crossing is certainly nothing to write home about. Chambers has really been impressing with his defending recently, and he is a defender after all.
Ramirez is playing for Uruguay in Austria, so probably leave him on the bench. I'd stick with Chambers although he is playing for England this week. Steve Davis playing in Turkey, Yoshida off in Japan, Lovren in Switzerland, and all our England senior crew, so team could depend on how they come back.
Is it time to play Clyne in front of Chambers? .. ......................................Boruc.................................. ..Chambers.............Fonte....................Lovren...........Shaw.. ......................Cork........................Scheiderlin.............. ...........Clyne...............Lallana...............JRod .............................Lambert............................... Subs.. Davis.. Wanyama.. Targett.. Cropper.. Ramirez.. Ward-Prowse.. Gallagher
Chambers' crossing is deceptively poor too (at least in terms of end result). They've both played 17 games this season and Clyne has created 16 chances compared with Chambers' 6. You can argue that Chambers is a stronger defender I suppose, and he has been pretty solid, but I don't really recall Clyne making any particular mistakes either.
Neither player makes mistakes (unless you count poor crossing), which highlights just how good we've got it in terms of right-backs now. Certainly when we're up against a particularly talented left winger, it's Chambers I'd rather have marking and tackling him right now. I'm not looking at any stats, but I'd imagine a lot of Clyne's chance creation actually comes from getting into the box and passing the ball across, as opposed to long, high crosses. Chambers doesn't really have the burst of pace in him to be getting into that position. Different right backs with different uses, I suppose.
Would like to see Gallagher played up top, or Rodriguez moved there with Gaston starting in his place in midfield (depending on how fit he is coming back from his travels).
That could well be true, whatever the case, it's clear that Clyne's attacking ability is on another level to Chambers. Even ignoring the potentially dubious "chances created" stat, Clyne has four assists (and one cup goal) to his name, while Chambers has none.
I have thought that for a while, would add the pace that our attacks crave and our young wide players are not deemed ready yet. Also Clyne tends to cut inside whilst Chambers stays out wide which would probably explain why Clyne has better stats with assists. If Sam replaces Rickie then we would have a quick and nimble strike force
