Crystal Palace v Southampton Match Thread

I'd stick with Toby in that sweeper position, with Gardos in for Fonte. Maybe even keep Harry Reed in for this one,he let no one down against Everton and deserves to keep his place imo; plus you'd have the added bonus of allowing Big Vic to have some Turkey and a rest on Christmas day in readiness for gobbling up Hazard and Fabregas on the 28th. Maybe Morgan in for JWP, and leave the rest unchanged.

 

The only problem I see is that Gardos and Yoshida are both left-sided, so I'd put Toby on the right of the 3 and Yoshida in the middle. Otherwise same team as Saturday for Palace, and bring out the big guns against Chelsea.

 

JWP is worth keeping in for his delivery alone, we were extremely threatening from set pieces against Everton and we've looked woeful in the 10 games or so without him.

 

Funny old game, because I think the exact opposite!

 

I can see your first point, there would have to be a change in the way they play. I was talking personnel rather than tactics. Regarding the second point, I actually said, "whatever Koeman considers to be our strongest line-up at the moment". I can't say whether or not that includes Tadic.

 

With Big Vic and Morgan, they have a developed understanding that has grown over the last year or so. One of the two always sits whilst the other is encouraged to get forward. Both players are comfortable pinging the ball across the width of the pitch to help open up space for the wing backs to exploit and they are equally comfortable providing a goal threat in and around the edge of the box.

Harrison is admittedly still young and over time, he will grow in confidence but currently (as shown by his admittedly impressive performance on Saturday) Reed doesn't have the confidence to take on the killer passes. All but four of his completed passes were backwards or sideways and he barely threatened the opposition going forward as seen by his action graph below. Obviously, we played a different formation and he may well have been asked by Koeman to play a deeper role but against a side like Palace, I'd definitely look to one of our regulars who can provide a bit more going forwards.

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I'd stick with the same fomation. We couldn't create a decent goalscoring opportunity last two matches we played in 4-3-3 formation (Burnley, Sheffield) so it shouldn't be an automatic decision to revert to the old one. Let's try this 3-5-2 for another match, we can easily revert to 4-3-3 during the match if things don't work out. I'd put Schneiderlin over Reed, and leave the rest the same (Grados for Fonte also). While Reed played very well against Everton, no one in his right mind would say he's better (yet!) than Morgan. And I also think Morgan would excel in that screening role in front of three man defence (same with Wanyama, who i would save for Chelsea match).

Another thing to keep in mind is that Palace are a very physical team, the team that scored more goals from set piece situations than any other team in the league. So we should benefit from having an extra defender to deal with that kind of aerial threat.

JWP deserves a spot in the team for set piece abilty alone. Pelle is benefiting from having Long alongside him to distract the defenders with his runs and pressing. So there's less attention of defenders on Pelle and he can play with more freedom.

So here goes:

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I do like seeing Bertrand and Clyne playing high up the field, it gives us the width we'd been lacking. Away from home they might not have the freedom they had against Everton, but the system worked, so stick with it and see what happens I reckon. Toby was immense in the Mark Wright position.

 

Forster
Gardos Alderweireld Yoshida
Schneiderlin
Clyne Davis Ward-Prowse Bertrand
Long Pelle

SUBS - Davis Targett Wanyama Reed Mane Mcqueen Gape

 

Having a look at Arsenals & Spurs fixtures, a loss would probably leave us in 7th. 3 points please!

 

With Davis, Toby, and, to a lesser extent, JWP in the side it doesn't matter about Reed not supplying killer passes. You could say the same about Wanyama with Morgan alongside him. Reed deserves another game because of his tackling alone, never mind the unrecorded blocks and general hassling he did on Saturday. How you can even consider dropping him after a practically MOTM performance is beyond me.

 

With someone like Morgan in the team we would probably have the upper hand and hence less need to defend and make so many tackles.

 

Having watched the Sheff Utd game, I would have reservations about Gardos. He just looked so shaky.

 

So to the press conference: Morgan not going in January. Tadic back in training and will be looked at over next couple of sessions, we are looking to take Elia on loan initially as replacement for Mane. Although he will not have Christmas with his family, his sons are happy to see Saints v Arsenal and Chelsea.

 

Now I thought he was left sided and I pulled someone up on here recently who said he was right sided.... however..... at Sheff Utd, I noticed that when he had time, he seemed to want to get the ball on to his right foot before distributing it out, so maybe he is right sided.

Anyone know for sure?

 

He is right sided. When he played the second half against swansea, he was on the left but almost every pass was right-footed.

 

Palace will look to counter with their wingers probably bolasie and puncheon. That's pretty much their only goal threat if we win midfield battle. If they play one up front would it be wise playing 3 Cb's? Maybe not especially as I can't see Fraser Campbell have much luck against 2 Cb's anyway. Might be better to have an extra man in midfield to turn possession into attack quicker as they will sit deep.

 

Fair enough, it was just that he always plays on the left. OK, Gardos right, Toby middle, Yoshida left then.

 

You get the impression Ronald is on the same page there.

 

The problem for Gardos is that he is not the first (or even second choice)...he might have improved with experience. Catch 22.