That was certainly an unenjoyable and turgid contest. We were too rigid and lacked any ingenuity. Our full backs didn't offer anything going forward and our central midfielders can't make a forward run pass our strikers. Therefore everything was played out in front of the Palace defence. This made us too slow and predictable. Palace did their jobs well and you could see their determination to get to ball before us. They seemed to win every second ball. They were strong in defence and quick in attack, which we are not. Our strikers got no service and our play was one dimensional. Green 6 Isla 7 Hill 6 Caulker 7 Dunne 7 Henry 7 Barton 5 Hoillet 5 Fer 7 Zamora 6 Austin 5 Vargas 2 Phillips 4
He certainly didn't influence the game after he came on, possibly due to the central role he was assigned as Charlie's foil. I prefer him playing on the right linking up with Isla.
He came on and was muscled off the ball three times in quick succession which resulted in three Palace counter attacks. I forgot all about him as I never saw him on the ball until the final minute of injury time when he lost out yet again. I'm now thinking that a two was a bit generous.
Not keeping Fer on the pitch just because he might get a 5th yellow card is absurd. He was our main man today and might have scored in the last 20 minutes when we showed some sort of confidence pressing forward. Winning against CP was more likely than winning against the Swans. That was as stupid sustitution in my point of view - should have taken Barton off instead of that.
Just back. **** me that was an awful game of football. Two dire teams, at least Palace had the excuse of being away. I had never noticed before (unlike the rest of the Brains Trust) but Fer bottles nearly every tackle. How the hell he has gathered 4 bookings is beyond me. No quality in our team. Barton looked uber crap, but thats mainly because he sees moreof the ball than anyone else. Nobody in the team or on the bench could change the pace and shape of the game. Back four ok, apart from the shocking distribution (Green is a liability in this department), Isla looked our best player, but his final ball in the opposition half was rubbish too. I said a 1-0 win to us at half time, but my heart wasn't in it, mainly said to boost spirits. Play like this against Swansea and we are toast.
Apparently Barton has been on twitter complaining about the players being booed off at the end. I didn't and wouldn't boo, but surely after the performance he gave he should just keep his head down. I wouldn't play him on Thursday!
All the home games are getting harder now as we take on mostly top-half teams, unless there's a sudden injection of invention to our play we are going to head downwards PDQ. Harry needs to find a magician in the window or we're f*cked...
Agree with you about not booing, but if it upset Barton enough for him to sulk off into a corner for the rest of the season, great. Perhaps it was only the fans who understood that this was our last "easy" home game of the season - Roller had it marked as potentially our last win of the season. There was no urgency in the team, only managed about 90 seconds of continuous pressure the whole game.
Barton had yet another bad game but he still is the only one who takes some sort of responsibility. If there was someone else being ready for set pieces why not let him do it - there is none so far. I would still bring Barton against the Swans, start with Hoilett and Vargas and bring in BZ at a later stage.
How ? Poor form ? I would call unnecessary hounding and criticism of another person, extremely poor form. Accusing aqualung of changing his name on upgrading of this site, when he has been a regular poster (under the same name), since he joined, is extremely poor form.
Unlike aqualung ive been arround for a while so i know what your really like, opinions only count if they agree with yours
I really did think he changed his name because I think he said it was his first post or something. Then I seen he had 400 posts to his name. Sometimes the Matchday threads can get highly charged like no other. Emotions can run high on them. Sorry Aqualong, I've got you wrong.
Flew back from Ireland today, so missed the game and the updates on here. Picked a good one to miss by the sounds.
Didnt see the game but ive recorded it..Think i may just delete and save myself 90 mins given the reports
