Don't think he blamed them. I think he needed to change things and that was the way to go. Personally I'd have taken off Fonte and left Yoshida on, but the fans would have gone into meltdown if he had. Jose was at fault for their first goal by getting into trouble on the right and pinging a ball across which left us with nowhere to go and Targett out of position. He looked unsure of himself and Virgil was the only one who looked comfortable. Their second came from a free kick which should never have been given and then our defence went to sleep assuming the ball was going out. You can't blame the manager for that. The ref gave us nothing all game. He booked Long for being fouled and Mane because he didn't like him and was looking for a reason all game. He allowed the Palace players to jump into us at every opportunity and let Long be wrestled all the time. Virgil was pulled back 2 or 3 times and he ignored it, yet as soon as one of our players went close to a Palace player he whistled. Hopefully we'll never get him back again, but sadly that's touch to hope for. Longs header at the end was class and deserved a goal as did Prowseys free kick, but there'll be a few on here calling for Rob's head no doubt. We need someone to stick it in and Mane doesn't seem half the player he was. Tadic hesitates too much and Long is too lightweight. Hopefully Graziano will come back stronger and fitter and a ref will be brave enough to protect him. But I'm living in hope I'm afraid ......
Don't have a moan at Targett playing... we've had a week of moaning that the kids don't play and at least he played one . I said before kick off that I would have liked Reed to play, but I can't have it all as I want. Tough two games coming up for sure. A lot of fans will be thinking "It's Watford, we've got to win that" but they are having a great season and will be tough. That is followed by WBA who will come and try to do a job on us and kill any attacking play off with a couple of buses. I can envisage two draws here or a loss and a draw which will make for a very uncomfortable week for Ron.
Didn't think he was that bad, but sticking high crosses into Long when he's up against 2 big CBs is a waste of time. We didn't move it fast enough except when we scored. If we'd kept that up we should have won. Dangerous to call for a managers head now in my opinion - we're doing what we can with the players we have - we need a goal scorer. Simple as that .....
Targett seems to get a fair bit of stick. He is young, I have no issue with him being given a chance to show what he can do. I didn't watch the game, just listened, but if we start criticising youngsters coming through then we really do have a problem as a fan base. Can't see us beating Watford, they're on fire.
You point? Being 1-0 down had nothing to do with the formation - there were three schoolboy errors leading to the goal. And two slips leading to the second. At the end of the day, Palace did not beat us. We beat ourselves. I am tired of seeing the schoolboy errors. Although we failed to score a second, I can't really complain (today that is) about the chances created and taken. Palace simply defended too well. It is interesting to note that there are hardly any teams that make as many defensive errors as we do. At least it's not there points lost.
One might argue that setting up negatively and negative systems are a recipe for disaster. It doesn't give the players much confidence.
I don't think it was set up negatively. For once our midfield wasn't overrun, Clasie gets better with every game and Romeu looked very good once he got over his nerves. We could done with JWP coming on earlier and Tadic, I'm afraid, apart from one pass looked like a rabbit in headlights. I don't see what else Ron could do with the players he had available. We struggle against fast, pressing teams and Palace are one of those and a very good team who aren't up the top of the table for no reason. Mane tried hard and tracked back but looks like he is lacking in confidence and we don't have the creativity, though we certainly are making chances. I know I'm apparently not a "true" supporter because I won't criticise the manager and find fault with everything he does, but I go to games, cheer the team and stay to applaud a real effort. We WERE unlucky today and we lost the game ourselves - I imagine Ron will be letting them know in no uncertain terms how angry he'll be about that - and I have no doubt we'll struggle against Watford and WBA. Unlike other "supporters" though, I will continue to support the club whether we're winning or losing. We will have to scrap, yes, but kicking out a very good manager who got us to a fantastic level last year because we're going through a bad patch is, in my opinion, a crazy thing to do. However, it seems that only that will satisfy some of you. Oh and getting rid of Maya and playing an overrated Uruguayan, apparently ......
I only listened to the commentary, so can only make comments based on what I heard. Seems like normal service was (mainly) resumed. Started well - check Worked good positions going forward - check Final ball lacking - check Individual error leads to missed chance (Saints) - check Individual error leads to shot (Palace) - check First shot on target (Palace) leads to a goal - check Saints rally and equalise - differs from the norm Individual error leads to goal (Palace) - check Clasie subbed as he still can't last 90 minutes - check Saints go close but no cigar - check. End of game, cue the ranting - check The only thing missing are our match stats from our last 10 matches. If only someone could provide them. If I was a journalist I would create a template from the above and just change the opponent's name each week. On a more serious note, how do we turn the good possession into goals and stop the individual errors?
Did I hear right, that Plan A was thrown into a cocked hat because Bertie was taken unwell? No matter Plan B was just Boll*cks anyway.
