Frankie Benali, 300 Premier League games for Southampton “At half time , if you didn’t know any different, you’d assume Plymouth Argyle were the Premier League side.”
Two - nil. I heard the crowd before the commentary. Benali - “a goal that would grace any ground in the world”
Argyle folded when Palace brought on 3 of their best Premier League players and struggled to deal with Eze in particular. After a mad 10 minutes in which Palace scored 3, Argyle pulled themselves together somewhat but couldn’t regain the control they had in the first half. Shame: objectively Argyle can hold their heads high after a brilliant first hour but it still feels like a bad day at the office.
Story of the season so far isn't it. Hold the head high but the result is not what we want. Another learning curve? We had better start doing that soon. Don't care about this competition personally but still want to see Argyle win.
I get the impression we’ve got the makings of a great side here and can really play good stuff. But we need more control, more game management: not the Wycombe way but just keeping the ball, slowing it down and cooling it down when it’s needed.
Who was it who said "you win nothing playing kids". To be fair even if we have played well in all of the games and not been hammered anywhere we still aren't winning anything. The players we have will become very good players in the main but currently they are showing how naive they are. This may be a season to hang on in there rather than expect anything wonderful. If they can do that then they may surprise a few next term once they have learned a whole load of lessons.
Just watched the Sky video. Bleddy cheating Palace....fancy bringing on three Premier players and scoring 3 goals in 4 minutes.....just not fair.
Roy Hodgson full of praise for Argyle and the way they played...and reckons that they will have a good season in the Championship. Palace made seven changes from their last league game....Argyle made nine.....Hodgson admitted that his starting eleven wasn't good enough to to win last night....having gone 2-0 down he brought on the big guns and their quality changed the outcome of the game. Plusses for Argyle last night...although making nine changes they still played well and deserved their 2-0 lead. Disappointing to give away three goals between the 58th minute and the 62nd minute....but Premier stars will find a way of winning. The defence just need to put that down as part of the learning curve...and be thankful that they will not meet such quality players in the Championship each week. It gave literally the whole squad game time last night. I do feel that we need two experienced strikers to balance the squad.....Ryan Hardie is already playing too much football....and that is meaning that injuries are more possible.
There are loads of positives: Up until last night for example, Kesler-Hayden has been playing on his wrong foot. He got one game last night on the right against Premier League opposition and was the 'Eralds star man with a 9 out of 10 score. We won't play teams with players like Eze in the league but we do need to be able to close games out. We've lost that one from 2-0 up with 30 minutes to play and we've conceded expensive goals in added time in each of our last two league games. Much as I admire everything the club is doing, on and off the pitch, we must not be so carried away with the excellent football we play most of the time that these mistakes continue. If we just tighten up a bit, with the quality we've seen from this bunch of players, I think the top third beckons. If we don't, we'll continue to sink to the bottom.
I think the difference between the Premiership and Championship could be.....a yard quicker and a quicker reactions.....you could see that by their response and our response as they flowed forward for those three quick goals.....they definitely upped the tempo having brought on their three big named players....and our lads didn't have that extra gear to respond.
It has to be remembered both the age of our players generally and the experience they have gained prior to this season. There is very little Championship experience let alone upping that to the next level. They will learn of that I have no doubt. They will receive first class coaching of that I have no doubt also. It would be wrong to expect great things instantly although generally instantly is as far as a supporters brain works. I just hope that the moronic section of the crowd do not start the booing stuff and give them backing. It will pay off in the end. All I want from this season is survival and anything else is a bonus.
Just looked at the next round draw and Palace have drawn Man U away. Bet there are a load of Greens cursing tonight. They could have worn their half shirts to that one.........
