I'd expect Symons to follow on and use our strongest lineup in the 1st half and tinker in the 2nd half. Lonergan Richards Hutchinson Burn Garbutt/Voser OHara Cairney LVC Pringle/Kaca Smith McCormack Anyone else not got their Palace ticket through the post yet. Booked mine at the weekend and still waiting delivery ? Tickmaster have taken over the ticketing, normally get my tickets 2 days after ordering, I guess this is another thing the club have franchised out and we get a poorer service as a consequence. Luckily for them we play away first so they have a week more to not cock-up the delivery of Season tickets. Bet the ST is waiting on the sponsors to be named just like the Shirt.
Got my Palace tickets in the post last week SuperBri. But no sign of the season yet - as you say, no doubt because of the 'problems' with the sponsor.
Found a streaming link. Won't know if it will work until KO. http://www.vipleague.is/football/317727/1/fulham-vs-crystal-palace-live-stream-online.html
So what of Fulham's new look line up. My analysis of the situation was that they seemed to play with a lot more confidence, and when under pressure tried to play out of it with much less panic than last seasons fits and starts. It was nice to see him introduce the subs with some 25/30 minutes left for play a great improvement from the 5 min or so of last season Lonergan in goal appeared to position himself and read the game much better than Betts. Garbutt Cairney, & Pringle looked as though they could be very good squad additions. Metriglou likewise. Is this team going to do it for us ? Dunk or Tarkowski for Burn who is somewhat slow and a quality replacement for Richards where most of the palace attacks seemed to come from, then who knows. Optimistic, yes somewhat, but I want to see the first 6 matches under our belt before I get to excited.
Agree with all rosc says. My first observation is a contradictory one, in that we looked more confident on the ball but far too often appeared scared of making a mistake. Consequently there were flashes of decent play and periods when we kept possession well. However, there was still that tendency to go square or backwards and few chances created. Sticking with ‘chances’ and therefore our forwards. McCormack and Woodrow are not going to be a positive pairing on this showing. Neither troubled the Palace defence on the ground and certainly not in the air. Added to that, McCormack did his usual when we’re not pressing in the opposition final third and came deeper and deeper. Cauley I’m afraid looked out of his depth and Mitroglou was a number of steps up when he came on for him. The midfield did okay. I particularly liked the way Pringle fell in to cover at left back when Garbutt went forward to track his man. A wee concern is that the starting four in the middle today appear to be all much the same. That said, O’Hara stood out; always looking for the ball, good vision and great cross-field passes. Hopefully his fitness allows him to play 90 minutes thee times a week. Thought Cairney was wasted out wide right. The back four were a bit hit and miss. Not very impressed by Richards, who was painfully slow on the ball at times. Garbutt gives the impression of being a sound professional with the right attitude, although his crossing fell a tad below what I’d been led to expect. [Small aside on ‘crossing' - our corners were as woeful as always!] Hopefully Garbutt's injury is not serious. Hutchinson and Burn ? Only comment is that we still need at least one experienced CB. Lonergan was solid and is likely to be Kit’s No.1 choice. My only criticism of him is that he could have released the ball quicker to a wide player (particularly Garbutt on quite a few occasions) rather than waiting and then hoofing forward. Overall though, it was a good run out for the lads and while there were some aspects reminiscent of last year, there were definite positives. Kaca being one of them when he came on.
Hard to read too much into the game, it was played at friendly pace for long periods, especially in the second when the space opened up. My thoughts; Lonergan - looked handy and made some smart stops although there was a mistake midway through the second. All in he looks like a good addition. Garbutt - had a bit of a nightmare in that very little he did came off and he departed early with an injury (I think he stopped a cross with the tip of his toe). Certainly room for improvement and I expect he will get better but didn't look like much of an improvement on what we've had at left back recently. At least we have a left back, I suppose. Hutchinson - still not comfortable on the ball. Burn - was decent enough O'hara - had a good game, controlled the midfield and nearest thing to Murphy since Murphy. LVC - will be frustrated with his performance, not at the level of last but that will come with games. Pringle - took his goal well and drifted in and out, he looks a good addition though. Cairney - didn't do much, looked a bit lost out on the wing McC - some excellent touches but quiet otherwise Woodrow - ran about a lot, looked a bit headless though Mitro - good cameo, if we can keep him then he will bang them in I'm sure and enjoy a fun season against weaker opposition than he is used to Kaca - has not, and I don't think ever will, kicked on from his early promise. Major worry was that the game followed a similar pattern to last - I think teams can figure us out by half time, we need a plan b and we need a pure defensive mid - as posted above, they are quite samey at the minute .
Nice start to a post, that one. Interesting to see Mitroglou get involved. He could end up being the most interesting signing of the summer if he stays.
Didn't have the wit (or the will) to phrase it as a"dichotomy". Despite all the noises that Kit has been making, Mitrog actually looked as though he wanted to play and more importantly perhaps as though he was actually enjoying himself.
It was a good work out, midfield had some slick passing but no real penetration, Burn and Hutch still panic when put under pressure. Lonergan needs to improve his kicking and handling in crowded areas. O'Hara was my MOTM good control didn't panic when put under pressure and distribution was good. Pringle had a good first half, and his crossing is good. Cairney and LVC were all part of a slick moving midfield, but again at times the movement forward was slow and allowed defenders to get back. Ross disappointed me, although normal energetic display, he started to drift further back and wasn't in too many scoring positions, he was more effective when he was up front hassling the CBacks. Not sure on Mitroglou he did ok when he came on late, and caused more problems than Woodrow had done. Be a big blow if Garbutt is out injured for a while, he looked comfortable against some good Palace wingers. Looked like OHara took a knock late in the game.
The game was always going to show up any weaknesses as we should not overlook that Palace (the first team) are a competent and confident EPL side. Overall I understand we gave as good as we got which is very encouraging.
The performance I was disappointed with was Cauley Woodrow's. He's only 20, but he hasn't got the body strength at present to cope with the physical battle that most Center Backs will give him. Found it strange that he was chosen to be used as the target man for goal kicks. Not sure he can partner McCormack effectively, Woodrow seems more of a No10 which is the role Ross has.
Video highlights. Worth a watch, not least for Mitrog's cameo performance (although they have excluded his little 'back-heel, nutmeg and turn' which left three Palace players looking the wrong way) -
Some very good passages of play in that. I've been pretty impressed with what I've seen of Cairney, O'Hara and Pringle in pre-season. I am a bit worried though that Kit seems to think Woodrow - McCormack is our best partnership up top when McCormack - Smith looks like the best partnership we've had up front for a few years. It was also a nice touch having Scotty Parker as co-commentator.
Parker’s comments (4 minutes or so into the video) sum up Woodrow rather well. I know I’ve told this story before - a couple of seasons ago when at an U21 match after Woodrow had missed his third clear chance I said to my son, “he’s just not a natural goal scorer” only to find out later that the woman sitting in front of me was Cauley’s mother. Embarrassment aside, I stick by that view. And would now add that he doesn’t create/anticipate scoring positions in the box - which is a wee bit similar to what I think Parker said.
