South London Having spent what seemed a lifetime on London's Heath Robinson like transport system, straining in vain to make out what the non-English speaking station announcers were saying, you arrive in Norwood. South London is one of those places on the planet where a meteor could strike and it would be weeks before anyone noticed. There are some nice parts in our capital. The ones you see on postcards and on TV, where they allow tourists. This isn't one of them.
Penalties It's easy to see why Palace get so many. They have quick wide players that run at speed into the box and go down at every opportunity. Some times this is legal, many times it is not. If they get the penalties for the ones that are, why not cards for simulating when they don't? That said, the 2nd penalty was a joke. The lino must have given it to get his own back after we had given him so much abuse for getting a handful of offside decisions horribly wrong.
Diving The last time I saw an opposition do more it was QPR. Let's see, who was the manager? Ian Holloway. Coincidence, or does he coach his teams to behave like that?
Kevin Philips One penalty that wasn't, one scuffed, one deflected (on a counter after a much more obvious penalty that wasn't give). Still, he showed the value of a cool head and an eye for goal. Bastard.
Wing Backs Elmo and Brady saw a lot of the ball but Palace didn't allow them to get to the byline. Whenever they ran at the defense they either had to unload the ball or they ran into trouble. Palace were then quick to counter and that was our undoing.
Wilfred Zaha He will do well in the Premier League. Diving, sulking, harassing the ref, petulant fouls: he has it all. I half expected him to join the Crystal Girls at the interval, such was his footwork and lack of manly qualities. Oh, and when he gets over himself and remembers to play football as well, there is a really good player hiding under there, as he showed with some of his play last night.
The Strategy Palace played well on the break. They didn't look like a team that controls games with sustained pressure and breaks down stubborn opposition. I love the attacking philosophy our team has. Last night we may have been better served by being less adventurous, drawing Palace forward and hitting them on the break more. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
George Boyd After the brilliant home debut he was off the pace last night and much less influential. We have seen enough to know (think) that Saturday was more indicative of what he will be capable of.
The Result But for two penalties (one given in error, one not given in error) we might have snatched something but overall the better team won and it would be very, very misleading to construct an argument that we deserved any points.
8pm Kickoff Why do Palace always kick off later than the other games? For me it meant more pleasure on London Transport, more unintelligible announcers and then an hour on Liverpool Street with the cleaners, the rodents and the vagrants waiting for the last train home which stops at every bloody station on the line. I refuse to leave before the end but a 7:45 kick off would have got me home over an hour and half earlier...
Penalties It's easy to see why Palace get so many. They have quick wide players that run at speed into the box and go down at every opportunity. Some times this is legal, many times it is not. If they get the penalties for the ones that are, why not cards for simulating when they don't? That said, the 2nd penalty was a joke. The lino must have given it to get his own back after we had given him so much abuse for getting a handful of offside decisions horribly wrong.
Diving The last time I saw an opposition do more it was QPR. Let's see, who was the manager? Ian Holloway. Coincidence, or does he coach his teams to behave like that?
Kevin Philips One penalty that wasn't, one scuffed, one deflected (on a counter after a much more obvious penalty that wasn't give). Still, he showed the value of a cool head and an eye for goal. Bastard.
Wing Backs Elmo and Brady saw a lot of the ball but Palace didn't allow them to get to the byline. Whenever they ran at the defense they either had to unload the ball or they ran into trouble. Palace were then quick to counter and that was our undoing.
Wilfred Zaha He will do well in the Premier League. Diving, sulking, harassing the ref, petulant fouls: he has it all. I half expected him to join the Crystal Girls at the interval, such was his footwork and lack of manly qualities. Oh, and when he gets over himself and remembers to play football as well, there is a really good player hiding under there, as he showed with some of his play last night.
The Strategy Palace played well on the break. They didn't look like a team that controls games with sustained pressure and breaks down stubborn opposition. I love the attacking philosophy our team has. Last night we may have been better served by being less adventurous, drawing Palace forward and hitting them on the break more. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
George Boyd After the brilliant home debut he was off the pace last night and much less influential. We have seen enough to know (think) that Saturday was more indicative of what he will be capable of.
The Result But for two penalties (one given in error, one not given in error) we might have snatched something but overall the better team won and it would be very, very misleading to construct an argument that we deserved any points.
8pm Kickoff Why do Palace always kick off later than the other games? For me it meant more pleasure on London Transport, more unintelligible announcers and then an hour on Liverpool Street with the cleaners, the rodents and the vagrants waiting for the last train home which stops at every bloody station on the line. I refuse to leave before the end but a 7:45 kick off would have got me home over an hour and half earlier...
