Thanks, Fats. I think that's a pretty convincing breakdown of the game. As far as I can remember, Palace had 3 shots. 2 went in and Stekkers saved the other (annoyingly, pushing it to them for the goal). Their keeper played really well, their defence was solid and the ref (if I can call him that) allowed Long to be manhandled all over the place without ever giving it. I particularly liked the fact that he booked Long when Long was fouled .................... It was NOT a defensive line-up - we played with 3 at the back and both FBs pushed forward at every opportunity. I think if Bertrand hadn't been ill, he'd have played and though I'm a fan of Matt Targett (he's still very young and inexperienced) we might well have had more chances. I also think that Ron would have had a word with the team (that's what managers do isn't it?) about the line-up and what he expected. Therefore, I very much doubt that Long and Mane would have been upset with it and, from what I could see, they gave their all, except it wasn't enough against a very good team. Wednesday will be a tough game and I really hope the ref gives us a break - it looks to me as if Long and Mane have now got a reputation and the refs are waving away their appeals .............
I did note from those brief highlights that our RB seemed to appear in their penalty area quite a bit.
We weren't poor in the sense we created enough to get at least a replay but there's no doubt we created more second half when we went back to a back 4. For me, there was no need to play 5 at the back for a cup tie. If it was a league game I would have understood the logic. This game in isolation wasn't bad. It's just when you take our form into account that you think "another ****ing defeat". My main grievance was that JWP didn't start or come on at HT. The game was crying out for his set pieces. Mane was offside for the rebound save so you can't count that. I was right behind the goal in Chapel and Stekkers should definitely have come out for the first goal. And Long really should have buried that header that hit the outside of the post.
We'll just have to disagree with the Stekkers bit then. I will say though that if you were right behind the goal, you may not have had a good appreciation of the depth of the play. Have you seen it on television? When seen on television, Virgil is there covering Punch, so why would the keeper come out?
I admit I haven't seen it on TV. From my view, it looked like Stekelenburg could have come and hoofed it into row Z.
I am defending Davis. He has a level and when he plays at that level he is pretty good. He plays at that level quite a lot when he is in the AM role. Can't criticise a player for not playing better than he is capable of. At the same time we need a player that is capable of playing better. He regularly plays at his best. His best is only OK for where we want to be. That isn't his fault and what more can a guy do than consistently play at his best?
They think he slows the play down and passes sideways/backwards too often. Many are very critical of him.
Oh I agree. I was taking the pee a bit at those that only see black and white or say you are too much in favour of someone. It is possible to like a player and think an improvement is needed. I am with you on this with Davis and also with Long.
I wanted to comment earlier so I suppose a bit late for too much consideration but don't you think this poor run / this season so far, is just a circumstance of success & being a tad unlucky? What I’m trying to say is that last year was great & no one really had any issues with the team / squad / recruitment pre-season. Ok, we lost Clyne, Morgan & Toby (don't want to go into all that again but all was sort of inevitable). The board / RK bought quite well in the summer; Cedric for Clyne, not quite up to the mark defensively nor attacking wise but doing ok; VVD arguably as good as if not better, Morgan’s shoes were always going to be difficult to fill - Claisie had a crap pre-season, started slowly, has found it difficult but some potential is there. All in all, 3x reasonable recruitments, not quite up to the mark this year but have potential & we could have done a lot worse. They also strengthened the DM with Romeu, who has looked quite useful certainly recently. We also had our hands tied with Forster & J-Rod – we couldn’t go out & buy £10M replacements; it’s just couldn’t work with a club like ours but we did quite well (thought initially anyway) getting Stekkers & strengthening up front with Juanmi. Martina was a useful addition on paper. Unfortunately, IMO, Stekkers is ok as an occasional No2 but we’ve suffered with an awful lot with his inabilities being in for over half the season now & Juami might be one for the future but has offered nothing this year & apart from his wonderful strike vs Arsenal, neither has Martina. We were obviously expecting J-Rod back way before now but he’s not coming back this season (of any worthwhile note, anyway) & that’s impacted negatively on our attacking options. I think most of us at the start of the season would have agreed with RK that we had a stronger squad but late recoveries of Forster, J-Rod & replacements really not stepping up to the plate have hurt seriously hurt us. We’ve had 5 years on up & up & it looks like this year is a year of “consolidation”. Yes, one of those clichés but true. Let’s make sure we finish the season on the up, hopefully top half, get, Forster back, the “extra” forward sorted & we’ll be back on track. COYS
Having just watched the highlights, their second goal was just "one of those things" that have been happening to us, of late. I heard/read a lot of criticism about us not chasing the ball, thinking it was going out of play. That had nothing to do with them scoring, as the player laid the ball back to Puncheon as soon as he reached it, and no amount of chasing him would have altered or stopped that. Tadic allowed himself to get beaten a little too easily, and Mane then slipped up, whereas had he maintained his footing, it is feasible that he may have got a block in, or diverted the ball past the post. The save, if I can say this, was too good. Stekenleberg got too much of a hand on the ball, knocking it back into play, when a tip of the fingers save would have diverted it past the post for a corner. And credit to Zaha for his finish. It was very good. The first goal exposed so much of what is bad about our attacking play. How often do we get players in similar positions to Puncheon, only to fail to find our own players, or hit the first defender? I would love to know, when they practice attacking, if they actually do it against defenders, or just work the position and cross, with no defenders there, because we really do struggle to work good openings from some very good positions.
