funkyrobot

Missed a sitter but deep down we all knew it was going to happen eh? I thought he was anonymous again today and we were much improved when Bobby Reid took his place. I just don’t get it with Skipp (like i just don’t get it with Mainoo and England tbf.) Doesn’t do enough in defence, doesn’t show for the ball enough when we are in possession. For their first goal he made no effort to show for our throw in - instead Fatawu further away from the throw and in a more pressured position took responsibility to move into space and encourage the throw to go to him and it backfired, he lost the ball and they scored. He’ll rightly get the blame but watch Skipp and he has no interest in even providing a dummy run never mind demand the ball. If James is fit I’d play him alongside Winks and leave the excellent Mukasa in the 10 role. James is an intelligent enough footballer to be able to play a more disciplined defensive role during a match if required

I thought he did alright, particularly in the second half. Bit confused why he’s apparently the scapegoat today? For me the game changed massively when Skipp was hooked and Bobby Reid took his place.

Free Chang unexpectedly ended at 2.30. Loads of people got turned away with loads of cans left. I got there with a minute to spare but they’d shut early, a steward got me one as he felt guilty. Respect to that lad for giving me the opportunity to guzzle a can of good old Chang(over.)

Yep. Not good enough.

Averaging 1 point a match is worse than Cifuentes. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I don’t agree with this aspect of your view. I don’t see any evidence that it’s those on a lower wage that clap bad performances. I’d argue it’s the other way round, those of us who feel the cost of the tickets more are much more likely to be critical of the team and the owners.

Yeh you have a bad memory for Perez, very rarely played centrally behind a striker. Not sure why you are even comparing him to Daka. Daka was signed as replacement for Vardy, Perez wasn’t. They are two very different players with different roles. Your mind is most definitely playing you tricks (as you suspect to be fair to you) Daka’s link up play other than simple short passes is very loose. Whatever style we play his poor technique will always prevent him from being any consistent threat even at Championship level. Stop comparing him to a different player in a different role, Daka has been a catastrophic signing for the club - the worst one in the last ten years considering the time he’s been with us and the levels of failure he’s experienced in that time.

Daka is being played in his favourite position and as a number 9 is rightly judged on his goals. Perez prefers playing centrally behind a main striker and never really had the opportunity to play that under Rodgers. The fundamental difference between the two though is one clearly has very good technical footballing ability that you’d expect of a premier league level signing and one clearly hasn’t. Perez could pass, control and dribble with the ball. Daka has never demonstrated any consistent ability to pass, control or dribble with the ball.

He only played 56 minutes….. … but the last 26 mins of that, he limped around holding his Achilles...

He’s not really looked the part since that 4 goal match in October 2021. Presumably he’s not then had any confidence for 52 months since that mirage of ability. That’s some crisis of confidence tbf.

Rowett doesn’t trust the kids, it’ll be the anonymous BDCR.

Looks like it’s going to be BDCR as the 10 on Good Friday then ffs. James was hobbling around from 30 minutes. He played on way too long exactly like he did when he did his hamstring early in the game against Wrexham. Would you fkin believe it.

All of the above can be true, (except where you suggest I’m naive) but that STILL doesn’t change the fact that if we are relegated by 1 or 2 points we can say that Patson Daka missing an easy penalty and an absolute sitter is the football moment that was the difference between staying up and being relegated. Simple opportunities against an opponent that was as bad as Bristol City and offered no attacking threat.

It will be if we go down by 2 points. A penalty is as close to a guaranteed goal as you can possibly get. To miss that and then an absolute sitter is very poor. Thats the easiest 3 point opportunity we’ve thrown away considering the opponents threat across the whole game.

It was a poor penalty. The replay from behind Daka showed how centrally it was placed. It also was tentative and lacked pace. You only hit pens like that if you are the master at reading goalkeepers like Ivan Toney. Daka’s little stutter didn’t affect the keeper but reduced the pace he could hit the ball. If the penalty had been hit into the corner with pace then it’s far less likely that any keeper saves it.

Irrespective of who took it, It was a crap penalty mate. Nowhere near the post, hit along the floor and lacked power. If the keeper dives the right way it’s an easy save every time. Poor from Daka.

So he has a worse ppg than Cifuentes as you’ve had to factor the 6 point reduction to even it out

Or Richards

Why he was given the penalty with James, Fatawu, Ricardo all better strikers of a ball god knows. Rubbish pen that lacked power and was very central.

He came with glowing references from Palace fans which is very strange considering his scoring statistics when he was there. Tbf he was mainly back up for them and never seen as a centre forward. Shows how far we’ve fallen and how flawed our transfer plan is that we sign a non goalscorer who isn’t naturally a number 9 and play him only as a number 9. I still think it’s bizarre how popular he was at Palace, same as I’m surprised by the glowing references that The Ghost of Bobby Reid got from Fulham fans.

Whilst the keeper should’ve shouted that doesn’t excuse Nelson for a terrible slide and OG. I like the lad but he had a terrible game. He needs an experienced head next to him. I’d probably still start him in the next game but with Lascelles alongside. Both Okoli and Nelson are deputy centre backs, not leaders. Lascelles can lead and I’d play Nelson beside him because he’s way better on the ball than Okoli.

VK out for the season

People trying to use conspiracy theories to explain why Rowett picked Ayew. He picked Ayew because that’s who he wanted to start. He probably won’t pick him again now he’s experienced the full Ayew effect yesterday but let’s be honest, the alternative is almost a non footballer in Daka. Lots of effort and workrate but terrible technique. If Rowatt was being brave he’d accept that neither striker is good enough and try something else like playing Richards centrally.

Yeh after the Bristol city match he explained why he picked him. Because of his (alleged) ability to hold the ball up, to win free kicks and allow the wingers to run off him. The reality was he wasn’t great against Bristol but his performance was masked by how bad they were. Sure enough, against a side that actually competed with us in midfield and so there was more needed from the striker in terms of support for the midfield, holding the ball up and pressing the opponent, his shortcomings were obvious for us all to see. Both our strikers are terrible. Tbf to Ayew he was never a main number 9 at Palace and usually played on the side. For us, his lack of pace or even any work ethic recently makes him even more of a liability than Patson ‘touch of a trampoline’ Daka.

Rowett is picking the team. He talks as much in his pre match interviews. Extolling the virtues of Ayew and of benching some of his better players to affect the game later.