Crystal Palace 1-1 LCFC - Post Match Thread

[Clever Fox]

It was a missed opportunity today as we've been lucky in that other results have gone our way both today and Boxing Day.

We needed the points as our goal Difference is not that great and that's not likely to change as we're so dependent on Vardy.

We really need another Striker and have done for 2 years now. Not only one who scores goals but also gives us an alternative way of playing.

 

What disappointed me most today was Perez being stuck out on the Wing where his talent is wasted. He should have led the line though it's not his best position

he has better feet than Nacho and more likely to score.

We all know that Nacho can't lead the line, He's better in the floating role behind the main striker. Yet Brendan played him there when he could have used Perez. I know it's not Perez's best position either. But he has played in there before and has quicker Feet so always likely to win a Penalty.

Brendan should have known this, Yet he never attempted to change it even when it was evident Nacho up top wasn't working.

 

This again demonstrates that he has trouble in assessing the game as it happens as he rarely changes things that bring about a win. 

Having said he has been unlucky with injuries and we're still second so we have a lot to look forward to. He's probably the right man to head up Coaching at the new Training facility.

We missed out on Champions league by a few points last season. Could the same happen again. Possibly.

[StanSP]

Can we stop comparing ourselves to what Villa did today

 

Two totally different squads, experiences and demands on players. 

[Sunbury Fox]

6 hours ago, Ian Nacho said:

Choudhury was pretty poor. 

Don't think you need the "pretty" in that sentence. I want him to be good as a local lad but he's not a prem level player, sadly. No shame in that as the quality required is ridiculously high but it is what it is. The only thing I can remember him doing is gifting the ball to Zaha. He always looks to go back rather than forward, which is not what you need from a midfielder. 

[Sunbury Fox]

1 minute ago, StanSP said:

Can we stop comparing ourselves to what Villa did today

 

Two totally different squads, experiences and demands on players. 

I think people understand that but feel there is a happy medium between 1 change and 7 changes. 

[TJB-fox]

54 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Changes had to be made today. Fofana, Castagne and Maddison all being protected or minor knocks. Then there's Vardy with groin issues and Tielemans playing almost every game so it was inevitable. We actually played well first half but missed some chances and then we got anxious and were poor until the closing 15 mins. Annoying but it likely had to be done.

I’m not annoyed about the changes whatsoever, we knew they were coming and our second string XI is decent enough to win a PL game. 

I’m only annoyed because of how the game went. Definitely 2 points dropped, just needed to score the first goal. 

 

But yeah, a point gained away from home and players rested. Not the end of the world. 

[Guest SO1]

25 pages over a draw. People don't have a clue what this club has gone through considering the huge amount of injuries and games we've had. We simply can't go on like this or we will crash again. Even had to change the way we play to remain competitive because of injuries.

 

Have to keep telling myself that this place is about opinions not facts. The only people who have facts are the club and Rodgers. Skilled Professionals with years of experience who know much more than you or I.

[Royston.]

7 hours ago, bovril said:

Mendy was superb. 

Is he the best in the world at passing it backwards, sidewards?

I love him.

[coolhandfox]

Anyone think Rodger may have learn from last year, that the reason for our poor second half of the season was fatigue and injuries to key players.

 

Some of the carping on here is pathetic.

 

Our record in 7 season away at palace is W2 D3 L3 (One a 5-0 thrashing)

 

A point isn't great but it isn't the end of the world.

[Alan Frost]

4 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

No criticism on Rodgers for me. His selection was vindicated when those chances arose. Players inability to stick them away or be prepared when Palace decided for 15 minutes to press isn’t the managers fault. Failure of those on the pitch. 
 

Just to say their goal was a horrid catalogue of errors from us. Justin’s pass, Evans showing Townsend on his stronger foot, Youri failing to protect the back post and Kasper with a hole at his front post. 

I would n't criticise Rodgers overmuch either. I'm not sure Evans ever gets a chance to get close enough to Townsend to dictate which foot he uses and instead of criticising the rest of the defence I'd praise Saka for reading the flight of the ball well and early. Our two defenders moving towards him impeded each other a bit and Saka takes it brilliantly, so brilliantly that even Kasper maybe has some excuse for being beaten at the near post. It happens sometimes. A few small errors when they happen together add up to look like a horrid big error. Our only big error was Justin's pass and in fairness he's done so much thats good lately I'll grant him the odd bad pass. The only big item was how well Saka took the goal. Bastard.

 

Rodgers sent out a team quite a bit better than Palace. I was really pessimistic when I saw the team but when the commentator said Palace have five changes I was thinking how smart Rodgers had been. Being a simple pessimist I never thought that the opposition ever have to make changes. Mind you I did note that the ten men of Villa who played a large chunk of their last game did pretty well against Chelsea. This resting thing might be overrated . There was an earlier post that pointed out that in many of the great teams of the 80s and 90s many of the players played near every or even every game. Slightly fewer games maybe but much heavier pitches. I don't remember many of our Premier league winning side getting a lot of rest either although I could n't quote you figures. Europe Is not an issue either for a brief spell.

[blaaklint]

18 minutes ago, Alan Frost said:

I would n't criticise Rodgers overmuch either. I'm not sure Evans ever gets a chance to get close enough to Townsend to dictate which foot he uses and instead of criticising the rest of the defence I'd praise Saka for reading the flight of the ball well and early. Our two defenders moving towards him impeded each other a bit and Saka takes it brilliantly, so brilliantly that even Kasper maybe has some excuse for being beaten at the near post. It happens sometimes. A few small errors when they happen together add up to look like a horrid big error. Our only big error was Justin's pass and in fairness he's done so much thats good lately I'll grant him the odd bad pass. The only big item was how well Saka took the goal. Bastard.

 

Rodgers sent out a team quite a bit better than Palace. I was really pessimistic when I saw the team but when the commentator said Palace have five changes I was thinking how smart Rodgers had been. Being a simple pessimist I never thought that the opposition ever have to make changes. Mind you I did note that the ten men of Villa who played a large chunk of their last game did pretty well against Chelsea. This resting thing might be overrated . There was an earlier post that pointed out that in many of the great teams of the 80s and 90s many of the players played near every or even every game. Slightly fewer games maybe but much heavier pitches. I don't remember many of our Premier league winning side getting a lot of rest either although I could n't quote you figures. Europe Is not an issue either for a brief spell.

unless its changed since i last looked, saka plays for arsenal

[Deeg67]

The team was fine, apart from Choudhury and Mendy together in midfield.  Not having Under for this one was a real shame, because that would have pushed Perez into the Maddison role and Praet into the Choudhury role.  Still - we were totally dominant for most of the game, and the first half was actually one of our best of the season.  Perez or Praet should have taken the penalty, and Kelechi blew two great chances apart from that (Praet laid a gorgeous cross right onto his forehead in front of an open goal).  But team selection, apart from Choudhury, was not the problem.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

8 hours ago, Fox85 said:

If we do not sign players in January the same will happen what happened last season.

Soyuncu and Ricardo will feel like two new signings.

 

8 hours ago, OadbyBlue said:

That starting lineup would struggle to get out the championship 

Our starting line up at Palace would walk The Championship.

 

8 hours ago, foxinsocks said:

Rodgers is such a cock 

A point takes us second in the PL - in a season where we've been ravaged by first team injuries and also into the UEL KO stages - and that's your take???

 

8 hours ago, Blanchflower78 said:

Villa make no changes to their side. Keep the momentum....  Rodgers fully upstaged today.

 

57 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Can we stop comparing ourselves to what Villa did today

Two totally different squads, experiences and demands on players. 

Spot on, Stan. Villa have played fewer PL games than us and haven't had six UEL games (inc travelling abroad).

 

25 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Some of the carping on here is pathetic.

A point isn't great but it isn't the end of the world.

Seriously pathetic at times.

Frustrating not to win but at times our fans are embarrassing. 

 

I'd have taken 5pts from Spurs, ManU and Palace all day long, especially when the latter two were 48 hours apart.

Swap the Spurs and Palace results around - same number of points - and we'd be happy, right?

[coolhandfox]

4 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

Soyuncu and Ricardo will feel like two new signings.

 

Our starting line up at Palace would walk The Championship.

 

A point takes us second in the PL - in a season where we've been ravaged by first team injuries and also into the UEL KO stages - and that's your take???

 

 

Spot on, Stan. Villa have played fewer PL games than us and haven't had six UEL games (inc travelling abroad).

 

Seriously pathetic at times.

Frustrating not to win but at times our fans are embarrassing. 

 

I'd have taken 5pts from Spurs, ManU and Palace all day long, especially when the latter two were 48 hours apart.

Swap the Spurs and Palace results around - same number of points - and we'd be happy, 

100% 

 

The levels of entitlement amongst City fans is amazing at the moment!

 

[UpTheLeagueFox]

2 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

The levels of entitlement amongst fans is amazing at the moment!

We want to be better, we want to progress, we want to improve but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Manchester City (a bigger club than us already) finished 9th, 16th, 8th, 15th, 14th and 9th just prior to the Middle East money pouring in.

They finished 10th, 5th and 3rd before winning their first title in 2012. (And that was only with the last Agueroooooo kick of the season).

A tiny bit of patience wouldn't go amiss.

[HighPeakFox]

30 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

We want to be better, we want to progress, we want to improve but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Manchester City (a bigger club than us already) finished 9th, 16th, 8th, 15th, 14th and 9th just prior to the Middle East money pouring in.

They finished 10th, 5th and 3rd before winning their first title in 2012. (And that was only with the last Agueroooooo kick of the season).

A tiny bit of patience wouldn't go amiss.

Careful Geoff, you might get accused of being censorious.

[Nicolo Barella]

It feels like we may have to cash in on Choudhury whilst we still can. I like him and really hope he has a successful career but he'll never be able to play in Rodgers' system. Hopefully we can loan him out next season and then sell him on to somebody. 

[Spudulike]

Inevitable knee-jerk reactions in the hours after a match. It's always been the way and somewhat predictable after watching us dominate for 45 mins (76%) possession, missing a pen, numerous chances and then Kasper making a poor mistake for the goal. 

 

Its just another in the sequence of a mad holiday fixture congested PL. Unexpected draws for Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea, we're not alone in this respect. 

 

Its a peculiar season that hopefully won't ever happen again. The clubs have done fantastically well to keep it competitive and put on a show the best they can. Whatever happens in this Covid season will be remembered as an oddity and somehow unreal but at least as fans we still have enough passion to get worked up about our club.

 

Keep the knee jerking going and we just might get through this. I wouldn't want it any other way. 

[Tom12345]

5 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

The team was fine, apart from Choudhury and Mendy together in midfield.  Not having Under for this one was a real shame, because that would have pushed Perez into the Maddison role and Praet into the Choudhury role.  Still - we were totally dominant for most of the game, and the first half was actually one of our best of the season.  Perez or Praet should have taken the penalty, and Kelechi blew two great chances apart from that (Praet laid a gorgeous cross right onto his forehead in front of an open goal).  But team selection, apart from Choudhury, was not the problem.

Quite agree with this. I thought Mendy played very well and he is so much better than Ndidi in positioning himself for a pass to get teammates out of trouble. In a game like this, he is arguably better than Ndidi as Mendy’s all round game is needed more than Ndidi’s destroyer abilities.  Hamza made a few too many casual mistakes for my liking and agree with you that it would be better to have Praet play his role instead, while Perez is much better in the No. 10 role right next to Nachos. Those two could have complemented each other well. If Under was available, that would have likely happened. Not going to blame Nachos too much, but it is true that his misses costed us the game.

Edited 29 December 2020 by Tom12345

[Nicolo Barella]

Can't understand how people have seen the host of injuries we've been hit by this season and still not understand the importance of rotation...

[Reg Vardy]

We played 8 matches in December

 

Villa played 5......

[majaco]

Two games with a day between.  Players managing injuries.  Overall, we were the far superior team.  The situation was managed well.  Many players had good games.  One or two of the back up players were not quite good enough.  That does not take away from the fact that we put a good team out.  Only Schmeichel is a nailed o  starter from the 11.  Evans probably.  Barnes should be.

 

I think we deserved a win.

[Facecloth]

48 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

Can't understand how people have seen the host of injuries we've been hit by this season and still not understand the importance of rotation...

People love a bit of hindsight and revisionism. Col especially will claim he said all along we shouldn't rest anybody, but almost certainly never said it once. But now we haven't won whilst resting players he'll be claiming his superior foresight.

[mozartfox]

57 minutes ago, Reg Vardy said:

We played 8 matches in December

 

Villa played 5......

Also they have played two league games less than us ,which will have to be fitted in some stage. 

[foxinsocks]

10 hours ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

A point takes us second in the PL - in a season where we've been ravaged by first team injuries and also into the UEL KO stages - and that's your take???

 

 

Just because we are second does not mean we should throw away points.  Rodgers is a very good coach - but he made a mistake here ... I hope he will learn from it

Edited 29 December 2020 by foxinsocks

[Ceirboy]

I think you are all being unfair on Brendan.

He was giving two players their last appearance in Premier League football. 
He was showing a little compassion. 
🙂