Crystal Palace 3-2 Leicester City

[Guest ttfn]

BTW, who put the ball forward for Howard for DEEJ'S goal? Oh, the same on who is being bagged constantly because of past performances?

Yeah.

That's a pretty weak argument, it was just a hoof forward. It had everything to do with the defender's mistake and nothing to do with Neilson's ball forward.

That said, anybody having a sly dig at Neilson needs their head examining. Arguably our second or third best performer yesterday. And the cross he put in for King's goal was superb.

[Stig the Lawnmower]

only listened on the radio, almost switched off at half time, but i'm forever the optomist and stuck with it. second half sounded great, but 12 corners with no result? that is pretty poor to say the least. gallagher seemed to deliver some good corners last season, so perhaps this element of the game will improve. Also, get off Neilsons back! he made some good contributions to the game and deserves credit.

[ACF]

That's a pretty weak argument, it was just a hoof forward. It had everything to do with the defender's mistake and nothing to do with Neilson's ball forward.

That said, anybody having a sly dig at Neilson needs their head examining. Arguably our second or third best performer yesterday. And the cross he put in for King's goal was superb.

Doesn't matter. He helped in both our goals.

[Tilley]

Morrison for their first. CHRIST

[andy_croydz]

Huh?

Don''t act the innocent with me :w00t:

[andy_croydz]

Morrison for their first. CHRIST

It wasn't his best moment that's for sure! Their striker spun him well though, I didn't realise he was only 17! He looks like a promising player, he did well yesterday I thought.

[Ashley]

I've seen a lot of reactions from yesterday on here and facebook and I have to say there a massive over reaction to say the least. People calling for Sousa out (behave your self) there is still another 45 games and 135 points to play for, I believe, we'll be fine(and 'up there') come what may.

[the new guy]

neilson is shit and if paulo thinks he has a chance of winning promotion with that silly twat a right back he's going to get a bitch slap of truth in the face (i whant to know what happend to micheal lamey and yes oakley is shit and what was Morrison doing ducking out the way in the fist goal hopeless

[andy_croydz]

neilson is shit and if paulo thinks he has a chance of winning promotion with that silly twat a right back he's going to get a bitch slap of truth in the face (i whant to know what happend to micheal lamey and yes oakley is shit and what was Morrison doing ducking out the way in the fist goal hopeless

A critic if ever I saw one

[Guest Gist]

To be honest I don't think we even played that badly in the first half, we still created a fair few chances. Their goals just seemed to come out of nothing and was more than flattering scoreline at half time. For those that say Neilson had a good game obviously didn't attend, he really is out of his depth. I'm not on much of a downer anyway, first game of season we shown some fight, this team has goals in it and I'm sure the defence will tighten up. Up the blues!

[davieG]

Morrison for their first. CHRIST

Hobbs wasn't any better, in fact Morrison's main fault was assuming Hobbs would win the ball which he should have done.

[Bryn]

Didn't follow the game yesterday as I was out, but I was concerned when I saw the lineup. It seemed to completely against our strengths. No holding midfield player, two little strikers. Seemed like a very naive move, and whilst I don't know how the game played out, I don't recall us shipping three rapid goals very often last year.

[davieG]

Didn't follow the game yesterday as I was out, but I was concerned when I saw the lineup. It seemed to completely against our strengths. No holding midfield player, two little strikers. Seemed like a very naive move, and whilst I don't know how the game played out, I don't recall us shipping three rapid goals very often last year.

Probably not but I bet we played that back four / mdifield four a few times or at least pretty much the same last year so maybe it was just a bad day at the office for the players. That's not to say I agree with the midfield set up, picking just 2 from our 3 central midfielders of King, Oakley and Wellens was rarely if ever successful previously that's why Pearson stuck Oakley on the right to bolster the midfield.

I didn't go yesterday but was it just a coincidence that we improved with a 3 man central midfield or were there other reasons like CP tiring / backing off or Howard coming on?

[Bryn]

Probably not but I bet we played that back four / mdifield four a few times or at least pretty much the same last year so maybe it was just a bad day at the office for the players. That's not to say I agree with the midfield set up, picking just 2 from our 3 central midfielders of King, Oakley and Wellens was rarely if ever successful previously that's why Pearson stuck Oakley on the right to bolster the midfield.

I didn't go yesterday but was it just a coincidence that we improved with a 3 man central midfield or were there other reasons like CP tiring / backing off or Howard coming on?

Yeah you're probably right in saying we used it a few times. I remember people saying that they weren't confident about it I think. I guessed that we switched to a three man midfield, I think that's best for us.

[THEBIGJOHNSTEADER;]

Just been on the phone to my contact. In a nutshell he said we can expect a new keeper and another defender. Looks like accountability for poor performances is going to be very high this season

[Uncle Monty]

Just been on the phone to my contact. In a nutshell he said we can expect a new keeper and another defender. Looks like accountability for poor performances is going to be very high this season

New keeper? Very odd not a place that we need strengthening in, unless Weale is on his way out and Hart is on his way in.

[Milans Foxes]

People can't have a go at others for saying Morrison is out of his depth then say we should give Neilson another chance, and are being 'over critical' of him. Morrison was brilliant last year, Neilson was fooking shit, neither of them have changed my opinions of them on the basis of one game.

Clearly, our squad is far too small, something that has been blatantly obvious since the loan players went back. We need 3 or 4 at least, we can't have a bench that includes a whole load of academy kids. We had Howard & Wellens as options today, that's all. I know the new guys are injured, but even when they come back we're hardly blessed with options. Bring Crncic, Vitor, Moreno & Gallagher back and that fills the bench with senior players, but one injury and it's back to the kids again!

They could turn out to be brilliant, but they can't be shouldering the responsibility of being in the first team for the whole season, they're too young.

I'm also worried by the fact that we only played well when Howard came on, because that isn't exactly a glowing assessment of Sousa's new passing style is it? Pretty passing all through pre-season, first proper game and we're total shit until we resort to the big man up top tactic.

The positives obviously are the fightback and the fact that DJ scored. I don't mean to be overly negative, but the problems shown up in this game are not ones that have crept up on us, they have all been coming for the whole of the summer.

Rant over.

Couple of other things, Dyer is another positive, and I'm not completely convinced Wellens is the answer, though he's definitely better than Oakley. He always seems to need too much time on the ball, which is a problem if the other team gets in our face in midfield.

This is exactly the sort of complete and utter drivel and lack of knowledge that continues to show up on this forum! You clearly weren't at the game and if you were, you're a complete tool!

First point, squad too small?? In an ideal world, maybe. However, there were teams in our division today that could only name 4 substitutes, and that includes playing a load of kids. The response to this is right in front of your eyes. Palace have had serious financial problems so had to play a load of kids yesterday, and two of them making their debut were their best players (Zaha and Cadogan), thus completely invalidating your point!

2nd point, we were playing perfectly well before Howard even came on. In the 2nd half, we had already slammed the woodwork and got one goal back. I do agree Howard helped the cause and was one of our better players but we did create a half dozen chances in the first half also, and on the whole (barring a few nerves and slow periods) the passing game was working well.

3rd point, what problems?? The only issue we had was a few defensive mistakes. Morrison and Hobbs do not become bad players overnight and I can guarantee that we will not concede three goals in one game again for a very long time. On another day, we could have been 3 up ourselves at half time and we could have had 6 or 7 second half.

One negative was Fryatt. We all know what he can do but he did look off the pace and failed to pass the ball on a few occasions when players were better positioned, and he missed a sitter. If he had shown the form he showed last season first half, we could have had 2 or 3 more goals.

Nielson had easily his best game for us. His ability is of course limited but he did play a huge part in both goals and made the tackle of the game in the 2nd half, winning us a throw-in in the process. He wasn't at fault for any of the goals either in my opinion.

In summary, plenty to be optimistic about and I am 100% sure we will be challenging in the play-offs this season and could even get top 2. If Middlesborough defend like they did yesterday, we'll score an absolute hatful next week! I just hope Sousa doesn't over-react and change too much for next week because if we play like that every game, we'll be fine!

[THEBIGJOHNSTEADER;]

New keeper? Very odd not a place that we need strengthening in, unless Weale is on his way out and Hart is on his way in.

Monty you terrible ****! I think it's reaction to yesterdays goals personally. Didn't sound best pleased today

[Stevosevic]

Monty you terrible ****! I think it's reaction to yesterdays goals personally. Didn't sound best pleased today

Anymore info that you can tell us TBJS?

[maddog]

Surreal to be 3 down at HT.

In the end we were unlucky not to get at least a point.

Either way a decent recovery from the 1st period and plenty of positives to take into next weeks game against the 'favourites'

Dyer could have had a hat trick another day.

[Guest Mee-9]

Jesus. Talk about negativity. Just had a browse through a few pages.

First half, I'd put it down to nerves between Hobbs and Morrison. A few of you are blaming Neilson? If you were at the game, you would of seen that he was actually pretty solid yesterday. But i suppose the ones who didn't go, are always looking for a scapegoat, and don't want to blame the real culprits.

Second half, we looked quality. The introduction of Howard changed the whole game, he is going to be the striker we're going to have to play, like it or not, his type of play suits our style. I'd like to see, a 4-3-3 next game, with Moreno, Wellens and King in the centre, and Howard, Fryatt (Maybe Dyer) and DJ.

We played hoofball all the first half, and you simply CANNOT play that game, if you have DJ and Fryatt upfront. When we played football in the second half, we looked a threat, and look like the Leicester we all know and love, and we had passion, like that night in Cardiff. Neilson was fighting to win everything, Dyer was pumping the fans up, So was Howard. I love to see that from the players, shows they recognise the fans and our importance.

Anyway, We left Selhurst Park at about 5:15 yesterday, after the kerfuffle on the M25, a 11 O'clock Burger King and the drive back from the Walkers, I got home at 1:15am. Enjoyed the bus drive home though, Coach 4 seemed in high spirits still.

[davieG]

Jesus. Talk about negativity. Just had a browse through a few pages.

First half, I'd put it down to nerves between Hobbs and Morrison. A few of you are blaming Neilson? If you were at the game, you would of seen that he was actually pretty solid yesterday. But i suppose the ones who didn't go, are always looking for a scapegoat, and don't want to blame the real culprits.

Second half, we looked quality. The introduction of Howard changed the whole game, he is going to be the striker we're going to have to play, like it or not, his type of play suits our style. I'd like to see, a 4-3-3 next game, with Moreno, Wellens and King in the centre, and Howard, Fryatt (Maybe Dyer) and DJ.

We played hoofball all the first half, and you simply CANNOT play that game, if you have DJ and Fryatt upfront. When we played football in the second half, we looked a threat, and look like the Leicester we all know and love, and we had passion, like that night in Cardiff. Neilson was fighting to win everything, Dyer was pumping the fans up, So was Howard. I love to see that from the players, shows they recognise the fans and our importance.

Anyway, We left Selhurst Park at about 5:15 yesterday, after the kerfuffle on the M1, a 11 O'clock Burger King and the drive back from the Walkers, I got home at 1:15am. Enjoyed the bus drive home though, Coach 4 seemed in high spirits still.

I think if you look properly you'll see the only people saying Neilson was shit, ok, one of the better players were people that went. So it's just a matter of opinion / perspective or bias one way or the other depending on your view.

So it seems you're just looking a Neilson bashing scapegoat

[C-man]

I thought Neilson was the best of the back four yesterday. Made fewer mistakes than Hobbs and Morrison, made a few good tackles and put in a wonderful cross for King's goal, as has been reported repeatedly.

Neither Hobbs nor Morrison took the responsibility that is required to play centre-half, particularly against a big striker like Alan Lee. They just let him win the first ball and failed to deal with the second ball on numerous occasions. In fairness they didn't have any sort of shield in front of them, but I expected more from both of them.

Bruno Berner didn't look match fit. Puffing after half an hour and generally looked like he was running through treacle throughout. Strange considering the last time I saw him he was busting a gut to run the length of the pitch in the 119th minute in Cardiff.

[tomtom]

City played well yesterday but in the first half they forgot that as well as playing nice passes around you first need to compete and earn the right to play, we were not getting our heads on balls, marking our men or winning the 50-50 tackles but as soon as we started doing that we completely dominated the game and should of got a draw at the very least !!

The atmosphere created by the fans was brilliant and we stuck by the team all the way through which was obviously appreciated by the players as shown in there reaction at the end, my only moan being why Sousa decided to come on and moan at the ref rather than acknowledging the fans. a little wave or clap of appreciation would of been nice on your first game Paulo me old mucker

[Guest ttfn]

On Hobbs/Morrison there were several times when they just left unmarked 35 yards out from long balls. It was as if they had been told to forget about the first ball unless it was near the box and just pick up the pieces.

Honestly don't think Hobbs/Morrison is a viable long term centre back pairing. I presume it won't be either, with Vitor coming back?