Crystal Palace 1-1 West Ham Utd (09/02/19)

[bubbles1966]

Having managed to watch the full re-run and with the benefit of it, I'm not sure we ran out of gas.

Almost all their big chances all through the game were the offside trap not working, while none of our players had a bad game.

The difference second half seemed to be that we lost our quality in possession in their half along with the referee being a little too lenient with them on occasions. It was almost like watching the difference in that XI when Anderson's on it, and when he ain't.

First half he was 8/10-9/10 - second half he was 5/10. Our attacking performance reflected that.

[prophet:marginal]

The thing for Anderson was that he was up against their best player. Obviously, the lad is young, but he is as fast as Fredericks and he has had the full season to integrate himself into the team.

The thing for me that was equally responsible for a lack of an away victory was that they were light in centre of defence, with Kelly forced to deputise for Tomkins, but we only had Hernandez to aim at in there.

This became more pronounced, even once we'd put Arnie on, by our withdrawing Antonio and slinging on Obiang. Antonio was the only one capable of working between the lines in the 2nd half, because, as much as Snod moved across, he had no more energy to run up and down the pitch, supporting the (lone) forward.

The ball just kept coming back and, after they'd missed that howler of a chance, it was actually a little fortunate for us to leave with a point.

[bubbles1966]

The ball just kept coming back and, after they'd missed that howler of a chance, it was actually a little fortunate for us to leave with a point.

That was often a consequence of poor control or misjudged final balls.

Anderson became noticeably less effective in the second half in possession, whereas he was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch in the first.

I don't think anyone else in our team had anything like the variation in performance from half to half. Ten of the eleven gave the same performance in each half.

It isn't meant as a dig, just a reflection on how influential he is becoming.

The sooner Arnie is back to himself or Lanzini's fit, the better.

[prophet:marginal]

I agree here, generally. Fredericks is now in the team after decent enough performances against Mane and then Zaha. I think he's got fairly decent control and obviously a lot of pace.

I'd have chosen Diangana, instead of Obiang, as Antonio's replacement, because he would have given Van Aanholt much more to think about.

[waynepin]

are the team fit enough? every game by the 60 minute mark, Noble, Antonio, Snodgrass, Arnie or any of the other forwards look like they are out of gas, so its the same swap every time, Antonio put a shift in but was done when he came off, putting Obiang on for him meant a done in Snodgass had to go out right, then we swapped Chico for Arnie and when we swapped right backs meant we had a knackered Noble and Snodgrass on the pitch, is this fitness or just a few seniors struggling to work for the full 90 minutes due to age maybe they waste too much energy making too many runs,

[Morocco Mole]

Having managed to watch the full re-run and with the benefit of it, I'm not sure we ran out of gas.

Almost all their big chances all through the game were the offside trap not working, while none of our players had a bad game.

The difference second half seemed to be that we lost our quality in possession in their half along with the referee being a little too lenient with them on occasions. It was almost like watching the difference in that XI when Anderson's on it, and when he ain't.

First half he was 8/10-9/10 - second half he was 5/10. Our attacking performance reflected that.

Exactly right.

We weren’t out fought or outrun in midfield which is sometimes the case but as you say the offside trap was iffy - Fredericks - who I like - particularly struggeld. Lack of games.

We murdered them on the flanks first half. Anderson was on fire and gave Wan Bissanga a chasing but to the kids credit he hung in there and turned it round second half. He’s a baller that boy and will be playing for England very soon. To be fair their wide quartet is quality. As good as anyone outside the top half dozen and they had to go for it second half. They are a good side now they have some options up front and Hodgson always impresses me at this level. God knows why he made such a pigs ear of England.

Agree that the Antonio change was a negative one that set the tone for the rest of the match. Still, a good game of football and a decent away point for me.

[davids cross]

Fredericks was caught as last man........lagging behind the other three who were in line quite a few times.

I sort of didn't blame him though. It was a tough afternoon having to concentrate on Zaha for 80 odd minutes.

I thought he did reasonably ok against him considering everything. It's easy for the head to get scrambled playing full back against him.

Hope he will come on for the appearance. I like Fredericks. But he needs to brush up on not being behind the two central defenders , he should always be a yard in front of them if possible.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

^^^^^

he needs to be sat down and made to watch The Full Monty over and over and over again

[bubbles1966]

I felt Fred had a very good game in the 1 on 1's with Zaha and his general defending, aside from the offside positioning, was better than I've seen from him before. He probably needs to tidy up in possession , but he appears a good attacking outlet.

On an indivdiual basis, I felt the back 5 all did well yesterday.

[The Old Man of Storr]

The sooner Arnie is back to himself or Lanzini's fit, the better.

I agree - Hernandez had a good enough game against Liverpool but wasn't as effective yesterday - he drew a few fouls but if he'd kept his head and squared the ball to Antonio instead of shooting from too tight an angle we would have gone 0-2 up and the game could have ended differently - Hernandez while a great goalscorer can be much too greedy - Marko is no better when given half chances but I think he gives us more , he keeps the ball better and can go past players better . When on top of his game there aren't many better strikers in the Premiership than Marko but like all egotists he needs to feel the love of the supporters - Lanzini or Nasri will only make us better .

[e17]

I’m about as big a fan of his as you’ll meet, but I thought in that second half, Diop looked like a lad whose need for a break showed a little bit. Don’t think that was helping Fredericks.

Fella has even been an almost ever present in Cup games & is still a kid.

Very sensible management to bring Zab on

[arlhe]

They all have the best part of a two week break now....

[Ironing Board]

Rode our luck, luck we didn’t deserve considering how bad we were second half. The inability to offer anything but defence, by design or not, gave Palace the chance to take points. Sure, there should have been a red, but we didn’t perform well enough.

They negated Rice by playing wide quickly. Fredericks was positionally suspect and we didn’t get enough from our strikers either half. Snodgrass’s tackle on that counter was excellent, but he has seemingly sacrificed attack quality to become more box to box.

It’s interesting - Roy may have laid a blueprint other teams may follow to negate our strengths. Most managers aren’t as good as Roy however, so it remains to be seen if many will be able to adopt that approach. Will also be fascinating to see how Pellers adjusts himself if this happens.

[Jinxed]

you lot do realise that he may well be here next season?

Who? Arnautovic? No chance, he's defo off mate

[S-H]

Good.

[Marky]

Who? Arnautovic? No chance, he's defo off mate

You think the Chinese will still want him ?

[e17]

Who? Arnautovic? No chance, he's defo off mate

The Chinese or the team that all the Chinese support?

[Jinxed]

What Chinese?

Italy

[Wilko1304]

I couldn't really point to anyone playing badly, it was a collective dropping deep (with no attacking threat all second half) that did for us.

But we did give up a lot of chances, even in the first half. Fredericks was caught badly with offsides a few times, although we struggled with our line at the start of the year and have improved, so he deserves time to catch up with the rest. He generally managed Zaha well, but didn't do well when Zaha moved off and let someone else run in that gap, almost as if his focus was too intently on Zaha. Diop also wasn't great inside of him (ooo er).

We just collectively got outplayed second half. They negated Rice well, just cruising to the wide players as soon as possible, and the ref let them get away with a bit much too.

Snodgrass needing subbing, Antonio needed replacing with someone who could offer an outlet (as Antonio was before), but I could equally see why he wanted to stabilise. It's a hard call: when it works and you grind out a 1-0, you look smart. When it doesn't, you look passive. But when you try be positive then lose 2-1, you're criticised for not being pragmatic.

[TheHandOfDog]

^^^^^

he needs to be sat down and made to watch The Full Monty over and over and over again

:loI: