Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.
simon1982 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 8:45 pm
Tough game today. We had chances but I wouldn’t say we worked the palace keeper that much.
I though Conor Gallagher was outstanding. Not only did he score but he was brave, pressed high and stopped us from breaking the lines. Got a great future ahead of him
Gallagher was probably West Brom’s best player when he played against us last season. He was Palace’s today. I know people have a problem with helping develop Chelsea players by taking them on loan, but he’d have been an asset to us this season when we’re going to need extra quality players who are capable of making a difference.
Disappointed that we don’t have 9 points, but can’t complain too much with 7 from 9 and 10 goals scored. I think the problem is with have no plan B. First half we played some lovely football and Fornals goal was such a great team goal. However, second half we ran out of ideas and if anyone was going to get the winner at 2-2 it was Palace. It’s our bench that is the problem, there’s no Giroud or Dzeko, someone who can change the game. We have Lanzini who I will love forever for the last minute Spurs equalizer and Yarmo who just doesn’t cut it. There’s Fredericks to help out Coufal, Noble, Johnson and Diop who would help when closing out a 3-0 lead, but no game changers. So I hope we get in some options “B” in before the window closes. Lingard gets us and fits in, but maybe we also need someone who can actually change our style. That’s what we lacked today. This really could be a special season, let’s win at Southampton, have no fear v Man Utd and repeat our win at Leeds. Our first 11 when firing can go against the best in the league.
Derby Hammer wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 11:45 pm
Gallagher was probably West Brom’s best player when he played against us last season. He was Palace’s today. I know people have a problem with helping develop Chelsea players by taking them on loan, but he’d have been an asset to us this season when we’re going to need extra quality players who are capable of making a difference.
I suppose the whole Carl Jenkinson thing still is etched in our mind. In 2014/2015 we turned him into a £15 Million player (a value at the time), and convinced Arsenal to offer him a further long term deal, which undoubtedly upped his value too. We then returned for him and it was just never the same. Loan deals like that offer short term quality, but ultimately futures lie elsewhere, and at the end of it you're left having to replace the departed player who has returned to their parent club. That being said, he looked an absolute class act in tight spaces, and hi skill is abundant.
Just some vague observations and i’m not saying they are fact but:
A) we don’t seem to be so threatening from corners & set pieces any more
B) soucek doesn’t seem to be a threat any more
C) bowen seems to have dropped off in form.
One somewhat subpar half in a draw, and 7 out of 9 points in the first 3 games. Not getting too excited about not beating Palace, it’s still a great start to the season. That said, the thin squad will become a massive issue further down the line this season. Hoping that it is dawning on Lingard that he will simply not get the game time he wants at MUFC, and he’ll reconsider not joining the club.
Rozzop wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 11:33 pm
Newcastle, Leicester and Palace had 6 shots on target between them, 5 goals conceded.
It's not a good sign when every shot the opposition have goes in.
I saw the stats for yesterday and Palace had 2 shots on target and scored both. Wasn’t aware that the stats were similar from first two games as well. If you are conceding 5 goals every 3 games you are going to need to be scoring well every game . Thankfully we are at the moment but our defence needs to be taking some pressure of the forwards and the defence starts with the keeper. Fabianski has been a great keeper but there were signs last season that he was on the decline and maybe better to let Areola have a turn sooner rather than later.
Credit David Moyes for not shutting up shop and when making his subs they were attack minded players, not defensive ones. Four more goals to warm the cockles, sadly only two scored by us, but we got a point.
Clearly not at our best with two or three players below par, but nobody had a stinker. Dawson is taking some flak, in my view a touch unfairly, I thought like the rest of the team in the first half he looked comfortable. Yes, he should have done better against Gallagher for their second, but better defenders than him would have got done by that.
Antonio continues to impress, I doubt there is a defender in the division who fancies playing against him.The weak link for me at the moment is Fabianski, time to introduce the new keeper, perhaps after the Saints game, use the cup game as cover, and simply make the switch on a (hopefully) clean sheet basis.
Zouma will be straight in, probably at Dawsons expense.
Our problem remains however a wafer thin squad in key areas, namely CM and striking options. To see Lanzini and Yarmolenko as our two changes yesterday when trying to win was disturbing. No other side with top 6 aspirations would be using those two, and that's the real issue.
Two dropped points yesterday, but arguably we gained two on Monday so over the week I'm happy.
Fair dues to Paliss, they gave us a tough 2nd half. Came out with a flea up thier Harris and we didn't raise our game enough to match their energy/ intensity. Reminds me a bit of the Fulham game last season. Think like Fulham they will struggle this season - Au revois Patrick
Fabianski could have done better with the first one but even if he had got q big hand on it, Geuhi was completely unmarked at the back post for a tap in
He had no chance at all with the second one so very harsh to allocate any blame for that
The main issue with the goals we conceded was how easily other teams seem to be allowed to get very close to our goal despite us having quite a few players back defending. We are not getting done on the break or from quick incisive passing moves but are allowing relatively slow build up play to beat us in and around the penalty box. This suggests a lack of organisation and also players losing individual duals
Oldun wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 10:28 pm
To me it was that Rice and Soucek lost the midfield in the second half ,both looked tired and leggy ,although the defence mainly Dawson made the mistakes they were not protected by the midfield,which is unusual,I personally think the second half performance from Declan was the worse I have seen him play.
I would add in Bowen and Benrhama to that, neither of whom covered themselves in any glory yesterday.
As I said, their midfield out muscled and about jumped out lot second half.
Maybe we were leggy due to it being early in the season and Monday took a lot out of them?
Whatever excuses, or whatever reasoning, I am still immensely disappointed at the loss of 2 points yesterday to Crystal ****ing Palace. I expected nothing less than 3 points. Actually, I'll let you into a little secret, I'm ****ing seething
Oldun wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 10:28 pm
To me it was that Rice and Soucek lost the midfield in the second half ,both looked tired and leggy ,although the defence mainly Dawson made the mistakes they were not protected by the midfield,which is unusual,I personally think the second half performance from Declan was the worse I have seen him play.
Yes, Rice by his own high standards was poor in the 2nd half. He looked both mentally and physically tired and was making some poor decisions. In his frustration with the way the game was going he was pushing further and further upfield, trying unsuccessfully to win the ball back. In so doing Soucek had to drop deeper which removed his goal threat and allowed Palace to come on to us.
Dawson is being regularly found out this season and Fabianski is finally starting to show his age. Fortunately we have better backups either here already or on their way. But we remain far too dependent on Antonio.
IronRhino wrote: ↑Sun Aug 29, 2021 8:58 am
Yes, Rice by his own high standards was poor in the 2nd half. He looked both mentally and physically tired and was making some poor decisions. In his frustration with the way the game was going he was pushing further and further upfield, trying unsuccessfully to win the ball back. In so doing Soucek had to drop deeper which removed his goal threat and allowed Palace to come on to us.
Dawson is being regularly found out this season and Fabianski is finally starting to show his age. Fortunately we have better backups either here already or on their way. But we remain far too dependent on Antonio.
Totally agree with this about Rice & Soucek….both looked tired 2nd half ….worries me with the International games coming up & our European games as well whether they will cope with all the games….and our form may suffer.
Also agree that we are too reliant on Antonio & need to get in cover soon.
First quarter - we won 10 of the 12 aerials - rest of the game we won 5 of 32.
We also had majority possession pretty much up and until we scored first time and it was one way traffic in terms of goal attempts
For the final 60 minutes of the game, Cresswell, Coufal and Fornals had c.55%-60% pass completion. Fabianski was 44% and Palace were on top in every respect.
Pretty close to being the stereotypical game of two halves.
I think we let Palace's aggression and press affect us too much in the second half. Many of the players seemed to lose their composure and our passing became really sloppy. Those flowing counter-attack moves that we're usually so good at started breaking down quickly due to misplaced passes.
Last season we managed to see out so many games when taking the lead but defensively we don't seem to be switched on at the moment. Just glad we are scoring so many.
Said this a few times now but I hope rice doesn't feel he needs to prove himself to the media (neville, keane souness etc) by adding a bunch of goals to his game and trying to become the complete midfielder overnight thus neglecting his defensive duties.
Last season Rice said he was happy to let souchek get the headlines and let him get up the pitch as he knows where the goal is so I hope Rice keeps showing the traits of a top captain and puts West Ham before personal accolades. Im sure he will.
As someone said... the opposition over 3 games have had 6 shots on target and 5 of those have resulted in goals. Its definately not time to panic but its something we need to be mindful of.