BRINGING DOWN THE PALACE! (A match thread)

Nuno is a coward. This is a game you try to win. Sangare is currently rubbish. Slow, can't pass. Seems freaked out with the ball at his feet. This game screamed Barry and The Dom and we play two defensive mids in this game. CHO was excellent but crowded out. Morgan played a number 6 very very well and with Reyna on we looked likely to at least get a few chances. Wood is utterly brilliant at finishing and he really didn't get much service at all.

Reyna looked pretty good actually. He found space and found his man. This also allowed space for Elanga and Cho. I watched this game mostly with my hands over my eyes near the end because I was afraid of a sting in the tail and we almost lost to a Neco own goal. Luckily the post came to our defence and Sels was good.

Eze is head and shoulders over everyone on the pitch though. He is a special talent and it's unfortunate that he was on the field because Palarse were decent but without him I cannot really see where they get chances.

Spuds managed to avoid being Spursy and beat Poo-ton when they needed to. Something that we failed to do. If only we had won that game at Kenilworth. We are holding on and out of the bottom three but fuck me I won't have any fingernails left. Felipe was a bit of a liability in the beginning but actually looked decent at the end.

I would love for Forest to Get Morgan in at 6 and try the Reyna or attacking experiment. We have so much to lose but if we don't try we will sleepwalk towards the championship. Winnable game. (Eze aside), but we just need to find that killer instinct. AND FAST!

Origi can be a supersub like he was was the Scouse cnuts but Elanga if fit should be on the wing. Aina I hope isn't injured. Although I have nothing against Toffs. Clearly someone at Palace has been working with Henderson on how to kick because he was so much better at that than he was with us.

As For Taiwo. He is a chaos Machine. I would have him (if fit) in the side. Possibly with Wood.

It's really up to Poo-ton to fuck up because we are going to be scraping points but confidence is such that we are not winning.

Also point of order M'lord but don't look now but Ever-gone are just three points ahead of us and could be in for another points reduction. Hopefully it's a doozy!

Mom: Gibbs White in the 6. Special mentions to CHO and Neco for effort. Can we sell Sangare somewhere, (preferably before June 30th), before people realise he is pants?

Chicago: Full of frustration.

I know he played at a lower level but I still remember Veldvijk (not how to spell his name, admittedly). 6 foot 4 of solid muscle but any time a defender physically challenged him reacted like he’d been assaulted and waited for a free kick that was never coming.

Someone on twitter posted the stats of Sangare v Yates yesterday. Sangares over 45mins were better than Yates over 90.

Both were pretty terrible, I don’t want to see that combination again, playing one really doesn’t help the other.

x.com/nffcaidan/status/1774125110393250216?s=61&t=w-weDDzS0PXEYtazUCi1rg

No figure for “dispossessed while idly waiting for something to happen”.

Also doesn’t show Sangare had a 73% pass completion, which is disastrous for a defensive midfielder (Yates 89%).

I saw that post and thought he had missed the key one, giving the ball away.

It's a strange world where someone random on twitter what's to manipulate stats to try and defend a multi millionaire that they (presumably) don't know.

He had played a fair bit of Champions League football too, though, hadn't he?

Scott McKenna’s played Champions League this season too. Just sayin.

Fair point, but my recollection was that Sangare had frequently caught the eye at that level. I could well be wrong. I haven't seen any Champions League football since it moved off terrestrial TV.

So frustrating. We played okay until we reached their area. It demonstrated what we all know - we lack that extra bit of quality we need to put teams away.

Sels and defence played pretty well. Good to see Aina back.
Yates was Yates - solid, tidy, unspectacular, a consistent 7/10 every week. Some fans recognise what he brings, others seem to expect him to be a cross between Keane and KDB and complain when he isn't.
Sangare is clearly still adapting to the EPL (it took Mangala best part of a season - fans last year questioning what he did, this year talking about how much we miss him since the stupid decision to sell). I thought Sangare actually broke up play quite well, but then was too slow, underestimating the pace of the EPL, and just gifted possession back through being caught on the ball or a poor pass (misjudging how quickly players could move to cut it out). What is his best position? 6, 8 or 10?
Origi was at his worst, but possibly Palace's LB just defended him really well, Wood scored a brilliant header, but offered absolutely nothing else in the rest of the game (heard some fans debating whether Surridge would have offered us more).
I actually liked MGW when he dropped a bit deeper - got on the ball much more and had more time on it - brilliant pass for the goal. Having not done a lot in the first half.
CHO was my MotM - ran himself into the ground, constantly trying to create something, always available.
None of the subs made the impact you'd really want. All ok, nothing special.

Had a brief chat with our referee's analyst after the game re time-keeping/wasting. Said Kavanagh should have know it was coming and taken firmer action earlier on to address it.

But for all the talk about how much better we are under Nuno (I don't agree), the stats don't lie. 15 games this year, we've won one in normal time, one after extra time and another on penalties. Last year's survival was built on our home form. This year, it's one win in eight. The only thing that might keep us up is how poor the promoted teams are. But Luton have fighting spirit, Burnley seem to be finding some form. We don't.

I felt if more time had been added on we were more likely to lose rather than win.

Our theory on Sangare is he would look better in a better team. Relegation side with below average players all around him is not helping him. Also think he will adapt like Mangala given time. Which we don't have.

They hit the post late on. Did we create a decent chance in the last 10 minutes?

I didn’t have the best of views yesterday but at one point in the first half the ‘goal threat’ Yates was central on the edge of the box and it looked ripe to hit….. and he passed sideways.

Was a shot on here?

I think any threat of goal from him is more about bundling in a set piece, there's a reason he hasn't scored a premier league goal yet (I think).

Yeah that's bull on the stats. It totally misses Yates was a pain in the arse and didn't give them a minute. They never make a relaxed pass while he was near. Compare to Sangare who just stood two metres away.

We said the same.

Yes, I was fuming.