Roy Hodgson & Sean Dyche on today's game

See link
http://www.uptheclarets.com/we-werent-a ... away-today" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh yes we were. Usually ageee with Sean but not today.

Maybe if he watched the game instead of talking into his hand, he'd know we were gash.

As frustrating as it was today, SD is probably right.
1st half all over em.

I completely agree with Sean...not a million miles off, we were two million miles off.
We looked today like we did pre Boxing Day vs Everton, that’s the worry.

He's not wrong. That first half was as one sided as it gets but you have to create and take your chances and we didn't.

In the first half Heaton barely touched the ball.

smacked of the Watford game

There is major issue with consistency with the team. Against spurs the team were brilliant against Newcastle and Palace much the same team were abysmal.

So there could be three reasons first spurs, etc were below par (bournemouth?) when we played tem, when we win we are lucky and decisions go for us (cardiff) or SD plays the same system and gives the same instructions every match and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

Today Zaha was allowed far too much space any competent manager should have dealt with this

someone should have booted Zaha in the opening minutes, we just stood off him all game

At last Sean will know what to practise in training this week i.e. when crossing the ball it is preferable to cross the ball to your own players !!

And that's why SD will never get a better job than here - he is so deluded with how badly we play at times

The truth sometimes hurts but that doesn't mean you have to deny it

This always looked like a tough game. Palace have now taken 20 points from away games and Zaha has scored 7 goals in the process - I think I read somewhere that's the highest of any player in the PL this season - not sure if that's right.

Assuming the half time sub was tactical. If so, with the benefit of hindsight it was a mistake. We lost the control we had on midfield in the first half.

Surprisingly having outflanked Pochettino last week SD fell into the same trap today and chased the game too early and in the process sacrificed a shape that was effective.

A hard fought draw would have been absolutely fine today. Whilst not disasterous, thanks to other results, this was damaging. We're not likely to get anything out of Liverpool but we can't afford to take another big hit to our goal difference.

I completely agree with SD. They bagged 2 excellent well taken goals and were gifted another. Apart from that I thought palace were awful.

If we'd have got a couple of good individual goals and won it would be 8and 9s all round on the ratings. That's the way it seems to work.

MT03ALG wrote:At last Sean will know what to practise in training this week i.e. when crossing the ball it is preferable to cross the ball to your own players !!

Agree, the crossing was dreadful.

MT03ALG wrote:At last Sean will know what to practise in training this week i.e. when crossing the ball it is preferable to cross the ball to your own players !!

The only decent cross into the box Ashley put it away for 1-3. Our final balls into the box were awful all afternoon and that is why we lost

Also agree, until Westwood got it right, goal for Ash!

Yep, it was a good training session for the three big Palace Centres. Barnes goal was the only one they missed.

I suppose at least the crosses were coming from wide though, which had to be an improvement on Tark's hapless lumps up the field at Newcastle. Though he did manage to squeeze a couple in today.

Vegas Claret wrote:someone should have booted Zaha in the opening minutes, we just stood off him all game

My brother said exactly that - 10 mins in!!!

To be fair first half we were pretty dominant. Just not clinical. We should have been given the advantage when McNeil was through and Wood should have buried one too. Plenty of crossing and they were awful at the back when under pressure but we didn't capatalise.

Second half we were abysmal and had no options to change things.

Lacked a bit getting a clean ball to the strikers, otherwise we played well in places and very well in others.

Not sure how we lost. Last 5 mins, we could have scored 3.

Roy has played a blinder with Saha. In virtually every interview he points to the fact that Saha is 'the most fouled player in the Premier League'. That kind of comment sticks with people, even refs.

At one point today he got fed up of the battle he was having (Westwood?) and sat on the deck, immediately winning a free kick.

Palace are a niggly bunch of spoilers.Rolling about every time we tackled them but we allowed them to outthink us.Seans tactics re no wingers didnt work
Charlie Taylor again was our best player and again Jack Cork was poor.
Ash Westwood played well too.However at 2 0 it was time for Crouchy.At 3 0 it was time to leave.I didnt and our late show was the annoying thing about what might have been with more effort.
A poor result made slightly less poor with Hudds.Cardiff Saints and Newcastle loosing
A win at Anfield beckons UTC

We weren't a million miles away, but as has been previously mentioned, the crossing was.

The biggest thing for me, and I've seen it a few times this season, is when we are playing pretty decent football and we haven't scored, or that we go behind, we seem to get bored and start the full on lumping it forward.

Dyche is spot on in what he says. Nip tuck game against an excellent counter attacking team who got a stroke of luck to get the first goal, which then allowed them to play to their strengths.

It happens. As it did to Brighton a couple of weeks ago when we won there.

They were much better than we were in the final third. Their midfield also pass to each other better than we do. People on here are saying our crosses were awful: it's not the crosses, it's where we send them from. All our crosses today were mainly floated in from the full back or central defensive position. Did you see how their first two goals came about today? Their player got behind the defence and squared or put it back into the danger area, we don't do that: and if you think McNeil is the answer, you need to have another think.
I will be delighted if we stop up in 17th place this season, but if we do, we need, for next season, a new midfield pairing and more pace in the team, and we desperately need to play more faster paced, forward looking football.
Yours, disgruntled from Benalmadena.

Vino blanco wrote:They were much better than we were in the final third. Their midfield also pass to each other better than we do. People on here are saying our crosses were awful: it's not the crosses, it's where we send them from. All our crosses today were mainly floated in from the full back or central defensive position. Did you see how their first two goals came about today? Their player got behind the defence and squared or put it back into the danger area, we don't do that: and if you think McNeil is the answer, you need to have another think.
I will be delighted if we stop up in 17th place this season, but if we do, we need, for next season, a new midfield pairing and more pace in the team, and we desperately need to play more faster paced, forward looking football.
Yours, disgruntled from Benalmadena.

And yet we beat Spurs last week with a superb performance. We got into plenty of good crossing positions; a combination of a bad day and unhelpful conditions meant we couldn't capitalise.

Overreactions help no one.

I thought we played some good stuff in the 1st half but lost our shape in the 2nd, once we started chasing the game.
Palace have some fantastic individual talent who or either at or not at the races, unfortunately today they were at it.
I thought we played better today in the 1st half than against Spurs

claretspice wrote:And yet we beat Spurs last week with a superb performance. We got into plenty of good crossing positions; a combination of a bad day and unhelpful conditions meant we couldn't capitalise.

Overreactions help no one.

Absolutely overreacting does not help and yet we have other threads suggesting certain players are lucky to be in the team....following 2 defeats after an 8 game unbeaten run in the premier league...

Had to stop reading this post as soon as somebody said the first half was one sided. Ffs

Yes, we were dominant int' first half, but we were unable to translate that dominance into goals because we'd no cutting edge.
Hennessey was forced into a couple of saves, but that was it, apart from crosses into the box.

On the whole, it was poor.

A Minnie rant.
1) our crossing is worse than useless. JBG having to cut back onto his left foot to then curl it into the keepers hands is repetetive and embarrassing. Until the goal every cross came down with snow on it.
2)Our corners and FKs that sail over and out. Why don’t we have a guy outside the far post to return it and turn the defence.
3) You never play a straight ball, always a diagonal. Tarks was just launching it to Hennessy repeatedly.
4)Jack Cork needs to get in the gym. He is a lightweight who gets knocked over far too easily.
5)our full backs have to go inside, now and then, to keep defenders honest. Taylor did it once and won us a fk but we need more.
6) we cannot go on without a midfielder on the bench. Sadly we have to for this season but what an embarrassment.

Tricky Trevor wrote:A Minnie rant.
1) our crossing is worse than useless. JBG having to cut back onto his left foot to then curl it into the keepers hands is repetetive and embarrassing. Until the goal every cross came down with snow on it.
2)Our corners and FKs that sail over and out. Why don’t we have a guy outside the far post to return it and turn the defence.
3) You never play a straight ball, always a diagonal. Tarks was just launching it to Hennessy repeatedly.
4)Jack Cork needs to get in the gym. He is a lightweight who gets knocked over far too easily.
5)our full backs have to go inside, now and then, to keep defenders honest. Taylor did it once and won us a fk but we need more.
6) we cannot go on without a midfielder on the bench. Sadly we have to for this season but what an embarrassment.

Fair play to you, that's 6 points and I'm pretty sure every one is based on a false premise.

Tricky Trevor wrote:A Minnie rant.
1) our crossing is worse than useless. JBG having to cut back onto his left foot to then curl it into the keepers hands is repetetive and embarrassing. Until the goal every cross came down with snow on it.
2)Our corners and FKs that sail over and out. Why don’t we have a guy outside the far post to return it and turn the defence.
3) You never play a straight ball, always a diagonal. Tarks was just launching it to Hennessy repeatedly.
4)Jack Cork needs to get in the gym. He is a lightweight who gets knocked over far too easily.
5)our full backs have to go inside, now and then, to keep defenders honest. Taylor did it once and won us a fk but we need more.
6) we cannot go on without a midfielder on the bench. Sadly we have to for this season but what an embarrassment.

Fair play to you, that's 6 points and I'm pretty sure every one is based on a false premise.

Sorry Sean but I don't agree, especially with the second half showing. That said for me Palace are a quality side and after the top 6 there the best of the rest IMO.

Dyche out thought by Benitez and Hodgson. His biggest weakness has always been his lack of flexibility and lack of ability to change it when it is not working. Played right into Newcastle and Palaces hands, their game plans worked to perfection. A little unlucky in the first half to concede the first goal although in the final third we were awful even in the first half. Once we conceded it was so easy for Palace. We are so predictable. When we are not 100% on it our way of playing looks awful and we can't win games at this level. Most of our players are borderline championship / premier League players. If they are slightly off it they are not good enough and easy for teams to play against.

We failed to adapt to the windy conditions. Palace kept it on the ground, we hit too many high balls. When it is that windy, accuracy of passing is all important. So we have to accept that the better side won. We have to improve our play in the final third.

I spoke with Palace fans at the services on the M6. They considered themselves very fortunate because they thought we played well and they didn’t really get into the game until the second goal went in. They observed that our crosses were floated over and often taken by the wind, yet when they had their chances, and they thought they were limited, they hammered them in low instead.

That was also my view, we didn’t play to the conditions but they did. Lesson learnt (hopefully) and we go again.

Watched it on telly here. I thought it was a case of the fine margins going the other way. We were ok in the first half but will often find it tough to come back after conceding first. Zaha is class and we dont have anyone of the same quality. Good to see Sean never blaming players in the media.

Mirror image of their game against Leicester.

Palace score a fortunate first goal against the run of play, defend deep and hit Burnley on the break with their pace and power.

Fundamentally - a football match consists of TWO teams. Not just us. When we played Spurs they were ambitious and expansive in their football - but on the day weren't quite good enough to break down our defence who generally like to be pushed back. Palace on the other hand are fairly well organised and sit back making it difficult for us to break down - plus they are very good on the break plus they had a fortunate moment in the first half resulting from a good break. Most people around me felt (like Sean Dyche) that we were in charge of the game at half time.

It's true that if we fall behind then the other team is able to change their play and make it more difficult for us - but this can be said of every team in the league. With this in mind it's true that historically we don't often win from a losing position in the premier league. It's also true that we have done it twice in the last 10 games (Huddersfield and Fulham).

People need to take a deep breath and not press the panic button.

First half we created enough chances to be 2-1 up at half time. Second half we were slow at closing down. We are far too lightweight in midfield and never seem to address that position.

beddie wrote:First half we created enough chances to be 2-1 up at half time. Second half we were slow at closing down. We are far too lightweight in midfield and never seem to address that position.

Spot on - I agree in general with everyone who says that we need to recruit in midfield. Top midfield players are very expensive of course but a good one is worth a striker AND a full back in my opinion.

jojomk1 wrote:He is so deluded with how badly we play at times

The truth sometimes hurts but that doesn't mean you have to deny it

Maybe he believes slagging off the team to the media will not help anybody.
Leave that stuff to the dressing room and keep the media off our player's backs.

jojomk1 wrote:And that's why SD will never get a better job than here - he is so deluded with how badly we play at times

The truth sometimes hurts but that doesn't mean you have to deny it

So you don't think we played well in the first half, at least?