:crystalpalacefc: Crystal Palace v Saints :saints: (PL)

Hoiberg MOM for me

3 Likes

And me.

1 Like

Just as well then, darling :wink:

1 Like

Great pass from Targett and what a finish from Hojberg. My arse had gone as well at the start of the 6 minutes, off to the pub now for a celebratory cold one or few. COYS.

4 Likes

Yeah, theyā€™re looking good together. Iā€™d be happy if they are the partnership all season.

From what I saw of the game, the back 4 looked good although werenā€™t tested too much.
Vestergaard looks pretty calm and assured. I like him and, without wanting to jump the gun, I think heā€™s a good as a replacement for VVD as weā€™re going to get.

I like Mo and Redderzmond out wide and Long actually did a good job today - still not convinced he should be in the team over Armstrong or Gabbi though. Iā€™d stick with Ings over Austin.
Iā€™m beginning to like the look of the team.

4 Likes

Weā€™re in the top half of the table!

1 Like

:innocent::innocent:

What the fuck is that?

Ha. Thatā€¦ is what happens when you try and use the halo (saint) emoji on iPhoneā€¦

Ask @saintbletch. Discourse? Discharge more like.

3 Likes

@Saint-or-sinner / @SO5-4BW / @Cobham-Saint on train to town for celebratory beer. @Fowllyd having a lemonade *

*#pussywhipped

6 Likes

We won, but I couldnā€™t see where 6 mins came from. The usual 4 ok, I can live with that but 6 was a bit iffy.

So, what did we learn today?

The Market Porter opens at 12, not 11:30amā€¦

You cannot wear a Saints top in the Wheatsheaf. (My bad). To quote @SO5-4BW, weā€™re not drinking thereā€¦so we went elsewhere

The Market Porter only lets you wear a Saints top if you tog up with a winter fleece over it. (Me again)

@Fowllyd ā€˜s wallet does hold cash - yes, really.

@Saint-or-sinner has a bladder capacity one stop short of Norwood Junction.

@Fowllyd washes his hands in the ONE toilet while everyone elseā€™s bladder is crippled at Norwood Junction.

@SO5-4BW ā€˜s reaction to the Ingsā€™ goal - a polite nod of acknowledgement- is up there for celebration of the season.

:lou_wink_2:

6 Likes

I should clarify that @Fowllyd didnā€™t wash his hands in the toilet, but you know wat I meanā€¦

1 Like

Ref was shown a couple of times pointing to his watch at our time wasting. Guessing it might have been that? Plus 6 second-half subs.

A really good team performance today. Everyone did their job and knew what their job was. Very impressive.

Thought Redmond had another strong game but HĆøjbjerg was man of the match for me. Very committed but also calmer, between him and Lemina we dominated possession in the first 60+ mins.

I thought we passed with real pace today and the ball was zipped around from player to player without dwelling on the ball. It meant Palace could never settle and we could usually find a player in space.

Most importantly we took 2 of the few chances we had which we havenā€™t done for a long time.

McCarthy had a mixed bag - flapping at a couple of crosses but making 2 or 3 really important saves, most notably from Bentekeā€™s downward header in the second half.

Bertrand and Cedric did OK today but I still canā€™t help thinking that Bertrand slows down our attacks if he joins play late. @Fatsoā€™s a ****. If heā€™s (Bertrand) instigated the attack then he will try to produce an end product but if heā€™s being brought in to the attack he far too often checks and lets the opposition get set.

Hoedt had a much better game today and there are signs that he might be developing an understanding with Vestergaard, who again did very well aerially, but looked very unsettled and lacking composure in the last 10.

Elyounouusi hasnā€™t done enough yet for me to see what the fuss was about but he had an good game today. Dead ball delivery looks good and he joins play centrally, from wide too - which is a good instinct to have.

Long made a nuisance of himself but fuck me he is looking less and less likely to score as time goes on. But what he did really well with Ings was close down from the front - something we missed when he went off and Austin came on.

Austin looks like heā€™s lacking fitness to me. Before the penalty, and remember heā€™d only been on the pitch for a few minutes, he was puffing and blowing. Nerves/Adrenalin? Dunno but I said to @Rust-Cohle (the poor bastard) who I watched the game with that I thought heā€™d miss. He really didnā€™t look composed and as I say, he did a quarter of the running that Long had done, with about half the intensity.

Ings deserves a special mention because he looks like he could be one of those players that never particularly looks like scoring but when he gets his chance, heā€™ll take it. A very composed finish and he did well to latch on to the ball as he didnā€™t really expect to receive it.

Oddly the possession figures say that Palace had slightly more of the ball than we did. That must have been late in the second half because for most of the first hour we seemed to dominate.

Hughes? I though he did really well to keep a settled team and that gives me more encouragement that he knows that path forward. Itā€™s also clear that he got an energetic performance out of the players, the like of which, we havenā€™t seen for a while.

The negatives? None reallyā€¦except we matched up 4-4-2, or similar with a very traditional Roy Hodgsonā€™s Palace and all we had to do was be better in our blocks of 4, 4 and 2. We were today.

Against teams that press and against teams that donā€™t stick rigidly to their formation, weā€™re going to need to be completely on our game if weā€™re going to stay at 4-4-2. Today gives me great hope. Shame weā€™re going into the international break, really.

12 Likes

Upvoted for effort. Didnā€™t actually read it.

5 Likes

TFBDR @Fatso

WDTFM? @BTripz

1 Like

Truly fantastic Bletch (a) definite read?