Crystal Palace FC Thread + Premiership Palaver

[DungBeetle]

This is surely the first time ever a team kicked off the Premiership season is actually WORSE player for player than the one they had when playing in the Championship.

To be fair they made a decent fist of it, but any team starting Wilbraham and Dobbie up front isn't going to win games in the Premier League.

This could be a horrific season for Palace.

 

[rinswun]

The lack of quality on display for Palace was shocking really. Just can't see them scoring many at all. Would be surprised if they score more than 2 in any Premier League game this year and would set the o/u line on their total goals at 32.5.

[anthonyl]

Got to be the worst team ever fielded in the prem

Think Derbys team who got about 12 points win that. This is definitely under threat but doubt owners care with a 120m locked up.

[DungBeetle]

That Derby team were dreadful, but when you saw their team on Day 1 at least they had strengthened - Kenny Miller, Claude Davis, Andy Griffin and Rob Earnshaw were all solid Premier League players.  Just feels like Palace just haven't bothered and are taking the money and running.  They have the Zaha money + the Premier League money.  I'm all for financial prudence and not just buying the premier league journeymen on 50k a week who take you down anyway, but signing a only a relatively unproven striker and a young Spanish midfielder after losing your best player just seems odd.

[Ant040689]

Holloway has said that it has been a nightmare transfer window.

I think our chairmen are not keen on signing anyone up on wages much over £20k a week, so that rules out so many players that are of premiership quality from the get go. So we have seen a lot of our interest in players fall through on that front.

Aside from our transfer worries I think we have done a good bit of business for Chamakh who is very good in the air and will link up with Gayle well once they get a bond going. Our team are fractured at the moment, with Holloway introducing a new formation and 5 of our starting players currently either unfit or a little ill as was Chamakh. If we play Gayle and Chamakh as a top 2, I think we will see our biggest threat as Gayle looked awful coming from deep, and Chamakh was way too deep all game too when he came on, with both doing well further up the pitch.

A lot of Palace fans were very happy with the display against Tottenham, including me. We were very worried that our Championship defence would be decimated by Prem quality and we were not. In fact before the penalty we reduced them to half chances and shots from range. Then after they scored the penno, things opened up as we had to push on and they had more chances but i thought we still did well. I think our defence will hold out much better than most of us thought.

Especially with Floriant Marange, a wing back from Bordeaux likely to start in place of Moxey for the next game. Which brings me to the big fact that we haven't got our preferred starting lineup fully fit!

I think Holloway's first team is Speroni, Ward, Delaney, Gabiddon, Marange, Jedinak, Campana, Bolasie, Thomas, Gayle, Chamakh. Only 6 of them started on Sunday. This cannot be overlooked.

We were good defensively in the first half but had nothing going forward and this was because Wilbraham was up front! He is a little useless at this level, and Dobbie didn't have a good game at all, and him to start with Garvan is very bad as they are both a little too lightweight. When the triple substitution came on at 60 mins we improved a lot and that just shows that when we have our starting team we could do damage.

I think Bolasie will shine if given the chance, so too will Gayle, and Williams.

Overall, I am quite happy to see everyone and his dog dismissing Palace despite us being 5 players short of our ideal line up and us showing a good defensive display. Yes we were pitiful up front, but when you are forced into playing Wilbraham up front on his own, see how quickly any of your sides attacks break down in the prem!

Would say though that we were at home with fantastic support, it was the first game of the season where our performance levels could easily be higher than that of the norm for the rest of the season and it may be that away from home we will be found out for what we are. Especially against teams that aren't transitioning as hard as Tottenham without Bale. I could well be getting lulled into a false sense of hope with how well we played and I am aware of that. But I can just see things clicking for us in a really good way, especially if we have Jedinak suring up the rearguard in just ahead of them.

Just out of curiosity, why is it that none of you commented on a good defensive display in the first half, and up until the penalty? Was it because you were blinded by our ineffectiveness in midfield and up front?

[Ant040689]

Got to be the worst team ever fielded in the prem

It is going to be interesting to see the bigger teams play us when we are away from home. I think that will be the measure of how well we can cope. All is different when you are at home. I just want to keep thinking that somehow our backline are of good Prem quality, or at least can mimic it well enough to keep us up

Would like to remind you guys too that I thought we were awful in the back end of last season when we hadn't won in 8 games and somehow still got the playoffs, I will speak lowly of Palace if they are not giving a good account of themselves, but I am heartened by what I saw Sunday rather than sorrowful and think only with say 8 more games will a better picture be drawn for all of us to judge. Jumping on the Palace are shit bandwagon is a little premature I think and also a very easy way out, but fair play if you are proved right!

[pleno1]

on paper, it was the worse team ever fielded and dont think its very close.

Would this team be favourties for a top 3 spot in the championship this year? Betting on them to be relegated seems like printing money.

[DungBeetle]

"Just out of curiosity, why is it that none of you commented on a good defensive display in the first half, and up until the penalty? Was it because you were blinded by our ineffectiveness in midfield and up front?"
 
Don't get me wrong - I think Palace played really well.  But the problem was it felt like a cup tie with a plucky lower league team at home to a big boy.  What's going to happen over 38 games when they have lost 5 in a row and the morale drops.  Morale was high on Saturday.  I remember one Watford season in the Premier when we started full of bounce, losing games 2-3 and even beating Liverpool and Chelsea.  But then we started losing several on the bounce because the team wasn't good enough and before you knew it heads had dropped and 0-4 results against Coventry/Villa were commonplace.  It's the long season of constantly facing quality opposition that grinds you down.

[anthonyl]

on paper, it was the worse team ever fielded and dont think its very close.

Would this team be favourties for a top 3 spot in the championship this year? Betting on them to be relegated seems like printing money.

Of course not. A team better than this (theirs last August) were about 6th favourites to get relegated.

Without zaha and Murray, they are useless. Wilbraham hadn't scored in 21 championship games, yet spearheads their attack.

They only have a handful of prem quality players (speroni, Williams, jedinak, Murray).

[Acidmouse]

Funy game this, all people want it for their team to get promoted to the prem, after one game its all doom and gloom, same as last season. Just enjoy the ride, whatever happens happens, playing Spurs sure beat Bourmouth/Yeovil away I can tell thee.

[luther101]

Bournemouth away on a sunny August day v Playing the Spuds at the Croydon Overspill?

I know where I would rather be     .......

[Ant040689]

"Just out of curiosity, why is it that none of you commented on a good defensive display in the first half, and up until the penalty? Was it because you were blinded by our ineffectiveness in midfield and up front?"
 
Don't get me wrong - I think Palace played really well.  But the problem was it felt like a cup tie with a plucky lower league team at home to a big boy.  What's going to happen over 38 games when they have lost 5 in a row and the morale drops.  Morale was high on Saturday.  I remember one Watford season in the Premier when we started full of bounce, losing games 2-3 and even beating Liverpool and Chelsea.  But then we started losing several on the bounce because the team wasn't good enough and before you knew it heads had dropped and 0-4 results against Coventry/Villa were commonplace.  It's the long season of constantly facing quality opposition that grinds you down.

Yeh as I initially alluded to this is my worry. I think Holloway's recent experience of running his team close to staying up will be crucial though and I think underrepresented by a lot of people in media.

on paper, it was the worse team ever fielded and dont think its very close.

Would this team be favourties for a top 3 spot in the championship this year? Betting on them to be relegated seems like printing money.

Of course not. A team better than this (theirs last August) were about 6th favourites to get relegated.

Without zaha and Murray, they are useless. Wilbraham hadn't scored in 21 championship games, yet spearheads their attack.

They only have a handful of prem quality players (speroni, Williams, jedinak, Murray).

Going to add Bolasie to that list and probably take away Murray (dependent on if he returns like he did in his last 8 games where he was worse than Wilbraham, him getting injured in the semi, was actually a blessing in disguise). Perhaps Marange, Chamakh and Campana should be added to the prem list, but is yet to be seen.

on paper, it was the worse team ever fielded and dont think its very close.

Would this team be favourties for a top 3 spot in the championship this year? Betting on them to be relegated seems like printing money.

We didn't have 5 of our normal starting players featuring, so effectively we are in a crisis at the moment, so yes i would agree that teamsheet wouldn't be amiss in the championship, but our best one, might just keep us up this season.

[Ant040689]

Every chance Jason Puncheon has just signed. Quality acquisition if true.

[Ant040689]

http://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/article/palace-sign-puncheon-on-loan-1006258.aspx

[Royal Flush]

If he signed for us i would be disappointed, as a prem team this has to be a joke.