Crystal Palace FC Thread + Premiership Palaver

[Ant040689]

You have signed Jerome no?

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/23939888

Well Ladbrokes don't think so. West Brom signed 4, with Jerome only we signed 4, so it should be a draw.

[anthonyl]

You have signed Jerome no?

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/23939888

Well Ladbrokes don't think so. West Brom signed 4, with Jerome only we signed 4, so it should be a draw.

Would be ridic if the clowns have paid out on west brom.

Jerome is a much better signing than chamakh.

[Ant040689]

Chamakh has been good for us this season so they will probably be starting together. But I don't know really.

With Thomas and Bolasie back, we would have them Puncheon, Gayle, Grandin, Phillips so 7 altogether for the front three roles. Grandin is probably out of the picture though, and I think Thomas will find himself so as well. So Bolasie, Gayle, Jerome, Chamakh, Puncheon will be our main forwards I think, and I really can't complain with that at all, got to hope they accustom to the bigger games in the prem well and give a good account of themselves. If I was pushed I think I would start Puncheon, Gayle, Chamakh, but that pains me as I love Bolasie, and I would find it odd playing both Jerome and Chamakh. I think Holloway is nearly certainly always starting Puncheon, as he adds something different, and if I was pushed I would say he is starting Gayle too, so maybe Chamakh and Jerome are going to be alternating the front man role?

In the 3 central midfield roles we have Jedinak whose spot is undoubted, then the other more defensive central midfield spot has Dikagcoi's name written all over it, unless the Guediora signing has gone through and he might find himself starting ahead of Dikagcoi. So you would have those two strong anchor like midfielders in there that we have got so accustomed to. Stuart O'Keefe is actually coming on leaps and bounds too and is in contention for a spot here too, so you have four players, potentially here competing for those two spots.

And then to the most contested position on the pitch, the attacking central midfielder spot, that no fewer than Garvan, Dobbie, Williams, Campana and Bannan want. Not sure how Holloway is going to play it. I think he will probably start with Campana and rotate with Bannan, but I have no idea where this leaves Williams, who could prove to be a little gem in the premierleague if given enough exposure but with these two players ahead of him I am not sure he will get much gametime. Garvan and Dobbie may see themselves settling into the development squad for the rest of the season with this new squad now unfortunately.

In defense there is less competition. We have Moxey and Parr vying for the left back role, Moxey being the better attacker but a liability in defense at times and Parr can be seen as the opposite of that but does still offer something going forward. When both are fit I think Parr will get the nod.

With the two centre backs, it is almost laughable to think that Delaney and Gabbidon are going to be starting for us, especially the thought of that in pre season, but in the first three games they have been pretty solid, aside from during Charlie Adam's goal for Stoke where they could have dealt with that spot better. There isn't much pace from Delaney and Gabbidon is slowing, but is still quite rapid at the moment, both are good in the air, and they may just be OK in the prem, it remains to be seen. Of all of our players I worry about our centre backs the most in the prem rather than the rest of the team and hope they can stick it.

At right back we have Ward starting and has already had 3 blinders of games, but we have just bought Hunt to provide cover here, but remains to be seen if he was brought in to start.

In goal we have super Julian Speroni, covered by Alexander.

Quite happy with how things have transpired here. I hope the Guediora and Jerome signings get confirmed shortly, so we have both in the team but also so I can have a real go at Ladbrokes for settling their bet wrongly.

I think we have enough to stay up.

[Ant040689]

Mariappa is cover for the two centre backs, and completely forgot about Jimmy Kebe too, that would contest for the front three positions, making 8 players available for the front three positions!

[Ant040689]

Pete O'Rourke ‏@SkySportsPeteO 25m

Adlene Guedioura's proposed move to Crystal Palace to Nottingham Forest has now gone through. #CPFC #NFFC

[DungBeetle]

Still can't see it.  Who do you think has a worse squad over a 38 game season?  Feels like Holloway has gone for volume of signings over quality.  I think he had to go that route to be fair, but the squad still feels below par to me.

[booder]

Still can't see it.  Who do you think has a worse squad over a 38 game season?  Feels like Holloway has gone for volume of signings over quality.  I think he had to go that route to be fair, but the squad still feels below par to me.

I think it will be a decent Championship squad next season.

Definately top half.

[Ant040689]

I think our form at home will save us, and think there is something good going on here, think you will need to look at our performances over our teamsheet. Impressive against Sunderland, and hopefully more so in the future.

Definitely light at centre back, but what are you going to do?

[Ant040689]

So 5 signings are confirmed now so Ladbrokes will have to overturn their refusal to pay out on Palace signing the most deadline day players.

[booder]

My comment was a bit tongue in cheek.I actually quite like Holloway and think he has  enough about him to keep Palace up .

I think this could be a strange season , there are several teams who could be scrapping for survival at the end of the season and it wouldnt surprise me to see as many as 7 teams adrift from the rest of the division come February.

[Ant040689]

don't worry booder i get you.

And I think it will come together for us, I think the atmosphere is great around here and a lot of the guys we have signed are going to look at Palace as a great opportunity to kick start their careers, and you may see some consistently great performances from them because of it.

[pleno1]

Puncheon, Gayle, Chamakh

That is a really, really bad forward line.

Garvan, Dobbie, Williams, Campana and Bannan

all below par and not good enough

moxey, parr, delaney , gabbidon

definitely not strong enough

The team is really really weak and squad worse. This genuinely looks like a 10th place team in the championship.

[Ant040689]

You'd be surprised what we can get out of them Pleno. I am not trying to come across as blissfully defensive, I have seen our output and its been pretty good against the three teams we have already played, and I am hopefuly we are going to give a good account of ourselves.

[anthonyl]

Puncheon, Gayle, Chamakh

That is a really, really bad forward line.

Garvan, Dobbie, Williams, Campana and Bannan

all below par and not good enough

moxey, parr, delaney , gabbidon

definitely not strong enough

The team is really really weak and squad worse. This genuinely looks like a 10th place team in the championship.

I'm still bitter at how we lost to them despite having a FAR superior team but fair play to them.

God knows what Watford fans think (who had an even superior team to us!)

The palarse team would have come bottom 4 in 2013 games, and Brighton were top by 4 points followed by Watford.

I think the palarse side is now probably a top 10 champ side. Zaha was streets ahead of anyone in that squad (when he wanted to try). There aren't any palarse players id take in the Brighton first team, and we are probably 5-8th best starting 11. Possibly Williams, and the chap from forest, that's it.

[DungBeetle]

I don't doubt it Ant in the short term, but you're going to end up suffering the cumulative impact of the Premer League imo with this squad.  There are going to be some really tough months full of back to back defeats and Holloway will be right up against it to keep the morale up.

How is Campana looking so far? - he was the one signing which I thought looked pretty exciting.