Baggies'd up and gift tagged for 3 points.
Trip to west brom. A team we have beaten on a regular basis it feels. A team toothless going forward and missing a lot of its defence to injury, although some are coming back now, renown for its defensive tactics and grinding out results under pulis. I was expecting a boring game. How wrong could I be!
The game started in dire fashion. Neither team could pass the ball, I think about the first 6 minutes were played as if the players were all blindfolded. Every pass was a yard out or just plain going straight out. These two teams looked like it was the first match back pre season. This all changed on 10 minutes. Suddenly west brom strung together a few passes and palaces defence obliged by looking clueless with their marking, the ball is at sessegnons feet in the box and his effort is well saved by henessey (maybe he is sucked into the near post too much making the save harder, that is debatable and I would leave to an expert) but the ball falls to Gardner in the middle of two defenders and he easily puts away the rebound. Watching it again it looks like the 5% of confidence and decisiveness which seems gone at present has cost us. The players just looked off the pace a fraction and at the top level that costs you games.
With that goal the game continued in the same vein. Nit picky, misplaced passes, no adventure. Then palace gave away a free kick at the edge of the box near to the byline. But I was sat here thinking, "it's ok, they have a big team but we are great at defending set pieces, isn't it just 2 goals this season so far? Bread and butter". Then they simply ping the ball in, 10 yards out, centre of the box and there is a west brom man on his own with the easiest of headers to bang straight into the corner. Craig Dawson the man, the palace defence looking confused. The best description I feel would be like they were all still half cut from the night out Friday and the man who was marking Dawson was also the guy who was supposed to buy the bacon for the fry ups. Except that no one had been told to get the bacon. That they had been on the piss would also explain why pardew looked like he did, but more on that later.
So, it's ok. Palace can come back from this. I believe, in spite of all the recent results. I am riding the buoyancy of the Spurs game, I saw the potential, we can do this!
Then 30minutes came and their third attempt on goal came. To be fair to them, this is one of those goals you simply have to applaud for its quality. A clearance smacked to the centre circle, they move the ball out wide to sessegnon and he delivered a through pass to berahino between the two defenders, flighted through the air in perfection leaving him little to do other than slot the ball home. No chance for keeps this time. And bam. 3-0, 30 minutes in, palace haven't been in their area yet with the ball, hadn't done anything meaningful at all really.
The rest of the half went without mention, well other than another shot from west brom deflecting off Dann to hit the post and palace shooting wide in their first foray up the pitch. Nothing really worth going on about.
I bet pards was happy at half time.
The second half started with the messiah yannick bolasie replacing adebayour and the team reverting to 4-5-1. We'll sort of. It seemed like bolasie and zaha were given the licence to roam and get on the ball as much as possible. The dynamic to the team suddenly shifted and we looked like a new lease of life had been injected into the team. And it only took 4 minutes for the breakthrough, although I would say it was a gift than a breakthrough. A back pass was inexplicably left to bounce by olsson and he tried to block wickham, who just pushed past, beat the keeper to the ball knocking it high into the air and then tapping it in for his first true goal of the season.
Suddenly west brom looked rattled and a shadow of their former selves. The game became one way traffic save for a almost game ending breakaway which ended with berahino curling a shot against the top right apex of the goal.
Palace were being pulled forward by the guile and movement of bolasie, he gave us the dimension we were missing before. Havoc and indecision amongst their entire team. There were then 2 key referee decisions that I think decided the outcome of the game. Firstly from a corner that was beautifully drifted in, Scott Dann rose gleefully, realising that the ball was landing slap bang on the centre of his forehead, he had a cheeky look in his eyes but just as the moment was arriving he was barged in the back. Goal number 7 for the season ripped from his grasp. The referee? He was apparently watching Ledley, or Pokemon, but for sure not the game in front of him.
Maybe Ledleys beard is just too much? Are referees losing focus gazing into its splendour? Does he need to shave for referees to actually give a decision palaces way? It makes sense in my eyes. All these games with dodgy decisions or missed fouls he was just gazing into Ledleys beard.....
Then we had a second clear cut penalty rejected, bolasie let the ball run across him and was taken out as he skipped away to go get it right in the centre of the penalty area, ball running to the right. Referee looked like he was already rejecting the shout before he hit the ground. The pundits said 2 blatent penalties, MOTD said so too, every watching the game did. Except one man dressed in black.
The game continued with us pounding at their box, eventually the moment of a second goal came and what a cracker it was. The ball fell to wickham from a free kick on the left hand side of the box and he fired a bullet like shot into the top right corner of the goal. Unstoppable and the kind of goal to settle a game not be lost within the result.
Sadly whilst palace continued to plug away the game kind of got away from us towards the end and the time wasting came in earnest. The game peetering out with a 3-2 loss.
A big thing to also note was the continuing lack of protection from the referee. Again and again the fouls went unpunished, it was close to battery by the time he had to be subbed and he looked like a broken man. Physically beaten off the pitch. And no it's not wilf its poor cabaye. Targeted game after game with kicks, hard challenges, off the ball pushes, shoves, all sorts. In turns by their entire team and it gets ignored. The ref after one such incident ignored him, looking down on him like a piece of shit off his shoe. You cannot make this stuff up.
Overall the game was horrible to watch as the second half was as good as the first was bad but we walked away empty handed again. Against a poor team too. The team looked so bad first half and yet so good second half. I really want the two up front to work, in the way that Watford have made a success, with our wingers putting in crosses for them to attack but we just don't see it. We do need a better midfield with someone who can provide some penetration down the middle which the hope was cabaye would but he just isn't that kind of player. He isn't slipping through balls for players to run on to at all sadly, he is spending his time defensively. We need a foil in there to be more attack minded, in that classic Gerard/lampard way, who pushes forward, creates and draws players into the middle. Too often we saw wilf with 3 men on him 1st half which then became 2 second half with bolasie on the pitch, but imagine if they simply couldn't do that because of the talent down the middle too. I don't see anyone in the squad who provides that (punch last season to an extent but that has never returned this season) which was why I was surprised shelvey wasn't even mentioned as an option during January. But maybe that's all being left till the summer. As long as we stay up....
The players - it's not worth talking about who was bad first half as they all were. Second half the opposite. The shining light was of course bolasie but also wickham needs credit for his two goals, finally we may see some confidence from him and the floodgates open? We can only hope!
Next up will be a Liverpool returning from the cup final, the into reading. It would be great to go into the cup not worrying about the league form too....
COYP.
Trip to west brom. A team we have beaten on a regular basis it feels. A team toothless going forward and missing a lot of its defence to injury, although some are coming back now, renown for its defensive tactics and grinding out results under pulis. I was expecting a boring game. How wrong could I be!
The game started in dire fashion. Neither team could pass the ball, I think about the first 6 minutes were played as if the players were all blindfolded. Every pass was a yard out or just plain going straight out. These two teams looked like it was the first match back pre season. This all changed on 10 minutes. Suddenly west brom strung together a few passes and palaces defence obliged by looking clueless with their marking, the ball is at sessegnons feet in the box and his effort is well saved by henessey (maybe he is sucked into the near post too much making the save harder, that is debatable and I would leave to an expert) but the ball falls to Gardner in the middle of two defenders and he easily puts away the rebound. Watching it again it looks like the 5% of confidence and decisiveness which seems gone at present has cost us. The players just looked off the pace a fraction and at the top level that costs you games.
With that goal the game continued in the same vein. Nit picky, misplaced passes, no adventure. Then palace gave away a free kick at the edge of the box near to the byline. But I was sat here thinking, "it's ok, they have a big team but we are great at defending set pieces, isn't it just 2 goals this season so far? Bread and butter". Then they simply ping the ball in, 10 yards out, centre of the box and there is a west brom man on his own with the easiest of headers to bang straight into the corner. Craig Dawson the man, the palace defence looking confused. The best description I feel would be like they were all still half cut from the night out Friday and the man who was marking Dawson was also the guy who was supposed to buy the bacon for the fry ups. Except that no one had been told to get the bacon. That they had been on the piss would also explain why pardew looked like he did, but more on that later.
So, it's ok. Palace can come back from this. I believe, in spite of all the recent results. I am riding the buoyancy of the Spurs game, I saw the potential, we can do this!
Then 30minutes came and their third attempt on goal came. To be fair to them, this is one of those goals you simply have to applaud for its quality. A clearance smacked to the centre circle, they move the ball out wide to sessegnon and he delivered a through pass to berahino between the two defenders, flighted through the air in perfection leaving him little to do other than slot the ball home. No chance for keeps this time. And bam. 3-0, 30 minutes in, palace haven't been in their area yet with the ball, hadn't done anything meaningful at all really.
The rest of the half went without mention, well other than another shot from west brom deflecting off Dann to hit the post and palace shooting wide in their first foray up the pitch. Nothing really worth going on about.
I bet pards was happy at half time.
The second half started with the messiah yannick bolasie replacing adebayour and the team reverting to 4-5-1. We'll sort of. It seemed like bolasie and zaha were given the licence to roam and get on the ball as much as possible. The dynamic to the team suddenly shifted and we looked like a new lease of life had been injected into the team. And it only took 4 minutes for the breakthrough, although I would say it was a gift than a breakthrough. A back pass was inexplicably left to bounce by olsson and he tried to block wickham, who just pushed past, beat the keeper to the ball knocking it high into the air and then tapping it in for his first true goal of the season.
Suddenly west brom looked rattled and a shadow of their former selves. The game became one way traffic save for a almost game ending breakaway which ended with berahino curling a shot against the top right apex of the goal.
Palace were being pulled forward by the guile and movement of bolasie, he gave us the dimension we were missing before. Havoc and indecision amongst their entire team. There were then 2 key referee decisions that I think decided the outcome of the game. Firstly from a corner that was beautifully drifted in, Scott Dann rose gleefully, realising that the ball was landing slap bang on the centre of his forehead, he had a cheeky look in his eyes but just as the moment was arriving he was barged in the back. Goal number 7 for the season ripped from his grasp. The referee? He was apparently watching Ledley, or Pokemon, but for sure not the game in front of him.
Maybe Ledleys beard is just too much? Are referees losing focus gazing into its splendour? Does he need to shave for referees to actually give a decision palaces way? It makes sense in my eyes. All these games with dodgy decisions or missed fouls he was just gazing into Ledleys beard.....
Then we had a second clear cut penalty rejected, bolasie let the ball run across him and was taken out as he skipped away to go get it right in the centre of the penalty area, ball running to the right. Referee looked like he was already rejecting the shout before he hit the ground. The pundits said 2 blatent penalties, MOTD said so too, every watching the game did. Except one man dressed in black.
The game continued with us pounding at their box, eventually the moment of a second goal came and what a cracker it was. The ball fell to wickham from a free kick on the left hand side of the box and he fired a bullet like shot into the top right corner of the goal. Unstoppable and the kind of goal to settle a game not be lost within the result.
Sadly whilst palace continued to plug away the game kind of got away from us towards the end and the time wasting came in earnest. The game peetering out with a 3-2 loss.
A big thing to also note was the continuing lack of protection from the referee. Again and again the fouls went unpunished, it was close to battery by the time he had to be subbed and he looked like a broken man. Physically beaten off the pitch. And no it's not wilf its poor cabaye. Targeted game after game with kicks, hard challenges, off the ball pushes, shoves, all sorts. In turns by their entire team and it gets ignored. The ref after one such incident ignored him, looking down on him like a piece of shit off his shoe. You cannot make this stuff up.
Overall the game was horrible to watch as the second half was as good as the first was bad but we walked away empty handed again. Against a poor team too. The team looked so bad first half and yet so good second half. I really want the two up front to work, in the way that Watford have made a success, with our wingers putting in crosses for them to attack but we just don't see it. We do need a better midfield with someone who can provide some penetration down the middle which the hope was cabaye would but he just isn't that kind of player. He isn't slipping through balls for players to run on to at all sadly, he is spending his time defensively. We need a foil in there to be more attack minded, in that classic Gerard/lampard way, who pushes forward, creates and draws players into the middle. Too often we saw wilf with 3 men on him 1st half which then became 2 second half with bolasie on the pitch, but imagine if they simply couldn't do that because of the talent down the middle too. I don't see anyone in the squad who provides that (punch last season to an extent but that has never returned this season) which was why I was surprised shelvey wasn't even mentioned as an option during January. But maybe that's all being left till the summer. As long as we stay up....
The players - it's not worth talking about who was bad first half as they all were. Second half the opposite. The shining light was of course bolasie but also wickham needs credit for his two goals, finally we may see some confidence from him and the floodgates open? We can only hope!
Next up will be a Liverpool returning from the cup final, the into reading. It would be great to go into the cup not worrying about the league form too....
COYP.
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