Palace v Saints - Match and Reaction

[BARCELONASAINT]

Have left it till this morning to post my thoughts on the game.

Firstly I cannot understand why we did not play more friendlies before the start of the season?? Was that complacency and a belief that we finished the season so strong and fit we didn't need the games??

We dominated possession but we did nothing with it. We were slow and ponderous and had no answer to Palace sitting deep and making the last third very congested.

We offered nothing from the wings and nothing through the middle.

I really felt for Ings and Adams because they had no service at all.

Smallbone is technically a good player but he is not the answer yet, I have not seen anything particularly creative from him.

What the hell is going on with Djnepo?..have we bought an expensive sick note who is made of glass.

Yesterday we came down to earth with a huge crash......we were all expecting a good result away to a woeful Palace side hit by injuries but instead got our pants pulled down by a more savvy Roy Hodgson!

[Chez]

2 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

Speed of moving the ball was the issue today, the slowness we associated with puel and pelligrino was there and the I dont know what to do horizontal, backwards passing was the preferred option.

Romeu too slow & sloppy, Redmond too safe.

Thought both Che and Danny played well, the slowness of us moving the ball resulted in the palace easily getting those blocks back in place.

What i would do for a Naby Keita clone in our midfield and a direct runner off our left flank

I wonder sometimes if the `blocks being in place' is what slows down the moving of the ball.  

We certainly need to bolster centre midfield, but couldn't Djenepo/Boufal be that left winger?

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

 

We really need to bring in a box-to-box midfielder, an attacking midfielder to play on the right and a target man to give us a plan B up front.

Don't disagree but can't see us bringing three players in unfortunately.

[Toadhall Saint]

36 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Exactly, there is a reason our away record is so good - we like teams to come on to us; then we can press, win the ball back and break. 

Hodgson treated it like an away game for Palace, so it was a home game for us, which meant we struggled to break them down.

This

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

We looked OK for the first 10 minutes or so but we are always vulnerable to the counter attack or ball over the top when teams sit back and have pace up front with the way we play the high line.

But once Palace scored it was more or less game over as they sat back even deeper and just hit us on the break with the pace of Zaha, Ayew and Townsend. 

 

Yep. Zaha could easily have had three. Took Stephens to the cleaners on one occasion, however this is pretty standard affair for teams like Palace and Burnley. They have defenders and defensive midfielders that are not great on the ball and that means they turn over possession a lot and it forces them to play more direct and hit teams on the break. Whether its by design I am not so sure. In my eyes they are just not very good footballing sides, so make up for it in organisation and then players like Zaha and Townsend give them an out and a threat. I know Zaha is not well liked or respected by Saints fans, and mentally he can be a bit frail, but I like him a lot. He makes a very very average Palace side dangerous.

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

Romeu only has a year left as well - and due to his lack of pace I don't think he'll be offered another contract either.  I wouldn't be completely surprised if he leaves if we can bring in another central midfielder.

He's never been quick. He finished last season brilliantly. He has a good footballing brain, good touch and awareness and decent engine.  I think he holds his own at this level. He needs competition whether through the youth scheme or an acquisition. I'd expect him to get a new contract.

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

I have  the feeling we need to shift 2 or 3 players out before we can bring anyone in  - due to lack of transfer funds and space on a heavy wage bill.  The failure to move on players like Hoedt, Carillo, Forster and Boufal (and get fees for players like Lemina and Elyounoussi) is causing us a real problem.

The club may have said they don't need to sell to buy, but its obvious that every pound we pay these guys is pound we cant spend elsewhere. We need to use the loan to buy market much more ourselves taking guys that flopped at a club for whatever reason but clearly have talent.

[Chez]

21 minutes ago, Badger said:

Don't disagree but can't see us bringing three players in unfortunately.

We'll bring in one. A CM. If Boufal goes, I doubt we will replace him, which is a shame as I think another creative player is needed.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

That's going to look like 3 points dropped later in the season. Never any joy opening day with Saints. It's like a disease.

[skintsaint]

32 minutes ago, Kingsbridge Saint said:

That's going to look like 3 points dropped later in the season. Never any joy opening day with Saints. It's like a disease.

Its looking like 3 points dropped now tbh. Palace were terrible, they can't play like that for the season or they will be down there. And we lost to them....

[Badger]

1 minute ago, skintsaint said:

Its looking like 3 points dropped now tbh. Palace were terrible, they can't play like that for the season or they will be down there. And we lost to them....

Perhaps we've nominated Palace as the crap side to 'gift aid' points to this season. Will make a change from West Ham and Burnley.

[Badger]

42 minutes ago, Chez said:

 

He's never been quick. He finished last season brilliantly. He has a good footballing brain, good touch and awareness and decent engine.  I think he holds his own at this level. He needs competition whether through the youth scheme or an acquisition. I'd expect him to get a new contract.

The club may have said they don't need to sell to buy, but its obvious that every pound we pay these guys is pound we cant spend elsewhere. We need to use the loan to buy market much more ourselves taking guys that flopped at a club for whatever reason but clearly have talent.

This has been my worry, not just about Romeu but the team in general. The end of season is never really a good time in which to make a judgement often against opponents with nothing to play for especially last season, played out in bizarre circumstances. 

That said you'd have hoped the same levels of fitness might have been maintained in what was a short break, shorter than the March - restart. How they've come back looking jaded and not a patch on how they finished last season is disappointing. Added to which is the failure to add any players to improve the side.

[saintjimbo83]

For me, this was almost as bad as Burnley away on the opening day of last season. Crystal Palace had their first choice back 4 out injured and the performance was awful.

What worried me the most is that we seemed to revert back to the poor stages of last season with zero energy, no ideas and looking exposed on the break to a high line to a poor Palace side in my opinion. A better team would have battered us with that high line yesterday.

To bring on a centre back at half time to give you more of a forward pass option is extremely worrying.

We need a centre midfielder with power and energy who can drive us through the gears and break forward. Romeu is a good squad player, but not a starting player.

We desperately need a creative player to break teams like Burnley, Palace, Newcastle, West Ham etc down. Otherwise we will get nothing from teams that sit back and hit us on the break, especially with that high line with centre backs with no pace to recover (Salissu has pace).

As people have mentioned, Armstrong was a big miss. We cannot solely rely on him for creativity, others have to step up (Redmond, JWP etc).

The bench was poor and we ran out of ideas. I know if was the first game of the season, but if Ings is being marked out the game or not having a good match, what other options do we have?

Never dull a moment being a saints fan and optimism dampened down already. 

[HarvSFC]

Not a single player came out of yesterday's match having played well, or to the ability that we now know they're capable of. Redmond, Smallbone, Romeu and KWP especially came out looking bad. Redmond, Romeu and KWP, we know can be a lot better, Smallbone, I'm not sure what he brings, looks like another Hesketh. I'm not saying he should be sent to League One, but those who have been dismissive of this also forget how instrumental playing in that league was for Schneiderlin and a number of our other players from that team who then went on to the international stage.

We haven't done a lot in the season break when compared to other teams with the information that is publicised - signings (say this every window now) and pre-season matches. Hopefully we haven't made mistakes once more and this is just the usual first match hoodoo, rather than now needing to play catch-up. 

 

[SNSUN]

We definitely need a creative midfielder that can unlock a defence. Armstrong seemed to be a big miss yesterday.

Let’s hope our home form is better than last season and we can stuff Palace at St Mary’s.

[saint97]

Palace won't name a weaker XI all season. Eze, Batshuayi and their two first choice CB's to come into the side 🤦‍♂️

Terrible result

[Uncle Albert]

It’s good to be back to the old saints😂

Romeo and Smallbone not sharp enough

[skintsaint]

26 minutes ago, Uncle Albert said:

It’s good to be back to the old saints😂

Romeo and Smallbone not sharp enough

Fancy putting your head on upside down! ! !

 

Sorry had to get it out the system...

[benjii]

Just watching Spurs v Everton and it’s so noticeable how much stronger Everton’s squad is than ours. Frankly, the days when we can’t compete with the top 4 or 6 are gone. We can’t compete with the top 10 any more in any sustained manner.

[benjii]

Not that we ever really have. My point is we need to be realistic about what Ralph can achieve this season. 

[SNSUN]

34 minutes ago, benjii said:

Just watching Spurs v Everton and it’s so noticeable how much stronger Everton’s squad is than ours. Frankly, the days when we can’t compete with the top 4 or 6 are gone. We can’t compete with the top 10 any more in any sustained manner.

They've signed quality older players but with little foresight for the future. Not that Ancelotti will care. I still think they are weak defensively and neither C-L or Richarlison are Ings-prolific. They'll have a decent season but I still don't see them breaking the top 6 which is what they want. Still Everton, Wolves and Leicester are all above us in terms of quality. Newcastle have done good business too. We will do very well to break top ten.

 

Already think WBA and Fulham will have long seasons and West Ham really needed to win yesterday as their next few fixtures are tough. 

 

 

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

They've signed quality older players but with little foresight for the future. Not that Ancelotti will care. I still think they are weak defensively and neither C-L or Richarlison are Ings-prolific. They'll have a decent season but I still don't see them breaking the top 6 which is what they want. Still Everton, Wolves and Leicester are all above us in terms of quality. Newcastle have done good business too. We will do very well to break top ten.

 

Already think WBA and Fulham will have long seasons and West Ham really needed to win yesterday as their next few fixtures are tough. 

 

 

They've got a player in James who will be a game changer for them. Calvert-Lewin will score goals, he got 15/16 last year. He's a good goal scorer. 

They'll be up there for top 5 or top 6, no doubts. Be interesting to bounce that view at the end of the season!

[Archers Road Stand]

Really poor result and performance. This showed why we need to upgrade on Romeu. He shouldn't be starting for us, far too slow and woeful at passing. Squad player at best, which is exactly what he was the last time we had a good squad, under Koeman. 

[Alanh]

Palace did to us what we did to Man City after the restart.  Score on the break then defend like your life depends on it.  Sometimes you get lucky and block every shot that comes in, sometimes you cave and concede a load.  We created two excellent chances which their keeper saved.  If one of them had gone in the game would have been different as Palace wouldn't have been able to sit back as much and we would have had more confidence.  I think that's a good illustration of the fine margins that can make a difference.

Overall that type of game is still a problem for RH to solve, just as it has been for his whole time with us.  Probably a 5 / 10 performance from the team with few standout performances either good or bad.

[Alanh]

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Edited 14 September, 2020 by Alanh

[OldNick]

20 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

They've got a player in James who will be a game changer for them. Calvert-Lewin will score goals, he got 15/16 last year. He's a good goal scorer. 

They'll be up there for top 5 or top 6, no doubts. Be interesting to bounce that view at the end of the season!

Doesn't matter too much if WHU have a bad start as the season is long, they will get 6 points from us sadly. Interesting how Brighton do but we need to up our game, dont wnt to have no points after 2 games 

[benjii]

22 hours ago, SNSUN said:

They've signed quality older players but with little foresight for the future. Not that Ancelotti will care. I still think they are weak defensively and neither C-L or Richarlison are Ings-prolific. They'll have a decent season but I still don't see them breaking the top 6 which is what they want. Still Everton, Wolves and Leicester are all above us in terms of quality. Newcastle have done good business too. We will do very well to break top ten.

 

Already think WBA and Fulham will have long seasons and West Ham really needed to win yesterday as their next few fixtures are tough. 

 

 

I agree about Ings but I think he’s probably our only player who would get in a combined XI, which is pretty sad really. Maybe JWP, I suppose.

[nta786]

I genuinely think we would have won that game had there been fans in the home crowd.

A bit like us, no way would the Palace fans have been happy with playing like that at home- as it was, Roy was able to do exactly what he wanted and that is play like an away team. 
Awful result when considering the injuries they had etc yet we couldn’t look like scoring in a month of Sundays

[Saint Garrett]

33 minutes ago, nta786 said:

I genuinely think we would have won that game had there been fans in the home crowd.

A bit like us, no way would the Palace fans have been happy with playing like that at home- as it was, Roy was able to do exactly what he wanted and that is play like an away team. 
Awful result when considering the injuries they had etc yet we couldn’t look like scoring in a month of Sundays

And we all know, that Zaha can't take being wound up by the fans, as the last few seasons have proved.

[Kingsland Codger]

3 hours ago, nta786 said:

I genuinely think we would have won that game had there been fans in the home crowd.

A bit like us, no way would the Palace fans have been happy with playing like that at home- as it was, Roy was able to do exactly what he wanted and that is play like an away team. 
Awful result when considering the injuries they had etc yet we couldn’t look like scoring in a month of Sundays

Of course we looked like scoring. Two superb saves from their goalkeeper made him many people's Man of the Match.