21 Aug 2022 21:41:59
I'm not going to claim that I saw every kick of yesterday's game but from MOTD I saw a great assist from Bailey (& he also hit the bar, 2cm lower and it's a goal) and a great finish from Ollie, a breakaway goal from Zaha that Gabby woulda struggled to catch him, a penalty save that could've been parried in a different direction (never a pen in the 1st place IMO) and a pin perfect cross and a 1 in 100 finish from the Palace lad, one of those days, let's stop ovulating for a while and get behind them rather than playing Football Manager or if Carlsberg did managers/teams, work in progress, lighten up ??‍♂️

UTV

1.) 21 Aug 2022
21 Aug 2022 22:05:49
If it was a one off 72 i would accept your comments, unfortunately its a trend over the last fourteen games, its beyond work in progress, its simply poor tactics, poor team selection and lack of quality in most areas, sugar coating it is not going to improve matters.

2.) 21 Aug 2022
21 Aug 2022 22:15:31
Ally, it could (and should) have been 5-1 or 6-1! It was a desperately bad performance!

3.) 21 Aug 2022
21 Aug 2022 22:42:29
Ally P . we was absolutely shocking and i saw the match .

4.) 22 Aug 2022
22 Aug 2022 00:22:18
After watching Leeds, Newcastle and Brighton today, we clearly have something missing and it’s not the willingness of the owners to invest. They’re money men and not football expert’s and are relying on others to provide that guidance, expertise, motivation and management and, thus far, are being let down. No matter how much you micro-analyse the Palace performance, we lost 3-1. Fortunately, thanks to worse starts from other teams, we’re not yet in the relegation zone. I don’t pretend to have the answer, but I’m not normally this disappointed this early in the season ?

5.) 22 Aug 2022
22 Aug 2022 00:36:54
Ally they ran riot, apart from the first 5 mins we were terrible, palace looked like they would score every time they came forward, the only positive was Ollie getting a goal and Martinez making some good saves, even at that Martinez distribution was god awful, lost count of the balls he put straight out of play. I watched Newcastle against city today, boy did they play well, carved city open time and time again, we couldn’t do that to palace, Everton or Bournemouth il dreading playing the big guys at this rate.

6.) 22 Aug 2022
22 Aug 2022 00:56:43
Caffu, do you think a better manager could get a tune out of these players though? I actually think there is plenty of quality in the squad but for one reason or another they aren't being leveraged appropriately (which sits with Gerrard). We've a front 5 of Watkins, Ings, Bailey, Buendia and Coutinho.All of which stroll into a lot of Premier League sides, we have international full backs, Argentina's number one, a French international holding Midfielder, a Scottish Midfielder that looks top drawer every time he pulls on the international kit and a huge amount of talented kids coming through. For me quality isn't the issue, you put Graham Potter in charge of Villa and it's an entirely different story.

7.) 22 Aug 2022
22 Aug 2022 02:40:38
BK, i think the problem is shared mate, between the manager and the players equally. I hear what you say about the individual players, however there is an awful lot of inconsistency even with the better players. Mcginn rarely these days plays like the Scottish international you refer to, I think making him captain has put added pressure on him, he runs around like a lost soul at times and is reckless with his tackles. Cash is also reckless and some of his defending lacks quality and nouse. Ings and Watkins are both inconsistent. Coutinho isn't the player he was and never will be and doesn't offer enough. Ramsey has one good game in three. Bailey really isn't that good. So i think even the best manager might struggle to get consistency with this lot. My final conclusion, the majority of the squad are not Gerrards signings and until they are he would argue that he can't be held totally accountable for the poor showings we have to endure. So i don't think the owners will consider any change of manager unless things become that dire after the January transfer window.

8.) 22 Aug 2022
22 Aug 2022 08:48:19
Difficult to argue any of the points above.
Consistency of performance and result is our Achilles heel.
Gerrard is clearly having trouble establishing his best starting XI with players coming off the bench and playing well and the then starting the following game and not turning up.
Is it the players or the coaching? No idea.
Looking at the next 3 games we need a big change in performance.
West Ham game is a must win with Arsenal and Man City to follow.

9.) 22 Aug 2022
22 Aug 2022 12:50:37
A lot of good stuff here guys,as I see it the problems are as follow:

a) Manager doesn’t know his best starting XI

b) Gerrard isn’t playing a system that suits the players at his disposal ie we have two attacking full backs who like to bomb on and only one holding midfielder which leaves us exposed at the back.

c) We are too easy to play through in the middle of the park when we lose possession hence why we need another defensive midfielder.

d) We don’t have an out and out goalscorer in the squad

e).Tactically the manager is naive at this level and is being currently being found out.

Having said all that not everything is doom and gloom, our squad is stronger than it has been since the Martin O’Neill days, the academy is flourishing, and whilst this is certainly not what I am advocating as I believe all managers need to be given time to mould a squad and playing style, if Gerrard was sacked and someone like Poch or Potter got the job they would be starting from a strong position in my view.