One of These Players Has Just Fucked Up
Just two days after our last game we have Crystal Palace at
home. Palace are the sort side that we usually struggle to beat. They are
quite limited but very physical and we usually get bullied out of it against
them. Individually, some of their players don’t look that great and they have a
few injury problems at the moment but collectively, they are a decent unit.
Also, when he’s not getting sent off like he did here last year, they have
Wilfried Zaha as their X-factor player. Whenever he is missing they struggle
to get any results and despite stating during the summer that he wanted to
leave, he is still there and still comfortably their best player.
As already mentioned, he got himself sent off last year by being a petulant little twat in the face of some extreme shithousing by JWP, followed by applauding the referee when he got booked. It will be interesting to see if that gets remembered today. I am sure that it will. Palace always bring a large and vocal away following so it should be a decent atmosphere today.
There of course, hasn’t been much time since the Chelsea game so all that’s been left to do is to speculate about the makeup of our team. Danny Ings will obviously come back in having been rested against Chelsea and Ralph dropped into the press conference that Obafemi can’t play two games in three days so expect that to be a straight swap. In the event, Stuart Armstrong was also left on the bench due to only having just recovered from injury and Sofiane Boufal was given a rare start which gave us a very attacking look with him on one wing and Redmond on the other. Moussa Djenepo also made it back as far as the bench but there was not recognized forward option with Shane Long and Obafemi missing altogether. Since the Chelsea game, Mason Mount seems to have forgotten his Twitter password as he hasn't posted anything. Maybe change your password to "Skat3Ba5tard" Mason.
As already mentioned, he got himself sent off last year by being a petulant little twat in the face of some extreme shithousing by JWP, followed by applauding the referee when he got booked. It will be interesting to see if that gets remembered today. I am sure that it will. Palace always bring a large and vocal away following so it should be a decent atmosphere today.
There of course, hasn’t been much time since the Chelsea game so all that’s been left to do is to speculate about the makeup of our team. Danny Ings will obviously come back in having been rested against Chelsea and Ralph dropped into the press conference that Obafemi can’t play two games in three days so expect that to be a straight swap. In the event, Stuart Armstrong was also left on the bench due to only having just recovered from injury and Sofiane Boufal was given a rare start which gave us a very attacking look with him on one wing and Redmond on the other. Moussa Djenepo also made it back as far as the bench but there was not recognized forward option with Shane Long and Obafemi missing altogether. Since the Chelsea game, Mason Mount seems to have forgotten his Twitter password as he hasn't posted anything. Maybe change your password to "Skat3Ba5tard" Mason.
It’s a flow-free start to the game with tackles flying in
and very little quality. The good news
is that we are getting stuck in and the Palace fans are giving it to JWP every
time he gets the ball. Embarrassing really.
Palace are the first to play any decent football and then we had a visit from
Mr. VAR. Milovojevic threaded a ball
through to Zaha on the left and my first instinct was that he was miles
offside. Anyway, he turns Cedric arsehole-outwards
and fires it across to where our defenders are all marking space but space has
never scored a goal in its life and unmarked players usually do… and Max Meyer
converts easily. We’re all looking at
each other in the crowd and it’s odd because it suddenly dawns on me that if it
was offside then it’s not going to stand. To Stockley Park it goes and it’s
offside. It’s amusing because Bertrand
and Bednarek both wave at the linesman for missing it but then the freeze-frame
flashes up on the screen. Fucking hell
that’s close so maybe digging out the lino is a bit harsh.
So, still 0-0 and we haven’t gone behind yet. More Palace attacks and one breaks down and
Boufal is away up the middle until Milovojevic just takes him out and then screams in the face of the referee. Fuck knows why – clear foul and deserved
booking. His partner in midfield is
McArthur who on 35 minutes, drags back Redmond for another clear free-kick and
he also screams at the referee’s face. Neither
the foul or the dissent bring a booking from Andy Madley, who is on the Premier
League referee’s list for the first time
this season. From the free-kick, JWP
bends it in between keeper and defenders and no one really attacks it until
Bednarek meets it beyond the back post and shins it over the bar.
The last ten before half time are pretty uneventful and so far so good and 0-0 and an appreciative round of applause as the players go off. It’s actually been strangely enjoyable which is either because we’ve not buckled and we’re used to being out of games at home by now.
On the hour mark, Redmond is penalised for a foul on McArthur about 25 yards out and up steps Milovojevic to clip it in and Tomkins loses Stephens and powers an excellent header right into the top corner giving McCarthy no chance at all. Shit. Good header though.
The goal is the trigger for Ralph to get the subs on with
Djenepo coming on for the hard-working but zero goal threat Adams and soon
after, Armstrong is on for Boufal who has faded in the second half.
There are 15 to go and to be honest, Saints haven’t really
looked like equalizing and Palace seen quite comfortable. Maybe too confident. They’d had a go at getting dispossessed near
their own goal in the first half but just about got away with it but this time,
some fancy passing ends when Kelly plays an absolute shocker of a pass behind
last man Tomkins and straight to Danny Ings. Only one place this is ending up mate, 1-1,
easy as you like.
From looking like a 0-1 shit capitulation, it’s not our game
to win as Palace seem to settle for just holding on. Kelly is now having a nightmare because not
only has he given the goal away, we are getting the ball out to Djenepo at
every opportunity. After a 60-yard JWP
ping, Moussa sits Kelly on his arse before cutting in and hammering a shot that
Guaita gets up and tips over the bar. Just
a bit too central.
Another Djenepo cross after a Bednarek burst forward sees
Ings flick a header over before his next run wins a corner and JWP’s delivery
is flicked goalwards by Ings but Guaita reacts brilliantly again to keep it
out. Bastard. Palace have clearly had enough of Djenepo and
McArsehole just takes him out – no attempt to play the ball and just taking his
leg out. Fans from League 1 days know this as a Paul Wotton special. Fucking horrible foul to be
honest which should be a red card but somehow, despite being at it all game,
this is McArthur’s first yellow card. It
would be poetic justice if JWP scored but though he gets his free-kick on
target, it’s not high enough and Guaita pulls off a save for the cameras.
McArthur hacks Djenepo over - Ball Very Close
There is one final chance as Djenepo again causes havoc down
the left and finds Redmond and he should shot but instead, he tries to find
Ings but plays it behind him and it hits a retreating Milovojevic and goes just
wide. Corner – cleared and that’s about
it. Full time.
At the end of the day, we have to be happy with that. We could well have won it in the last 10 minutes but for their goalkeeper but equally, if we hadn’t have been gifted the goal then we would probably have lost 1-0 and it would have been doom and gloom again. What I liked is that we proved again that we are now a difficult team to play against. Palace usually have too much physicality for us but today we matched them and we got stuck in which is why the game became fractious in the first half in particular because they didn’t like it. MacArthur and Milovjevic are two players I usually quite like but they were dicks today, getting extremely rattled and both could have been sent off if we’d had a better referee than Andy Madley. Is he any relation to that utter arsehole Bobby Madley? – oh he is, it’s his older brother.
In terms of attitude, the team was led by JWP who was getting a lot of stick for the Palace fans for basically, Zaha being a fucking twat last season. JWP never stopped working and put in another very high-quality performance. Danny Ings once again looked our main goal threat so for Kelly to pick him out with that shit pass across the back four was quite something. He was never going to miss it. The anticipation from Ings is the thing to watch from the goal. He’s on the move as soon as Kelly kicks it, before he can know that he’s going to fuck it up and this is the difference between Ings and all our other strikers. As was the case with Armstrong against Chelsea on Boxing Day – you don’t have to be the quickest if you have football intelligence and can see the picture.
Tomkins goal aside, the physicality and the defending was pretty good with Jack Stephens leading the way, ably supported by Bednarek and I have to put in a word for the defensive effort of Cedric who relished getting stuck into Zaha even though at times, Zaha made him look like a bit of an idiot. To be fair, Zaha makes most players look like idiots, including himself. On the wings, Boufal had a decent first half before feeling the pace and having to go off in the second but Djenepo was electric when he came on and was unlucky not to score the winner. Guaita’s performance in the last 15 minutes was all that came between us and what would have been a slightly undeserved win. VAR – yes, Zaha was offside but fucking hell. It’s getting ridiculous now but at least it was part of his boot and not his armpit.
At the end of the day, we have to be happy with that. We could well have won it in the last 10 minutes but for their goalkeeper but equally, if we hadn’t have been gifted the goal then we would probably have lost 1-0 and it would have been doom and gloom again. What I liked is that we proved again that we are now a difficult team to play against. Palace usually have too much physicality for us but today we matched them and we got stuck in which is why the game became fractious in the first half in particular because they didn’t like it. MacArthur and Milovjevic are two players I usually quite like but they were dicks today, getting extremely rattled and both could have been sent off if we’d had a better referee than Andy Madley. Is he any relation to that utter arsehole Bobby Madley? – oh he is, it’s his older brother.
In terms of attitude, the team was led by JWP who was getting a lot of stick for the Palace fans for basically, Zaha being a fucking twat last season. JWP never stopped working and put in another very high-quality performance. Danny Ings once again looked our main goal threat so for Kelly to pick him out with that shit pass across the back four was quite something. He was never going to miss it. The anticipation from Ings is the thing to watch from the goal. He’s on the move as soon as Kelly kicks it, before he can know that he’s going to fuck it up and this is the difference between Ings and all our other strikers. As was the case with Armstrong against Chelsea on Boxing Day – you don’t have to be the quickest if you have football intelligence and can see the picture.
Tomkins goal aside, the physicality and the defending was pretty good with Jack Stephens leading the way, ably supported by Bednarek and I have to put in a word for the defensive effort of Cedric who relished getting stuck into Zaha even though at times, Zaha made him look like a bit of an idiot. To be fair, Zaha makes most players look like idiots, including himself. On the wings, Boufal had a decent first half before feeling the pace and having to go off in the second but Djenepo was electric when he came on and was unlucky not to score the winner. Guaita’s performance in the last 15 minutes was all that came between us and what would have been a slightly undeserved win. VAR – yes, Zaha was offside but fucking hell. It’s getting ridiculous now but at least it was part of his boot and not his armpit.
Fucking Miles Off
Palace are an extremely hard-working, dogged side who are difficult to play against and they have Zaha of course who is the difference-maker. Our plan to deal with him was to get three players around him every time he had the ball and in the main, we handled him quite well. This, of course, should leave more space for everybody else but luckily, Palace don’t really have that much else apart from him. The Palace midfield in particular doesn’t give any ground with Milovojevic, McCarthy and McArthur are all getting stuck in at various times. There were a lot of fouls today and the worst of which was McArthur cynically hacking down Djenepo nowhere near the ball. For me this is the sort of challenge that should result in a red card because he hasn’t just tripped him or tugged him back - he’s completely hacked his leg away and wiped him. It was a shame that JWP couldn’t stick that free-kick in the top corner. Mind you, Guaita was having the kind of game where he probably would’ve saved the fucking thing anyway.
Seven points out of nine over Christmas is more than anyone could’ve hoped for so we must be happy with that and we have a chance to make it 10 when we take on Spurs on New Year’s Day. Spurs are very up-and-down at the moment but with Mourinho in charge, there is no way that this is going to be anything but a very difficult game but at least we know that with Saints in their current mood, we will be a very difficult team to beat and not just be whipping boys to Mr. Mourinho and his new side. There's nothing better than a whining Jose Mourinho - bring it on.
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