Palace(H) friendly Saturday July 28th

[Hound]

Zip -yeah fair enough - skim read your post a little but as a general comment it’s still true

Baldock will be welcome certainly. I think there are goals in him, Bod, McNulty and Meite.

A CB to replace Moore and a creative midfielder

Are Popa and Harriott still injured? I’m already sick of Aluko and the season hasn’t started yet

[tmesis]

Go into the season expecting a relegation fight. Show some character and suck it up, the job to turn us around is going to take at least two seasons. We need to trim the squad and make it healthy again. We've started doing that, don't bottle it now because of one bad pre-season result.

This is the part that worries me most. The side was massively short on fighting spirit last season, and accepted defeat far too readily. I think if we need to battle to achieve anything, we are doomed.

If Clement can coach us into be a more organised unit, on the other hand, our prospects are a fair bit brighter.

[Singing Defective]

I don’t get why Swift was pseudo-striker for three quarters of the game. Is it his headering skills, or what!?

The real action of the fternoon was in the store: Away kits out-sold hoops about 40:1. Maybe we should play at home in black?

[Cape Town Royal]

Go into the season expecting a relegation fight. Show some character and suck it up, the job to turn us around is going to take at least two seasons. We need to trim the squad and make it healthy again. We've started doing that, don't bottle it now because of one bad pre-season result.

This is the part that worries me most. The side was massively short on fighting spirit last season, and accepted defeat far too readily. I think if we need to battle to achieve anything, we are doomed.

If Clement can coach us into be a more organised unit, on the other hand, our prospects are a fair bit brighter.

The next 12 days until the window shuts then the first 10 games are key for me... if we don't get some quality in key areas and start badly then I can see this squad melting down and it could be a painful season.

What I just cannot understand, is how a championship level club that missed out on the premier league on penalties can then go virtually whole year without playing a recognised left back... I mean that with total respect for Richards, but he's a kid in a struggling team... I am a natural optimist but I Just can't get what we are trying to achieve or can see where we have made progress?

We all know friendlies are just that.. get sharp, get fit and w could go and spank Derby, but I just do not see any momentum in the results or the transfer activity that says things will turn.

[Elm Park Kid]

Go into the season expecting a relegation fight. Show some character and suck it up, the job to turn us around is going to take at least two seasons. We need to trim the squad and make it healthy again. We've started doing that, don't bottle it now because of one bad pre-season result.

This is the part that worries me most. The side was massively short on fighting spirit last season, and accepted defeat far too readily. I think if we need to battle to achieve anything, we are doomed.

If Clement can coach us into be a more organised unit, on the other hand, our prospects are a fair bit brighter.

The next 12 days until the window shuts then the first 10 games are key for me... if we don't get some quality in key areas and start badly then I can see this squad melting down and it could be a painful season.

What I just cannot understand, is how a championship level club that missed out on the premier league on penalties can then go virtually whole year without playing a recognised left back... I mean that with total respect for Richards, but he's a kid in a struggling team... I am a natural optimist but I Just can't get what we are trying to achieve or can see where we have made progress?

We all know friendlies are just that.. get sharp, get fit and w could go and spank Derby, but I just do not see any momentum in the results or the transfer activity that says things will turn.

I still think bringing in Aluko rather than a decent LB was the biggest mistake we made last season. It would have given some stability to the back four and allowed Bacuna to concentrate on establishing himself as a DM. People say that it would have been a waste with Obita in the side but 1. I personally don't see him as a long term defensive option if we have Premier League ambitions and 2. having 3 'first team' full backs is hardly a luxury.

[Royality creeps In]

I thought everyone except Kelly were pretty awful. To be fair Meyler in the first half and Barrow in patches were Okay ish!

Meyler was only good because he had the better of the Palace 44 who was the size of Croydon and slower than Brian the Snail. (Kinnel he really eat all the proverbial pies.)

The rest were

Unless something drastic occurs on the transfer front we are going to struggle.

I was quite optimistic coming into the game. Left the ground feeling the same way I did last season.

It was only a few years back we were comfortably beating the likes of Palace.
They have gone forward, us backwards

[Ascotexgunner]

Can't really blame Moore for handing in a transfer request. He clearly knows what's gonna happen to us this season. Will be interesting to know what's driven him to this point though. He always gave a lot even when things were going wrong. Just odd its taken this long. As for today. No surprise really.

[Old Man Andrews]

Can't really blame Moore for handing in a transfer request. He clearly knows what's gonna happen to us this season. Will be interesting to know what's driven him to this point though. He always gave a lot even when things were going wrong. Just odd its taken this long. As for today. No surprise really.

It probably comes down to a lack of ambition from the club this summer. He has ambitions to play in the Premier League and knows that's not happening with the new arrivals this summer combined with that existing lightweight squad.

[Hatty9]

My issue with today was how similar we still looked to last season.

Still messed around at the back
Still passed sideways too often
Still very slow in our passing
Still no second gear
Still no plan B

Any team playing against us will find it easy to defend as we play across in front of them a lot and don’t move the ball quickly enough to pull them out of shape.

Manonne doesn’t make the saves you expect him not to as in wouldn’t blame him directly for any goals today but another keeper might have stopped 2 of them.
Defence came up against a £50m player today which won’t happen in the league and will probably hold there own. Would still like to see the full backs attack more and add that bit extra we might need.
Midfield were too pedestrian Meyler and Swift both looked a second too slow and lost possession a lot because of it.
Attack was toothless I am not sure Aluko or Barrow got in behind once and Meite was no threat.

We need to spend all of the Moore money and I would like to see at least a striker, winger and centre back.

[tmesis]

Can't really blame Moore for handing in a transfer request. He clearly knows what's gonna happen to us this season. Will be interesting to know what's driven him to this point though. He always gave a lot even when things were going wrong. Just odd its taken this long. As for today. No surprise really.

It probably comes down to a lack of ambition from the club this summer. He has ambitions to play in the Premier League and knows that's not happening with the new arrivals this summer combined with that existing lightweight squad.

Or, more simply, they offered him £35k a week.

[Zip]

My issue with today was how similar we still looked to last season.

Still messed around at the back
Still passed sideways too often
Still very slow in our passing
Still no second gear
Still no plan B

Any team playing against us will find it easy to defend as we play across in front of them a lot and don’t move the ball quickly enough to pull them out of shape.

Manonne doesn’t make the saves you expect him not to as in wouldn’t blame him directly for any goals today but another keeper might have stopped 2 of them.
Defence came up against a £50m player today which won’t happen in the league and will probably hold there own. Would still like to see the full backs attack more and add that bit extra we might need.
Midfield were too pedestrian Meyler and Swift both looked a second too slow and lost possession a lot because of it.
Attack was toothless I am not sure Aluko or Barrow got in behind once and Meite was no threat.

We need to spend all of the Moore money and I would like to see at least a striker, winger and centre back.

Amen to all of that. We need to spend that Moore money. It shouldn’t need to be on panic buys. We have been searching for a first choice striker all summer. We knew Moore might leave. It is known how little we created last season. You rarely get in quality players on the cheap. We should have targets already in place. If we have to pay over the odds to bring in a player we want then so be it. Sometimes you have to take the hit.

I also wonder what our scouts are up to. We rarely seem to bring in quality overseas signings. We seem to trade in the Dutch market these days which has hardly been a roaring success.

What struck me about the Palace goals was how slow we reacted. As you say just like last season.
We also continue to play Kelly/Swift together in central midfield. It didn’t work last season with this pairing. They are powderpuff together.

[Zip]

Can't really blame Moore for handing in a transfer request. He clearly knows what's gonna happen to us this season. Will be interesting to know what's driven him to this point though. He always gave a lot even when things were going wrong. Just odd its taken this long. As for today. No surprise really.

It probably comes down to a lack of ambition from the club this summer. He has ambitions to play in the Premier League and knows that's not happening with the new arrivals this summer combined with that existing lightweight squad.

Or, more simply, they offered him £35k a week.

I doubt that. Moore left a PL club to join us as he wanted first team football.

[Hound]

Wouldn’t argue with a lot of Hatty’s Post. Definitely too slow moving the ball about and too often look backwards rather than forwards

I didn’t think generally we messed about too much at the back and some of Ilori’s passing was Top notch

There’s still just a lack of quality on the ball. When we did break, we inevitably overran it, miscontrolled or didn’t get the pass right. It’s hugely frustrating to watch

[Denver Royal]

Christ here we go. Meltdown alert.

Knew it would be too much to ask to wait 10 games into the season before going full on Kermit panic stations. I thought we might last two or three though.

It wasn’t me who started the ‘In/Out’ thread after 8 games last season:)

[Denver Royal]

Go into the season expecting a relegation fight.

Screw that. A few said Top 10. As genome says, a meltdown after a friendly?

[Denver Royal]

Now, all of a sudden, people are suddenly citing stuff that has happened last season. Give me a break...

Nah, It’s been happening for a while, actually. ‘Such and such’ is better than last season, etc.

[3points]

Barrow is as big a part of the problem as Aluko imho. Doesn’t do his defensive duties, and has no end product. Cannot play a simple pass to a team mate while on the counter attack. I’d play him as a second striker alongside Bod or Meite where he wouldn’t have to do much defensively

Struggling to find any positives from that performance. I’ve really had enough of Aluko constantly being out of position.

[bobby1413]

I still can not believe we sacked JS, only to bring in Clement. The football was the same after he took over and judging by today it's going to be the same for the new season.

I'm going to try to be hopeful, and I will support him and the team but I do feel very concerned about it all.

We all know what the championship is like. Fiercely competitive, some quality players, many could and will play in the PL, fast paced, aggressive and confident. I've very little faith that our team can stand up to majority of the league.

The likes of Swansea, West Brom, Derby, Leeds, Boro, Sheffields are going to absolutely destroy us.

[CountryRoyal]

Are we having a meltdown over a friendly now?

No. Folks are looking at...

1) Form over last 10 games of last season (take a look)
2) Where we have finished in 3 of the last 4 seasons.
3) The current batch of injuries.
4) The 'average' involvement in the transfer window
5) Potentially our best player about to leave
6) McShane off injured today.
7) A poor pre-season
The shocking performance at the last home game of last season

But hey....you crack on fella.

In fairness genome, and I do say in fairness because I have grown to like you as a poster after our rocky start, but...

You do love to play the cool relaxed card at every available opportunity even dismissing some very viable concerns that exceed JUST one result or even several. You were one of the earlier ones to fully commit to Stam our iirc (started the poll etc). I’m not saying it’s right or wrong but just getting down people’s throats calling them dramatic etc all the time without thinking truly about where they’re coming from isn’t always fair.

Truth is RTG or STG it’s somewhere in between the extremism. I’m hardly calling for Clement’s resignation, but equally I think we will struggle profusely.

I really hope to god I’m proved wrong.

X

[Denver Royal]

Enjoy some of the late Sat nite posts. Liquor flows, people get down and talk footy.

(Country, after a rocky start, you’ve kinda grown on me too.)