Palace(H) friendly Saturday July 28th

[Denver Royal]

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

Fair points CR, my point in this particular case was the sudden outburst of drama and worry after a friendly result when I hadn’t seen much of the sort before the game, which led me to believe that people were overreacting because of the result itself.

I get frustrated because often posters on here are very reactionary and don’t really think about the whole picture before posting - often getting worried about stuff and criticising the club/team over stuff that hasn’t even happened yet. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have concerns, I do too, but I just think some need to relax a bit more. Football is entertainment, escapism, something you should enjoy.

It's fairly typical to see outbursts and overreaction in the immediate aftermath of any defeat. It happens with fans of most footy clubs all over the world, and I don't see that changing. So, uh, enjoy

[CountryRoyal]

Fair points CR, my point in this particular case was the sudden outburst of drama and worry after a friendly result when I hadn’t seen much of the sort before the game, which led me to believe that people were overreacting because of the result itself.

I get frustrated because often posters on here are very reactionary and don’t really think about the whole picture before posting - often getting worried about stuff and criticising the club/team over stuff that hasn’t even happened yet. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have concerns, I do too, but I just think some need to relax a bit more. Football is entertainment, escapism, something you should enjoy.

Points taken on board though.

That's fair, and I would agree if its purely reactionary based on one friendly result. Football is entertainment sure, but as with anything that people are so passionate about they care profusely, want the club to do well and sometimes understandably get angry/frustrated when it's not. As Denver said though it is generally fickle game, from the supporters to the playing staff, management, pundits. The whole thing is heroes one minute and villains the next. Tough environment tbf.

I can only speak for me and I know I haven't been the most positive in the last few weeks (just ask Hound ). I think it was a culmination of not beating anyone, in my eyes inadequate transfers in and out, a heavy defeat and the Liam Moore news, this all coming off the back of one of our worst ever seasons in the division. On one hand absolutely we haven't even started yet so completely get that its stupid to panic, but equally for me, and a lot of others there hasn't been a huge amount of tangible evidence to suggest we won't be completely trash. Either way looking forward to Derby (sort of).

[Ascotexgunner]

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

Fair points CR, my point in this particular case was the sudden outburst of drama and worry after a friendly result when I hadn’t seen much of the sort before the game, which led me to believe that people were overreacting because of the result itself.

I get frustrated because often posters on here are very reactionary and don’t really think about the whole picture before posting - often getting worried about stuff and criticising the club/team over stuff that hasn’t even happened yet. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have concerns, I do too, but I just think some need to relax a bit more. Football is entertainment, escapism, something you should enjoy.

Points taken on board though.

I can't comment on Twitter comments as I don't use it but compared to most teams...especially the top PL clubs......I think we are very reserved. Could could you imagine some of those clubs fans reactions with this pre season having followed on from last season? Peoples attitudes have changed....all clubs want success in some form or another, even though "success" is measured in different ways. Our success would be PL football again, in Spurs case (close to your heart I know), is winning any bloody trophy and CL football. We are a million miles from success at the moment. I guess like you I'm old fashioned and long for the days when we were in the old third and fourth division and it didn't matter so much if we lost because there wasn't much at stake, but thing have changed now.....sadly....its all money.
We are nowhere near those whineing c*nts from the emirates......mind you Reading fan TV would be probably compulsive viewing in the current state of things

[Zip]

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

Fair points CR, my point in this particular case was the sudden outburst of drama and worry after a friendly result when I hadn’t seen much of the sort before the game, which led me to believe that people were overreacting because of the result itself.

I get frustrated because often posters on here are very reactionary and don’t really think about the whole picture before posting - often getting worried about stuff and criticising the club/team over stuff that hasn’t even happened yet. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have concerns, I do too, but I just think some need to relax a bit more. Football is entertainment, escapism, something you should enjoy.

Points taken on board though.

I can't comment on Twitter comments as I don't use it but compared to most teams...especially the top PL clubs......I think we are very reserved. Could could you imagine some of those clubs fans reactions with this pre season having followed on from last season? Peoples attitudes have changed....all clubs want success in some form or another, even though "success" is measured in different ways. Our success would be PL football again, in Spurs case (close to your heart I know), is winning any bloody trophy and CL football. We are a million miles from success at the moment. I guess like you I'm old fashioned and long for the days when we were in the old third and fourth division and it didn't matter so much if we lost because there wasn't much at stake, but thing have changed now.....sadly....its all money.
We are nowhere near those whineing c*nts from the emirates......mind you Reading fan TV would be probably compulsive viewing in the current state of things

Yep there are far worse fan bases than ours.

[RG7Fan]

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.

Same players
Same formation
Same result … quelle surprise!

Didn't Meyler, Yiadom, Meite and McNulty all feature?

Fundamentally the same players, but even with the new ones nothing seems to have changed. That makes it even worse. You could have played instead of Meite and it wouldn't have made a difference - if the team doesn't create chances for a striker, you don't need a new striker.

[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.

Same players
Same formation
Same result … quelle surprise!

Didn't Meyler, Yiadom, Meite and McNulty all feature?

They did feature and that is my main concern. New players but nothing new in the style or tempo.

Meyler did same job as JVB
Yiadom was steady but didn’t don’t offer much going forward but so is Gunter
Meite no service so it didn’t matter who it was but not a step up from previous seasons
McNulty difficult to say in his short time.

All I would have hoped from a new manager and new teams is a New style. This is the championship and teams will love to play us if we carry on the passing sideways. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to see long ball but there has to be a purpose.

[Snowflake Royal]

Same players
Same formation
Same result … quelle surprise!

Didn't Meyler, Yiadom, Meite and McNulty all feature?

They did feature and that is my main concern. New players but nothing new in the style or tempo.

Meyler did same job as JVB
Yiadom was steady but didn’t don’t offer much going forward but so is Gunter
Meite no service so it didn’t matter who it was but not a step up from previous seasons
McNulty difficult to say in his short time.

All I would have hoped from a new manager and new teams is a New style. This is the championship and teams will love to play us if we carry on the passing sideways. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to see long ball but there has to be a purpose.

Well, unfortunately, if you were looking for a new style from Clement, you were never going to be satisfied as that was never on offer with his appointment.

[Sutekh]

It was also so bad even BBC Berks couldn’t be bothered to cover the game properly. Lot horse racing instead while Reading played their supposed show piece friendly. Just as well though as I think Tim need will need as much respite as possible before going back into watch that lot.

[sandman]

We will be relegated by Christmas.

Thought we already were.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Aluko was so rubbish it was unreal.

[Muskrat]

Aluko was so rubbish it was unreal.

Unless that was the first time you've seen Aluko play, it shouldn't have come as any great surprise tbh

[RG7Fan]

Didn't Meyler, Yiadom, Meite and McNulty all feature?

They did feature and that is my main concern. New players but nothing new in the style or tempo.

Meyler did same job as JVB
Yiadom was steady but didn’t don’t offer much going forward but so is Gunter
Meite no service so it didn’t matter who it was but not a step up from previous seasons
McNulty difficult to say in his short time.

All I would have hoped from a new manager and new teams is a New style. This is the championship and teams will love to play us if we carry on the passing sideways. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to see long ball but there has to be a purpose.

Well, unfortunately, if you were looking for a new style from Clement, you were never going to be satisfied as that was never on offer with his appointment.

Which is the worry.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not particularly. There's nothing wrong with what we've been trying to do other than we've failed to succeed.

Change that and we've basically got to start again and have wasted years with thr academy.

[Old Man Andrews]

Aluko was so rubbish it was unreal.

Just going to save this to the clipboard on my laptop. Time saver.

[Hound]

Aluko - I fully agree and said so at the time.

To start with in the match, him and Yiadom were actually linking up ok. But then Zaha and the LB (Van Aanholt was it?) realised they could just overload the RB position and we were screwed that point onwards. He really does just stand and watch - the first goal was awful - he could clearly see there were 2 on 1, and he just sauntered back slowly towards the middle

The difference with Barrow is the oppo know he has the pace to get away if the full back pushes right on. Its often when we look most dangerous, when the oppo FB overlaps and we get the ball back. If its the right hand side, if the FB has any pace, he can just catch Aluko up anyway. He really has to go, as JS would say

[Theroyalbox]

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.

Agreed, I think sacking Stam will be one of our biggest mistakes.

This team has got absolutely nothing, no goals, no defence, no spirit and no character. You can say don't judge from a pre season friendly but we're not. I'm judging on all of Clements games and we were a pile of shite last season under him and we come into this season even weaker.

Even if we beat Derby, I am fairly confident we will be relegated this year.

**Also whoever said Barrow is equally as much as a problem as Aluko is spot on, they are two of the worst wingers we have ever had.

[Old Man Andrews]

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.

Agreed, I think sacking Stam will be one of our biggest mistakes.

Jesus.

[Theroyalbox]

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.

Agreed, I think sacking Stam will be one of our biggest mistakes.

Jesus.

He was a good manager I thought, just a shame we got stuck in that rut with him, but I think he would've kept us up and I just can't warm to Clement or his side, where as I was a big fan of Stams

[genome]

No, Stam had to go - the team was on the slide and needed someone to come in and try things in a different way, grind out a couple of results and stay up. I think we would've gone down with Stam in charge.

As for hiring Clement, realistically who were we going to bring in at that stage? There was no chance of poaching a manager from another club at that stage of the season, so our market would've only been out-of-work managers who have been sacked elsewhere. But we had to do something, he achieved his goal of keeping us up.

Judging whether he is the right man for us starts after this Friday.

[Old Man Andrews]

No, Stam had to go - the team was on the slide and needed someone to come in and try things in a different way, grind out a couple of results and stay up. I think we would've gone down with Stam in charge.

As for hiring Clement, realistically who were we going to bring in at that stage? There was no chance of poaching a manager from another club at that stage of the season, so our market would've only been out-of-work managers who have been sacked elsewhere. But we had to do something, he achieved his goal of keeping us up.

Judging whether he is the right man for us starts after this Friday.

Fine post. Please help yourself to a biscuit.