Sarr had only started two league games prior to Mullins taking over against Leicester – away at Wolves (subbed after 77 minutes) and at Southampton, where he scored. Every other appearance came from the bench. I agree he was being shoe-horned into a formation that didn't suit him by coaches who probably didn't trust him, but I also gather it's been taking him time to get to grips with the demands of the Premier League. Regardless of where he was playing on the pitch in his substitute appearances against West Ham, Arsenal, Man City, Sheff U and Burnley he showed absolutely nothing to compare with his finish against Southampton or his trickery today. Sometimes, it does come down to the player too. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a 21-year-old coming from a relatively pedestrian Ligue 1 to take three months to adapt to what's required and I think he's similar to Doucoure in that regard. He was dreadful for a year until suddenly he wasn't dreadful. (Admittedly, now he's heading back to dreadful again).
To be fair, I don't see how that Dalby could do any less with the Gray chance. Some might argue he wouldn't make it in the box in the first place but honestly, what's the harm in taking the risk? Aaron Conolly didn't have any exceptional U23 record and he's doing alright for Brighton!
It sounds like he’s really picked up his form in the last 2/3 games. Massively. If a few others can do that then maybe we have a chance
Anyone else remember Gray's first contribution today? Good run into the channel, shielded the ball well then just passed it straight off the pitch. Would be funny if only he didn't play for us.
Palace fans again calling us thugs who just go out and kick players.. If only eh ? A few more tackles and we might have won more points !
To be fair, for once we showed a bit of intelligence. We took a couple of deliberate yellows by fouling Zaha before he could break free. The complete disrespect by Capoue and Kabasele to completely enrage the guy was just pure genius. We learned something from the Burnley game, after all. Sadly, it wasn't enough for a win, but seeing Zaha cross the ball, the ref's eyes follow it into the box, and then Capoue step in and just judo throw Wilf to the ground, was hilarious. If we're going to go down, let's at least go down doing **** like that.
And we fouled less than them (I just checked it on BBC to confirm I wasn’t lying), so that doesn’t stack up.
Kabasele doesn't mind getting stuck in a bit which isn't a bad thing if it's done wisely . Kiko did well against Zaha although I was worried he'd give away a penalty at the end .
I only had the WFC commentary today, but they were impressed how yet again we got into Zaha’s mind (Capoue mainly) and rattled him. Funny really as him vs Feminia is not a fair contest, but feminia picked his game up, Wilf obliging and predictably dropped his.
I’m going to really miss Zaha and his antics as we probably won’t host him anymore in his career. A player I would have loved to have played for us. See ya Wilf and thanks for the memories
I rest my case on officials. It's clear beyond all doubt we just don't get the decisions. Never have done and never will. Leicester get the softest of penalties against us in the week, just when they needed a helping hand to break us down. Today was a blatant penalty and it had to be given, but of course it's not. You have no chance when the odds are so heavily stacked against you. It's like playing against an opponent with one extra player every match. There is no justice in the officiating. It's biased and is constantly going against us. But what can you do? Having said that, it was a much better performance. Our last three games have been better, but only one point to show for it, although that's totally down to decisions not going our way and we can do nothing about it. Of course, we need to take our chances and we cannot rely solely on referees being fair, because they are not and never will be. We have no finishing ability whatsoever in the entire squad. It's worse than useless. We either powderpuff straight at the keeper or shoot widely over the bar. Palace didn't have a sniff. I recall only one moment when Ayew shot over the bar. Apart from that there was nothing from them. Defensively we looked far more solid. Kabs had a couple of brain fart moments, but other than that he played exceptionally well. Kiko had a very difficult opponent, and got skinned a few times, but over all he dealt with him very well. In the end both he and Capoue had to take one for the team as he was threatening to break clear. So glad they did that. Masina looked good too, so a few games under his belt and he's really showing a much better level. Some lovely moments form Sarr, and at last I can see why Watford were so interested in signing him. He's still not a £40m player, but he left Palace for dead on a few occasions. His final shot or cross lets him down, but he has a trick and for the first time I saw his pace. He's only going to get better, and I think he's going to be a real asset in the second half of the season. I'm not sure what the solution is for our goal scoring problems, and we need to take good opportunities, or else 0-0 is the best result we can ever achieve. It's now 12 home games since we last won. We've not taken the lead at home since April 2nd. It's really tough being a fan these days, with absolutely nothing to cheer about. Even had to take the taunts from the gloating Palace fans, which I expect we'll have to get used to. Being everyone's p1ss take. We probably deserve it. I'm more optimistic that we're on the right track now. I do expect we'll pick up more points, but 31 more from 23 games is probably a little beyond us now. I still live in hope and who knows what transfer dealings we'll make in January.
Really disappointing comment from Alan Shearer on MOTD that Cahill 'hadn't done enough' to concede a penalty: He had Deeney in a headlock and threw him to the ground! It was clear on the replays. You actually concede a penalty in rugby for doing that. What is the thinking that goes behind a remark like that? And, for that matter, why is VAR not flagging it up? What am I missing here? It looks like a cast-iron penalty.
The chants of "going down" at the end pissed me off when Cahill was literally their only player Palace could thank for getting them an undeserved point, but it's harmless enough banter that's part and parcel of being a football fan and many of us would have done the same had our situations been reversed. Funnily enough, I went to a fair few games in 2006/07 and I don't remember any "going down" chants (although I only went to one game after Everton at home, the surprise 2-0 at Reading after relegation was confirmed), but others may recall differently?
Just watched the highlights on Sky, and that Gray miss was worse than I thought. What a brilliantly weighted pass from Sarr though. Fantastic. He was unlucky not to score. He looked lively and had a lot of nearly moments. What strikes me, is what happens to our strikers when they shoot? They miscue the ball, virtually every single time. None of them can hit a ball hard. These are professional players. I see players on park football that can hit the ball harder than our guys. In the final few minutes we had several chances to score. Gray mishits the ball tamely at the keeper, Deeney mishits the ball then Sarr nearly got on the end of it. Deulofeu mishits the ball tamely at the keeper. What the hell is wrong with them all? Why can't they shoot correctly. It's been happening so often. It's not just one of those games, it's every week the same thing. Don't they practise shooting?
Regarding Gray, the main problem was the miss came off his weaker foot. Now I could be way off the mark not having played football since I was a kid (and being absolutely clueless at it) but couldn't Gray simply have moved the ball to his right foot and taken a shot? I haven't seen the highlights, but IIRC he had enough time and space to do so. Or made sure that his right foot was in contact with the ball as he ran towards it in the first place?
I always wonder why any shooting practice prematch and much of what you see in training videos is unopposed - that's a situation that arises half a dozen times a season. Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
Only 6 pages for a match day thread come the day after the match surely has to be a record low for this forum during the current PL era?
Does anyone know when Welbeck will be back (if ever)? Looking at the team and its performance yesterday his signing suddenly seems to be the gamble to have back-fired the most - if we had a striker of his ilk (both able to hold the ball up and nick an occasional goal) leading the line instead of Deeney we might have won that. As is we haven't scored a goal at home from open play all season (according to the commentator on my river, correct this if that is incorrect)!
Gray wasn't and isn't the only culprit. GD had a chance when he tried to pass it passed Guita at his near post or possibly curl it to the far post,I'm not sure. AD simply won't shoot and Deeney is never in a position to shoot. GD did had one good shot that went just wide and Rhett Butler made a good tackle on Gray I think before he could shoot on another chance. Overall I suppose it is a lack of confidence,leading to either rushing or taking too much time,coupled with poor technique.
The ref gave a foul on Deeney by Cahil for pretty much the same thing outside the area few moments later. Think Deeney was pointing that out too!
I wouldn't be putting all your faith in Welbeck. The striker of his ilk has scored less goals than Deeney in each season since we got promoted. But he did play for Man Utd, Arsenal and England so stats be damned.
Looking to Big Nige coming in now, his great escape was in decent part based around Jamie Vardy revealing that he was in fact Jamie Vardy. By comparison, we have no player who is in a position to throw off their skinsuit and reveal that they too are Jamie Vardy. If we don't spend significantly/effectively on a goalscoring striker in January (or indeed bring one in on loan) then I don't see how it would even be possible to survive. The Pozzos, however, will not be of the same opinion, I'm sure, and will be placing their full trust in an 18-year-old who's played fewer than 25 league games in his career in a third-tier competition, scoring a mighty four goals along the way.
I wouldn't be putting all my faith in Welbeck either - mainly because he can't stay injury free. When fit he is the kind of striker we need leading the line, and has an okay scoring record per minute played, but he rarely gets to play (and at Ar5e he was also often shoved out on to the wing when used). PS as a tangent I will always point out that no accurate view of Deeney's goalscoring "abilities" can be made without taking away his penalties. We can't score from open play. Neither can he.
