Crystal Palace 2 v West Ham Utd 2 (01/10/11)

[the pink palermo]

Think Mellor scored 2 or 3 that night against Palace pinks didn't he ??

Yep - he got 2, Defoe got the other one .

Our team that afternoon was
James, Repka, Dailly, Pearce, Quinn, Lee, Horlock, Etherington, Connolly, Defoe, Mellor .

I wonder how many of that side would get into our starting side at the moment ?

Etherington and Defoe for certain , and you could argue about James versus Green .

I reckon this is a tougher league this year than it was that season, with a much higher standard of opposition .

[Hockley Hammer]

TPP - I'd agree about the league this year, what is surprising is the football being played. 2003/04 was definitely a case that teams came to Upton Park to frustrate us but we can't use that as an excuse this time.

Ipswich played football how I want to see it played - on the ground to feet with movement all the time. I don't believe that Sam doesn't want us to play football - maybe he has worked out that we just don't have the players or the discipline and is sticking with percentage football as it brings results.

I cannot understand how we could play so badly last night against a team who to be fair allowed us to play but we were just too slow and inept to do anything about it.

[Mr.Miklosko]

Was Bentley really that sh*te last night? (That's not a rhetorical question; I didn't see the game and haven't read the thread since)

I just wonder as before the Ipswich game everyone was calling for Bentley to be given a start (me included) in place of Faubert, and now looking through this thread; everyone has put Faubert back in!

[CentenaryUpperHammer]

Was Bentley really that sh*te last night? (That's not a rhetorical question; I didn't see the game and haven't read the thread since)

I just wonder as before the Ipswich game everyone was calling for Bentley to be given a start (me included) in place of Faubert, and now looking through this thread; everyone has put Faubert back in!

He only took on his man once in the whole 90 minutes. Granted he is not the fastest player but he just didn't seem up for it. Granted, he was played on the wrong side meaning he had to keep cutting back onto his right foot. Still, he is supposed to be a Premier League player so he should be able to adjust and put in a better shift than he did. Scared of a tackle aswell.

[the pink palermo]

Hockley

I argued long and loud last season that football is about players, and I'm afraid we were shown it again last night .Ipswich for the first 20 minutes played like I want to see us play ...........what then happened is our Manager stepped in , changed our shape, which reduced our options, but had the benefit of severely restricting theirs .By his intervention he made it a more even game , but is that what we want ?

I'd prefer we thought through some of our recruitment , and specifically divestment policies .In the transfer thread I asked the question "have we offloaded enough of the team that took us down ?" .The limitations of one or two of those players is still being seen .

We have very little pace , with only Faubert in midifield capable of running flat out : that's abysmal .We can neither stretch the opposition or cover back quickly enough when they break .Last night Sam left Faubert out as punnishment for his poor final ball on Saturday , but quickly found the harsh reality of we lacked a better option to start .It's the second time this season he has had to call a dropped player off the bench and ask him to do a job ( the first was Ilunga) .

We may have won 4-0 at Watford but it was 1-0 in the 42nd minute : the O'Brien goal killed them , but up till then it was relatively even .Forest away saw the worst Forest team I have ever seen - a shocking defence , and a side not playing for their Manager .

In short we really haven't been that good all season, with results masking poor performances , which is one reason I started the are we happy thread .

People have been looking purely at the outputs and not the inputs : our midfield is not functioning , we have far too many players who can do bits of their jobs but not the complete job .

Where did we hurt Millwall, where did we hurt Peterborough , and where did we hurt Ipswich ?

Where's the threat ? What have we got that will make the opposition change their game to counter our threat ? The Manager is doing well with the players we have , but the reality is last night 7 of the starters are players he signed .As such I expect to see us play 4-5-1 both home and away for the rest of the season, because the players he has recruited determine it's neccesity .

Be in no doubt , two defeats or more in October will mean the playoffs are a more likely outcome than automatic promotion .

[paulhs1]

Green
obrien tomkins faye McC
faubert/bentley Nolan noble collison Taylor
cole

I think we will win this as well most of our away games this season.

[Jigga]

In the transfer thread I asked the question "have we offloaded enough of the team that took us down ?" .The limitations of one or two of those players is still being seen .

I would have to agree with you PP. There is one particular player in the midfield who has contributed next to nothing for the past two seasons yet seems to be free from being dropped.

I wish Tel the Hammer was still on kumb as no doubt he would have plenty to say on this subject....

[61dicksey]

Tough game bearing in mind they turned Brighton over away. I suspect this will be our toughest game all season but we do play slightly better away from home so a sneaky 2-1 win.

[EugeneSpeed]

Tough game bearing in mind they turned Brighton over away.

They get revved up for Brighton though, don't they? Plus it was 2 very late goals - not like they dominated the whole game. I think we'll do 'em 2-0.

[Aceface]

Saw in the paper this morning that Palace are Brighton's biggest rivals or something. Thought that was an odd one - I'd never heard of it before

[cockney farmer]

Saw in the paper this morning that Palace are Brighton's biggest rivals or something. Thought that was an odd one - I'd never heard of it before

28 arrests last night.

[EugeneSpeed]

^

Yeah. I used to work with a Brighton fan so I knew about it through him. It's relatively recent.

How Brighton v Crystal Palace grew into an unlikely rivalry
Alan Mullery was in charge of Brighton and Terry Venables was at the Palace helm when these clubs began their feud

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/foot ... NTCMP=SRCH

[QuintonNimoy]

In short we really haven't been that good all season, with results masking poor performances , which is one reason I started the are we happy thread .

This is West Ham though PP. Romping the league with a massive advantage and win after win is for the likes of Newcastle. We do things our own way here. It seems to me barely controlled chaos and being shafted by boardroom chancers has been the West Ham way far longer than any footballing credentials.

[m-h]

Is Piq's three match suspension over now ?. More decisions for BFS. Really think we need to give Collison a start in his preferred CM role. He played well in the Wales v England match. That does however mean dropping either Noble or Nolan or Lansbury.
We have to get this midfield sorted out and quickly or we will just see more of the same leading to more dropped points.

[e17]

Our team that afternoon was
James, Repka, Dailly, Pearce, Quinn, Lee, Horlock, Etherington, Connolly, Defoe, Mellor .

I wonder how many of that side would get into our starting side at the moment ?

Etherington and Defoe for certain , and you could argue about James versus Green .

I reckon this is a tougher league this year than it was that season, with a much higher standard of opposition .

Etherington and Defoe defo. Probably Connolly, based on his form at that time, versus anyone right now.

Maybe Pearce & indeed, James v Green would be close.

[the pink palermo]

Going by Sams press conference last night I don't think we'll see anything revolutionary this weekend .

I reckon he will go 4-5-1, with Collison coming in for Lansbury in Sam's preferred line up . Faye will be rested, not dropped .


-----------------------------Green--------------------------

JOB -------Tomkins------Reid--------McCartney

Faubert-------Noble----Nolan------Collison----Taylor ( if fit)

----------------------------Cole--------------------------------

Bench : Bentley, Baldock, Carew, Faye, Diop .

I expect us to win , probably 2-1 .

[The Rebirth]

David Bentley is massively right footed his ability to beat his man relies on this.

Sticking him on the left made him a thinner version of Matt Taylor but without the left foot.

Put him on the right he would of been much better.

[BrownFatwa]

the one thing palarse do have is pace and in abundance if they pick a couple of the young guns that have mainly been seen as subs.
and that is of course our achilles heel.
this will be an open game which maybe wont help us much either.
I'd take a draw right now.

[RyanWHUFC]

Is Piq's three match suspension over now ?. More decisions for BFS. Really think we need to give Collison a start in his preferred CM role. He played well in the Wales v England match. That does however mean dropping either Noble or Nolan or Lansbury.
We have to get this midfield sorted out and quickly or we will just see more of the same leading to more dropped points.

I don't see Piquionne being a problem, I'd still have Cole/Carew at the minute, did Carew play ok last night, heard he won literally everything he went for in the air?

[durham city hammer]

I don't think Bentley will be dropped for sat and tbh i hope he isn't , he had a poor game last night but he is a top player who should be way too good for this league, played on his right side he will be our main source of ammunition for cole or carew and a much better option than faubert ,imo that is, the left hand side worries me, i've never been a big fan of taylor but i still expected more from him in a lower division than what we are currently getting from him, could recalling Montano be an option? how is he fairing at notts county? the way hendon was talking about young Brian montenegro the other day, if he keeps that sort of form up over the coming weeks i'd be giving him some serious thought, we desperately need a bit of pace and energy from somewhere!