Chez

he's 32. I'd be surprised if suddenly gained the composure and finishing ability now. 25 goals in 148 appearances (all be it plenty of substitute appearances) is pretty poor. However, his work rate and pace are his strengths, turning **** balls into good ones and pressing teams. That work rate has helped us a lot in recent games. It's not all about goals. You need to defend from the front, offer a threat to the ball over the top, retain possession, challenge every header etc.. I'm not a fan by any means. I feel strikers at this level should have finishing ability way above what he offers (lets be honest, that can be pretty woeful), but when we have not been playing well over the last five years we often return to Long and the basics of working hard to press teams and that has got us out of some holes. He's been a pretty good squad player.

lots of players take time to find their feet in the top flight - Pires and Drogba being good examples. I just watched Kys Mousset causing City all kinds of issues and he did sweet FA at Bournemouth all last season. When we ourselves got promoted (which is effectively what Adams has done), the likes of Lallana and Rodriguez took a while before setting the place alight.

Brandon Williams and Ruben Vinagre look tremendous talents to me. Neither are going to come here, but the kind of pacey skilful players we need to look for.

It's amazing how little focus there is on the point of contact with the ball from the through ball. Getting that right is essential to knowing the outcome, yet there seems little scrutiny or time taken to determine that.

Yep, he's done an good job turning things around. We looked doomed a few weeks back. We have half a chance now. He's stopped putting square pegs in round holes, got our only decent fullbacks at full back and placed a relatively solid keeper between the posts. I think most importantly he has got players like Ings, JWP, Long and Armstrong doing those hard yards we needed and that has been helped by a simplified formation and defensive requirements. With this, the confidence has slowly creeped back into the side. We are not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination, and just because we have had a good run if results doesn't mean we should all relax. The side needs to work harder and players need to continue to be brave on the ball. If he can get a bit more of a tune out of Boufal, Djenepo and Redmond we might score the goals we need to survive.

good point. I often think we have taken Boufal off just as the game is opening up. Thats when those flair players come into their own. Perhaps Long/Amstrong do the hard work chasing things down and then we bring the flair players on as teams tire, or earlier even. Thought we did pretty well to keep Zaha quiet. The offside goal was all him and he did cause some problems, he's a real talent, no doubt about it, but we got stuck in and didn't give him too much room too often.

It's very hard when a team sits back, even with quick passing. When they do it then becomes a tough balance between pace of pass and security of pass. Usually it requires a very measured and crafted approach, otherwise you just turn over possession, and that's which is not our forte. Thought we pressed them harder in the second half and certainly got the ball out to Djenepo quickly and caused them a lot of problems. We are not the best side in the world, but right now we are making much more of what we have - about time too.

Very good point. Palace are a very solid outfit that don't concede many goals, so to come back and then push them for a winner is encouraging. The last 20 minutes was all us, but we didn't over expose ourselves and get caught on the break. Boufal and Che may not have had their best days, but they need lots of games, not the odd chance here and there. Not easy to find a space though if Djenepo and Ings are going to keep impressing. Good that we have some options in those attacking roles. Maybe Boufal can press Redmond for a place as he isn't doing enough for me. Thought Hoj had a decent game. You cant question his fight, which is all you can ask from a player.

season long loans need pre agreed 'recall' clauses and for parent to want them back. No idea if his has one. If we are not going to be play him at CB that would be a good idea as he is a fish out of water at full back

why Gunn was selected ahead of him earlier in the season I will never know. He's not the best keeper out there, but he is much more solid than Gunn and inspires more confidence. His non selection typified the confused management/selection policy.

I also thought Hoj was pretty poor. It was one of those days that the ball was forever stuck under his feet. I can't fault his efforts, but he seemed to give the ball away a lot more than everyone else. That has always been his issue, but yesterday it wasn't down to poor decisions, just terrible footwork and balance. He's become very easy to criticise this season and this board doesn't really need another post from me doing the same, but I always think you need to be balanced in both victory and defeat. Not every player deserves a huge pat on the back after a win (likewise criticism in defeat).

these days, if you bring someone in, you usually need to move someone out as budgets are fixed. The exception will be if a squad place wasn't filled in the summer or in desperation. Not sure if a slot was left unfilled or we are desperate, but a couple of defeats and every position will look like one we need to enhance.

Just like Chelsea yesterday, we don't have enough quality to break teams down at home. The way away teams set up against us has a bearing, as does a lack of confidence. You are right though, our passing at home can be too slow. We ned a simpler plan that moves the ball quicker. We also need to hit teams on the break at home better (just like we did yesterday). When possession is turned over to us we need to see that as our best opportunity to score and power forward with more gusto.

Best game I have seen JWP play. He got about the pitch quickly and put pressure on opposing midfielders. Too often he is passive and just cut the angles down. Here he really got tight and got a foot in a lot. I was impressed. I wonder why it was so noticeably better yesterday. Perhaps the whole team pressed and that allowed him to focus on the man closest and not worry about covering others and filling holes. I hope as a team we can keep that up. His general passing and first touch is and always has been very good. The combination of mobility, physicality and quality is where we have lacked in the middle. It's a position we must bolster IMO.

Great point. It was excellent play by Adams and those little things add up in the end. His hold up play is excellent.

Personally I think we need to enhance central midfield with more ability. Trying to think of loans, as that is realistically all we will get, and saw that Joe Allen is linked to a few Prem clubs. Could we loan Allen, perhaps with a view to a permanent move? Should we?

We are mentioned in passing in Emmanuel Dennis (Nigerian striker) transfer rumour http://www.footmercato.net/flash-mercato/info-fm-manchester-united-s-interesse-a-emmanuel-dennis_269898

It is. But 2 of those 3 are in our first 11. Some think Yoshida is the best CB we have at the club despite him not getting games. Are they the players we need to lose the most? Who is buying Forster and paying his £70k+ a week contract? Not Celtic. Not unless we pay half that contract up. Gulp.

what makes you think that? It will surely be the same as last summer. A **** load of players with years on their contracts that no one wants unless we pay 50% or more of their wages going no where. They will nearly all stay all summer long consuming wages/funds leaving us little time and money to get the players we need. We will shift some out on loan, but that wont provide us with the finds needed to buy some top class players. Without the funds it will be down to brilliant scouting. Do we have anyone at the club that knows his arse from his elbow these days?

amen to that.

...and no one will buy our deadwood in the summer. They will be here all summer long on full wages before going out on loan, again, once we have agreed to pay at least 50% of their wages, leaving our hands tied, again. Yoshida, Long and Cedric are the only ones out of contract and two out of three are in the first 11 right now. If they all leave, that means we need two out of three signings to go straight into the first team and hit the ground running, just to stand still. What a mess.

The only way out of this mess is by having two (or possibly three) amazing transfer windows in a row, in which perhaps two out of three signings in each window goes straight into the first 11 and shines straight away. At the moment we are lucky to see one out of three signings get into the first 11 and that guy doesn't really improve us. After too many below par windows, we need to excel in the next one - how we do that with no funds available is beyond me.

Hasn't Ralph played Obefemi, Valery, Danso, Gunn, Slattery and Ramsey?

no doubt we have not done things well/right in recent years, but what might something else look like?

were we actually any good though? We struggled massively towards the end of the season. I recall we beat a terrible Arsenal, Huddersfield, Fulham and Brighton. You have to beat whats in front of you, but do we simply beat the teams going through a period of struggle. I guess the Spurs and Wolves home wins were good performances. This season we have beaten Brighton and Sheff United, but both were finding their feet and then Watford and Norwich, both terrible. It strikes me that we are just a rank poor side, only really beating sides that are worse than us, with the odd decent result here and there. We are better with Ralph than Hughes, but there is only so much a manager can do. A different/better manager might get a little more out of the players, but its been three years of struggle and that's simply because we don't have enough top quality. We have some half decent players, and quite a few that would not look out f place if in a better side, but not many (if any at all) that can lift an average team to a higher level.