Chez

boy do they blow hot and cold. I was going to say flat track bullies, but thy have beaten some of the better sides then lost to some strugglers.

is his backup Nyland any good?

yep. He looks better in the air, better on the ball and quicker too (goes without saying really). How much would celtic want for Julien now?

Celtic's record transfer fee paid is about £9m, so I don't think we will get the £25m for Forster some papers mentioned we might want. Perhaps we could take Frimpong in exchange.

is he suspended then? You don't get to pick and choose which games you miss.

agreed, Cedric will stay, but might be a good idea to bring in his replacement now if Valery is going to be out for a while (who knows) and if his replacement can cover left back, where we are very exposed.

I think he played well in several games for us. He showed a willingness to get up and down the pitch, good strength, decent touch, half decent on the ball and reasonably quick. When they gave him a five year deal they must have felt he had the quality. The ACL injury was a bad one though, so its no surprise he has been out for so long. A year or more is not unusual. I hope he can get back to his best. Great to see a local lad do well.

not sure many would argue against this.

lovely post. Great that the team and the fans are both enthused after what has been a pretty horrible season until recently.

Presumably Stoke put out their best side, who had all played together a far bit. We won't have that continuity of selection and usually the team looks disjointed and struggles a bit. Individuals may gave better quality, but team play can be terrible. With that in mind, any kind of win becomes a decent result. I notice Boufal wasn't even on the bench against Spuds, yet we had three strikers on the bench. Has the toe caused issues again? Valery was also still missing due to 'an infection', so you would assume he will miss out again. Right now we don't seem to have much cover at full back or CM. Gunn ??? Yoshida Vestegaard/Danso ??? Romeu ??? Djenepo Long Obefemi Adams

I really liked his professional foul when Spurs caught us on the break. That ruthlessness is exactly what you need at this level. That bit of nastiness and doing everything possible to stop the opponent gaining the advantage is helping to stop those break away goals that hurt us badly earlier in the season. I have to say I was relatively calm for the last ten minutes compared to normal. We seem to have a bit more solidity, and luck...

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.