Forester

While very sympathetic to the argument about prioritising tickets for those who travelled to Fulham, I think that it is far more likely that tickets will be issued a la away game to Bournemouth, ie those who have bought most tickets for away games over the last year counting downwards (perhaps ten away games, then nine etc). People will have different views on how fair this is (I think it is fair because some people will have had a genuine reason why they could not make Fulham this week) but I imagine the over riding focus will be our most “known” fans via customer number. And so logic will be if you have not been found out as a lunatic in ten games you are low risk.

A thoroughly enjoyable sun drenched away day, and with England beating the Aussies today a perfect weekend! My reflections would be: - Great to get a clean sheet. Easy to say it was lucky given post and VAR, but equally we played well last week and got nothing so that is the way the cookie crumbles - Above particularly impressive given shift to back four and Danso playing out of position on debut. Thought he was excellent second half. - Ralph wants “football played in a hurry”, and many of our fans hated slow patient build up of Puel. Think we need to get used to seeing the ball given away more than previous years and less possession but the flip side is we defend higher up the pitch. You can’t have everything unless you have Man City resources. - Unlike many posters I thought Ings did well in terms of work rate and pressing, whereas Adams particularly first half was disappointing and appears to be struggling to generate movement off the ball to create space. - Boufal and MD outstanding impact subs. Can they translate that into starting against Man Utd? Must be huge temptation to replace Adams with one of them. - Unless Bertrand picked up his injury within 24 hours of kick off, or Ralph was telling porkies at press conference when he said no injuries, something doesn’t add up in the “Bertrand was injured” explanation. Think he has been well below par first two games but he is a class player when on it and naturally left footed.

Not totally convinced by him yet, but seen some good moments from him including Saturday. He is, along with others, paying the price for our defence being so weak that we have to play three centre backs. Otherwise he would be a good fit for Ralph’s preferred 4-2-2-2

This is a very lazy comment on so many levels. Firstly Puel achieved good away results, it was home form that cost him his job. Secondly he always played a back four, who were well drilled (look at the goals conceded stats) and had at least three and sometimes four midfielders initially in a diamond before going to 4231. I don’t think there is a perfect formation, Chelsea won the title under Conte playing 343 which was really how we were set up yesterday. It’s the quality of defending that was so poor at Burnley, not so much the formation, albeit I do think that when you have someone as athletic as Kante he can help cover the gaps that just two central midfielders face. I don’t think we have anyone that good

A long journey to get soaking wet and see a total capitulation in second half. Trying to be balanced so... Positives.....not many, but thought Romeu did well and for the first part of the second half before they scored we actually looked like we were getting into gear. Yes the conditions played a part and undoubtedly helped the more direct style of play, and finally it was the first game of the season and both Wet Spam and Palace have had awful starts in last couple of years and gone on to have good season. Right now onto the concerns.....felt we looked like a kick and rush team for much of today and got sucked into Burnley preferred type of game. Playing just two cents! midfielders doesn’t help this and I would bring in Hoj for zings next week and play two not three up front. Then there is the defending, truly awful. Errors from Vest and Bertrand for first and third goal, felt Stephens (first) and Gunn (third) could still have helped prevent the final outcome though. And the second goal is truly awful. Old give ball watching. If this is what we see against usually goal shy Burnley then god help us against top six teams. Finally why is our must reliable defender left in bench? Unless Danso is a twenty year old hero (let’s hope he is) am seriously worried about how we will keep the ball out of the net long enough to chalk up wins. All in all a very worrying day

This is a great stat. The seventh longest current stay in the Premier League. Not to be sniffed at. I think four top eight finishes on the trot was exceptional. I do think it is credible to get back into Europe every so often, but equally it is likely we will face more disappointing seasons like the last two as well. So all in all survival alongside a cup run and every few years challenge the top seven feels good to me.

I agree with Whitey. The headline which got most people supporting it was broadly “this will turn subjectivity into black and white facts”. But as folk can now see, that is not true. It simply moves subjectivity somewhere else, ie the bloke doing VAR. There are numerous situations where you think “why wasn’t that referred to VAR”. I agree with the comment re keeping it to factual things, to build on the goal line technology which has been good (and also does not rely on a delay with everyone hanging around). So ball out of play or mistaken identity perhaps. It’s awful when you are at the ground and everyone is stood around waiting and I suspect when many paying fans experience that first hand they will be less enthusiastic.

2 out of 10. Love and light

Fully understand the sentiment about how he left etc. To be honest I have, sadly, long lost the perception that players love the club etc, kissing the badge days before securing a move and all of that crap. However my opposition to him returning is more a cold hard look at the facts. He is 31, he has now developed a trend of being injury prone, and that is only likely to get worse. So it’s just a no on those grounds. The player I want in that number ten position who I think has potential to be as good if not better than he was in his prime is Lookman from Everton and I am hoping the Ralph link may do the job.

Agree with all of this other than I would retain Vest and Long (the latter has one year left on contract and would tell him he has until Xmas to get an extension)

Hate slagging off referees as they get far more right than wrong. But it wasn’t just Friend’s decision making that was poor today, it was his whole control of the game. Whistle happy, officious, really did make himself unnecessarily the centre of attention.

Really enjoyed that. Classic case of when you are on top you have to score more than once and fortunately Spurs didn’t in a miserable first half for Saint. Great credit to Ralph for both tactical and personnel changes and second half was a real pleasure. Last year under Pellegrino we were consistently out foxed by opposing managers who changed games. Now Ralph frequently improves us tactically as games progress. Special mention to the three centre backs who were given minimal protection first half and had a torrid time, but were immense late on in defending the lead for their lives. Bednarek in particular outstanding second half.

I think the team is playing with much more spirit than we were under Mo Po before Hughes came in and the situation is less precarious. As others have pointed out, barring a miracle two of the relegation spots are already taken which wasn’t the case last season. But I also think you have to look at the run in. When Hughes came in we had a much tougher set of fixtures. This season in our last nine games we only play two of the top six, and both these are at home. Our last game of the season is Udders at home. Cardiff go to Old Trafford.

It’s first class insight like this that is invaluable. You would be wasted in nuclear physics....

Gunn Vest, Bednarek, Yoshida Valery, PEH, Romeu, Bertrand JWP Redmond, Austin

A bit unfair, we signed him in the twilight of his career. He was a terrific player at Millwall and Rangers, was from memory player of the year at Rangers at a time when they had a string of England current internationals playing for them during the era when English teams were banned from playing in Europe

Sorry for mistyping “lucky”. But on the substance, an unpaid debt which is passed to a debt recovery agent gets registered and negatively impacts credit file. So given your “who cares” view, I assume you are either supremely wealthy with no need to take out a mortgage or loan, are retired and have paid off all debts or are just a bit cocky and thick

Luck you. But I can assure others that doing this can lead to registered debt, credit file problems and the debt itself escalating beyond belief

Trust me, as a usually positive poster, it was a very poor performance and the highlights were, well, the highlights

A bit like Everton now reflecting on Allardyce taking them to 7th spot but sacked because of style of play, how I wish for the days of a cup final and 8th under Puel. Anyone who has seen the last two home matches and says that they are more entertaining than that season, or any more successful, must be so blinded by bias it’s embarrasing. Other than the top six, the only way you finish winning games in the Premier League is to keep clean sheets. Porch did it, Koeman did it and yes Puel did it. All did so differently, and with very different players. Rant over, back to today, very poor throughout and did not deserve to win (albeit neither did Cardiff). Frightening lack of quality in final third. Was Armstrong injured today? Hoping that we will have Obafemi back as an option for Arsenal and I assume Yoshida will be recalled. Sounds like it will come too soon for Ings. Looking at table this could well be one of those years that you need 40 points to stay up and that looks like a big ask with four of the top six to be played yet. We don’t face Udders until very last game of the season....

Agree with overall sentiment, poor performance against very astute opponents who probably deserved to win. And all in Baltic conditions! 3-5-2 or adaptation thereof has worked well for us, but I was agitating for this to be changed at half time and sacrifice one of the centre backs because it became obvious that the balance of players in front of the ball when we were in opossession versus level or even behind us just wasn’t right when you are chasing the game and Palace understandably happy to just build congestion. It’s very important that you take the lead with this system, not made for chasing the game down. Ralph did so very late and got away from it, I think he will reflect that on another day we wil not have done. The good news though is that the old adage of “if you don’t play well, make sure you don’t lose” is apt. Onwards and upwards.

Generally agree, albeit still holding a candle for Hesketh who has looked class when fit.

These are the key facts relevant to looking at that net spend table. While fans often like to see a big net spend, reality is that you really want to be successful but be recouping good transfer fees when you do ship players out. So it’s not the lack of net spend that is a concern per se, more the fact that it is WHY we have negative net spend that is incompetent. On the subject of January, I for one are quite happy not to spend this month and let Ralph continue to improve and assess the squad. If there is a great deal to be done then fine, but often it’s panic buying in January.

Yes agree with those names. Really enjoyed the fact that we continued to want to play high up the pitch even when ahead. Refreshing change from last season.

I cant complain about the result aa I think Derby deserved that, as painful as it is to say. While recognising he was on a yellow card I thought it was premature to take Johnson off who had some bright moments including a cracking cross for Long to fail to convert. Best player for me was JWP, albeit as others have noted he tired badly in extra time, and Redmond added a lot when he came on. Also thought Cedric (playing on left), Vest and Stephens did ok. But generally it was a bit frantic and disorganised which mass changes often produce. What a missed opportunity given Accrington away to have made the fifth round.