Sheaf Saint

Isn't it interesting that we don't look any less effective since Redmond was sent off.

From some maybe, but I thought he had a decent game overall at Stoke, just as he has on a few occasions recently. His overall play has been much, much better of late, and it was clear to me that the only thing missing from his game was goals. A few people were having a pop at his misses against Stoke and Boro, but neither of them were the simple tap-ins that people were making out, and the failure to score was more a result of the quality of the supply than J-Rod himself. I'm dead chuffed for him for yesterday. There have been times where I have found myself questioning if he would ever get back to his pre-ACL injury form, but recently he has been showing a lot of strength, desire and some really nice touches and ball skills. It has been obvious for a little while that he is the more likely answer to our striking problems than Shane 'Forrest Gump' Long and it is very gratifying to see that he has been able to repay the faith that Puel has put in him. Let's hope this is just the start of a rich vein of form for him.

Wasn't me making the comment

How can you give a FK and a yellow for high feet when the defender's head is that low to the ground FFS!?

Has it occurred to you that perhaps he was referring to Cedric's apparent ability to get injured on a regular basis?

:lol:

One scrappy chance that only came about due to a dodgy back-pass from JWP. They created absolutely nothing themselves in the entire 90 minutes, apart from one long-range shot in the second half that was never going to trouble Fraser. The idea that we were lucky not to lose is laughable.

Or perhaps he is just as frustrated as the rest of us at our lack of goals from open play this season, and was delighted to see our record signing rifle in a peach of a goal.

There was one moment in the first half last night where he had used a bit of skill to squeeze between two defenders. All he had to do was look up and run with the ball and he would have been clean through to a 1-on-1 with the keeper. But instead he just froze, like a rabbit in headlights, and allowed the defenders to re-group and block him off again. I fear that this isn't something that can be coached out of him.

Can everybody please drop this fallacy that Redmond was Mane's replacement? Boufal was Mane's replacement - Redmond was bought to replace Juanmi.

How about... **** off Monk?

Yep. I've been reserving judgment on him so far, but he was terrible tonight. It's clear he has quick feet and a bit of pace, but he dithers on the ball far too much and always makes the wrong decision, before shouting at his team-mates and blaming them for his indecision.

FFS - how is it his fault the club didn't buy a decent striker in the summer before he joined?

Why is VVD the only player who looks even remotely like scoring in the EL games?

Agreed. Fonte left Benteke completely unmarked for the third goal. Schoolboy stuff.

Palace have what we don't have - fast attacking players who know where the goal is. I didnt see the first half but from what I did see it wasn't an overall awful performance. It's just that the utter lack of quality in the final 3rd is really starting to hurt us now. Genuine question here - when was the last time we even scored after conceding first? I can't remember. It seems that as soon as we give the opposition a lead to protect, we just know we won't penetrate their defence. Losing away from home and needing a goal, and relying on Shane Sunday-League Long from the bench is never, ever going to produce the required result.

Given how we don't really have a first 11 any more, and how Puel manages to utilise the whole squad to field a team capable of competing against whoever we are playing, isn't it about time we renamed these build-up threads to the "see who can make the closest guess as to the starting 11 sweepstake" threads?

No worries there. The games are in January and we all know how useless he is in the winter months.

Oh my days that was close. We've got them on the ropes at the moment.

He simply has no skill on the ball. Every touch is a heavy one. If it wasn't for his pace and determination then he would be lucky to be playing league football at all.

Tadic will not be fit for this game unfortunately. I saw him at the ground and spoke to him very briefly after the game today and he is still in bandages and said he will probably be back for the Palace game.

Good to get that early goal to settle nerves and allow us to sit back a little and force Everton to do all the running. The total opposite of what happened in Prague on Thursday. Fantastic debut from Sims and was amazing to see the ovation he got when he came off. I find Koeman's comments about not being aware of him quite astounding really. The run he made in the second half to get from box to box deserved a better end product but we can excuse him I think. Shame we couldn't get another goal or two because we probably deserved to win by a greater margin. But I won't criticise JWP for his 2nd half miss because the ball was played to him with far too much pace from Austin (I think) when it didn't need to be. Austin was shattered by the time he came off and he really should have been replaced 10 minutes earlier with a fresh-legged Long to give the Everton defence something to think about. Overall very happy. Our defence nullified Everton's threat and coped with everything very well.

There's nothing really for me to add on top of what has already been said (too slow, too indecisive, not clinical enough etc...), and I admit I haven't read through all the reaction as yet, because I think I can guess what a lot of people are going to say. But from what I have read so far, I'm at a loss to understand why Long isn't getting the absolute slating that he deserves because he was atrocious last night. Every time the ball went near him either he was offside, or he gave away a needless foul, then jogged back with that stupid grin he puts on when he knows he's cocked up. There has been plenty of criticism of J-Rod, but when he came on against Liverpool last weekend he showed that he still has some skill on the ball to beat defenders even if he has lost his pace. Long, on the other hand, has as much ball skill as a drunken elephant. I know he has had a few games out injured but he has contributed nothing so far this season. He's the one I would be looking to offload in January, not Jay.

While I agree with this statement, I would at least like to see Forster making 'some' unexpected saves from time to time. But he just doesn't. Look at the two goals Hull scored yesterday. Neither of them were unstoppable, right-in-the-corner screamers, but Forster got nowhere near either of them. The second one it looked like he didn't even make a proper attempt at a dive. It's not the first time this season either. It seems that any half decent shot on target at the moment is more than likely to go in. He's a very big chap, and while that may be of benefit in some situations, perhaps he's just too heavy and not agile enough to make the kind of 'worldy' saves that other keepers make. Serious question - can anybody actually remember the last time you found yourself saying something along the lines of 'Brilliant save Fraser'. Arsenal away last season I think it was for me, and that's worrying when he's supposed to be an international keeper.

Don't hold your breath mate. We're still waiting for him to post evidence of him eating his own faeces after he promised he would do it if we qualified for the playoffs in 2007.