doddisalegend

I saw this on the BBC pre-match article Midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is unavailable, having been given time off following the birth of his daughter. is that where he has been the last few weeks or is there another reason?

Koeman has made changes but its not exactly a weakened side he has put out.

Ouch poor Everton

I'd assume the service comes from the two wing backs banging crosses into the box perhaps with Davis and Lemina making runs into the box as well not very subtle but seeing as our current game plan is to bang endless crosses into a crowded opposition's box at least this way there might actually be some saints players in there as well to get on the end of things.

It very much is. You can quibble over how good his delivery is but the players we have just aren't suited to game that revolves around crossing from wide hence there is little point including JWP out wide in the side to facilitate crossing.

Has Sam played for brum yet?

People say he is best out wide for his crossing ability but with no proper big CF in the squad plus a lack of runs from midfield all the crossing we do is pointless. The team need to cut out the high crosses and look to play to their strengths. JWP doesn't have a useful role to play in the team right now he can't play the 10, can't play DM and we don't need a slow wide player who's only attribute is the ability to bang another high cross into an opposition box containing an isolated Gabbi and six of the opposing team.

Lovern impressing on the big stage last night DEJANLOVREN – 4 Horrendous error for the first goal. No excuse for not making some sort of contact with that cross. I’ve defended Lovren but I’m really starting to struggle – he is not fit often enough to be part of a settled back four and makes too many stupid errors to be first choice anyway. RagnarKlavan isn’t good enough to replace him either. The centre-half situation looks bleak… If only we had 2 full months to strengthen… http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/uefa-champions-league/liverpool-player-ratings-sevilla-h/ar-AArTu79?li=AA572I&ocid=spartandhp

Again Nik-nac recruited Les Reed so if you blame Les for everything the buck ultimately stops at Nic's door. Do people really believe that Cortese was doing all the recruiting without any input from Les?

I think that was because he was already signed to Stoke's academy rather than the fact they were offering his parents brib.....err incentives. These kids my friend was talking about were very young looking to join their first academy.

Well at least this thread has established that Nik-nak has become a legendry character with more myths surrounding him than King Arthur. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Nik-nak sleeps in a cave under SMS pitch with a team of old players waiting to return when Saints need them most....

A friend of ours, son, was trailed for the academy at a young age 8-9. The thing that stuck with me was she said their were a couple of boys the academy wanted but they went to Chelsea because Chelsea offered incentives like a new car to the parents. No idea how true that is but if that sort of thing does go on then even at a very young age we are probably losing out on the best recruits to the big money clubs.

hey what? so Cortese was happy to flog a player because they acted up? How does that fit with we wouldn't have sold anyone if Nik-Nak had stayed mythology considering how many of our players have acted up to get a move?

Rather rammed home for me last season when people decided saints getting to a cup final wasn't all that impressive. As saints fans we wait years to get to a final then when we finally get one people start claiming we had an easy run in, other teams didn't try, it's a crap cup and cups are less important than finishing 7th anyway.

Talk****e say Woy has been announced as the new palace manager let's hope he gets them playing like England at the euros...

Would that be the Cortese who appointed Reed in the first place...

Lol there is no time limit on predictions then? If you predict a football team will, at some unspecifed stage in the future, not be as good as they once were you are pretty much guaranteed to be spot on...

So what is the players excuse this season? Has MoPe lost the dressing room already? the players got given a new manager yet they actually seem to be worse this season than last.

our problem against Watford was that we lost the battle in midfield hence no supply to the attack playing two upfront would have seen us even more outgunned in the middle of the park and even less like to create scoring oppurtunites.

Well if he gets Palace playing exciting football, like he did with England, Palace fans are in for a treat this season...

Looks like a cluster**** from the off.. Parish, however, admitted that the noisy Selhurst Park regulars are a little less discerning than the Ajax and Barcelona supporters who regard football as an art. “What is an attractive style?” asked Parish. “Our fans, I don’t think they are particularly fussed about the style of football we play. You don’t drive along thinking, ‘Oh I know, I can sack a manager today, great I can’t wait’. I had a fantastic relationship with Sam [Allardyce], with Alan [Pardew] and every time a manager fails at this club I fail. If Frank fails it is my failure too.” Steve Parish http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/26/steve-parish-wants-frank-de-boer-evolve-crystal-palaces-style/

Chairman Steve Parish said: “We have undertaken a thorough interview process to ensure we are in a position to appoint a manager of the calibre and experience that Frank brings with him. I am pleased to welcome him to Crystal Palace and I know he cannot wait to get started and prepare for our record breaking fifth season in the top flight."

This bit is spot on it was doing my head in. We have a team of light weight, midgets whose best asset is (allegedly anyway) they are quite good technically so why the hell we aren't getting the ball down, playing it on the deck and playing to our strengths? its the same in the final third when we work the ball out wide and then just send in high crosses like we've got a several units in the box.

It's a chicken or egg deal really. The players might up their game if the fans were roaring them on the fans might make more noise if the players perform better on the pitch.

Watford was a bad game for chances and we do have games like that (hull last season) more often than not though we create enough chances (Swansea being a prime example) to score but **** up the actual putting it in the back of the net bit.