Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian J  I haven't seen them play this season and whilst I read all the match reports they don't tell you everything. 9 points from the first 3 games is as good as 9 points from the next 14 games is bad and we've gone from being promotion favourites to relegation candidates.
On paper the team is good so can anyone who has seen them play in the last 14 games tell me what the problem seems to be |
Palace fan here!
Not really sure what’s happened to the team… like you say, on paper it’s a decent team. The problem in my opinion is that there is no balance to the squad and we don’t seem to be playing to our strengths.
We’ve finally got target men in Scowcroft and Kuqi that would have been perfect playing alongside AJ… but he’s gone and with him is any pace we had upfront. Clinton still hasn’t found much form and doesn’t look the player he was a couple of season ago. Dougie is getting on now but is still the only creative player in the team… but Taylor doesn’t seem to want to play him other than 15/ 20 minutes at the end.
The midfield lack the creativity to break teams down, and with Soares being wasted on the right wing and McAnuff on the left constantly cutting in there’s bugger all width so we’re getting zero crosses for the big guys. As we’ve got no pace the through balls that we’ve played to AJ for the past couple of season don’t work anymore so we’ve ended up adopting the “punt it to the big guys up front and hope it sticks” tactic which simply hasn’t worked at all.
Our defence should be able to cope with the division much better than is has… Kiraly is a very good keeper (excluding his occasional flapping at crosses)… Borrowdale is progressing well at left back, and Butterfield is a solid right back… Cort has been a decent signing for centre back but Taylor doesn’t seem to know who to play alongside him so the defence is chopped and changed almost every week… Ward get my vote despite his poor form for the entire second half of last season, Hudson is an accident waiting to happen and has the mobility of an oil tanker.
The main problem for me is that the loss of AJ has meant that we’ve had to totally change the way the team played, coupled with the large turnover of players both out and in has meant it’s taking longer to adjust. The fans haven’t helped matter and seem to jump on the players backs at every opportunity and booing the players off at half and full time has been the norm pretty much all season. In fairness they’re hasn’t been a lot to cheer about but the crowd certainly are not offering much support in lifting the player up. The players constantly look nervous and look to thump it long at every opportunity… whether that’s Taylor instructions or just the fact they want rid of the ball in case they’re the next victim to a chorus of boo’s I don’t know.
All in all at the current point it’s not looking good for CPFC. Taylor doesn’t seem to know his best eleven, it’s the square pegs round holes again with players playing out of position, the £30 match day ticket pricing is turning away fans so attendances are slumping and all in all there’s doesn’t seem to be a lot of light at the end of the tunnel!
But hey this is Palace. Taylor isn’t a bad manger, excluding the blip at Leicester he’s done very well with every job he’s had, the squad is good enough for a playoff spot so with a bit of confidence I’m sure the performances will improve we just need that kick start.
I really hope PT turns it around… it would be such a shame to see a real Palace legend depart Selhurst P45 in hand to a chorus of boo’s.
3 points on Saturday, and hopefully and the start of a Dowie’esk rise to playoff and promotion. With Palace you never know!
Fingers crossed.
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