Well then Roy was just as culpable as those mistaken fans as,unlike the fans, he had control over the selection and elected to play Richards ahead of Clyne at right back.

It's some years since Schlupp has been able to make a contribution as a winger in the forward line.
Age and lack of fitness have taken their toll and we rarely see those bursts these days.

Hughes and Lerma have played their whole careers in midfield and in the last few seasons even Schlupp has shown he can do a job there. There are also Riedewald, Ahamada and Ozoh.
I'm not suggesting it's an ideal choice, but at least they can play in midfield, which Richards is patently not cut out to do.

Even truly great managers like Pep and Ancelotti make selection mistakes, but when it's suggested an ordinary manager such as Roy makes an error it seems that some can't contemplate even that as a remote possibilty.

See, this is the problem where you have not read my original post, which you replied to, as you had a bone to pick and therefore misconstrued my anecdote and launched an attack on it.

That comment I overheard and alluded to was very much an in-game, real time assessment 'should' and I doubt just myself and the bloke next to me were the only ones thinking 'Of course we were asleep at the beginning and unluckily they got a goal in less than half a minute but they're not very good at all plus we have the quality to punish them for it'. It was nothing to do with sentiment, entitlement or ignorance of football. We were watching the match.

Beyond them taking advantage of our yet again snail-like start, where a RB was all at sea as of course, he is not a RB and our formation was bizarre, and a deflected shot from a counter they very rarely threatened nor looked capable of producing anything defenders of the quality we have should easily be able to cope with. Even for their second we watched them pass the ball around and lost individual battles as shock, we were half asleep and lacked any aggression whatsoever.

All our problems were of our own, or rather the manager's making yesterday. Playing players out of position (most notably RB), getting overly excited about the first equaliser leading to complacency (and bad fortune), starting games at a 'snail in the headlights' manner, then towards the end bizarre substitutions with tactics and formation all over the place and an invitation for a team we looked for all the world far superior to, in that game on the night, to have at us for 15-25mins.

We won in spite of a bit of bad luck and our manager yesterday, not because of him. The gulf in quality whilst we had Eze and Olise on the pitch was enormous and we may still have looked far superior with logical substitutions. They very rarely threatened with any sincerity beyond their goals and we could or probably should have had more yesterday. That was the game, as it panned out, on the night.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

Thanks for posting that. For what it's worth, Clinton said on BBC 5 Live that it was only the fifth time.

I’m asking for Roy to organise the defence. To be on it from the start, & to not ball watch as we did for the last 15 minutes. Watch the highlights of the last 15 it’s pretty scary stuff.

Unless Hodgson had instructed Eze to pluck the ball out of mid-air with the outside of his foot, score screamers with his left, and Olise to curl in volleys from outside of the box I'd suggest there's solid logic to say those players produced such moments off their own initiative/instinct and not instruction.

Players out of position, poor substitutions, a lack of aggression and combat in our play, dawdling and indecisiveness on the pitch, formations causing problems and lacking coherency, an inability to capitalise on set pieces, that's the manager. Improvised finishes, long range curlers and outside of the box volleys, that's individual talent.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

That'll be Roy's fault. The t***.

One of the bonuses is that it does suggest Hodgson is not committed to Clyne or Ward. With Richards playing poorly it should mean Munoz becomes first choice rather than have the rest of the season "getting up to speed". That is unless Hodgson gets the hump that Palace signed two players - neither of them named Phillips

Finally got to watch the whole match via Palace TV & apart from Roehampton's coverage stating at both HT/FT 0-1, i was impressed with JPM how he held up the ball & even tried to bring others into play & of course, had a hand(foot) in all 3 goals. Richards is not a RB, never has been, never will be, despite posters on here wanting him to play there instead of the 2 RB's we've got & why Clyne was on the bench, only Roy knows.

In Olise & Eze we have a once in a generation pair of players we will never see the like of again in a Palace shirt, lets hope their (reoccurring) hamstring injuries are not as bad as last time respectively. We need them both fit & firing on all cylinders for the rest of the season, so we won't be sucked right into the relegation mire.

As for corners, can't wait for a new manager to sort that problem out. Also, heading, what is it with our club, even the academy players hardly ever head the ball. Andersen is the only player that actually attacks the ball & get his head there, poor Mateta, if he was to jump & try to head the ball, he'd need oxygen when he got back to earth.

Think the rest of the season will be 'same-old, same-old' disbelieve, boring, nail-biting, squeaky bum times, with the odd joy & relief mixed in. Enjoy the rest of the season HOLer's.

This operation, will make the 'Charge Of The Light Brigade' seem like a simple military exercise.

I suspect its somewhere in-between, but you are 100% right about our threat without out dynamic duo. With them we are likely to see some moments of brilliance. Without them they would be definitely be for the drop.

ok in a sort of Roy defence. Many people been asking for Richards at RB all season even after Ward got injured. Not me incidentally. Showed his limitations yesterday. But, why have a pop at Roy for doing what most people wanted.

Richards at CM was a last minute change as someone (maybe Schlupp) was taken ill just before the game. At WHU he did ok and i said afterwards away from home he could play a role. At home v Bournemouth it was clearly not going to work, and it didn't.

Schlupp has been woeful this season but what else could Roy do early season? Olise was injured for 4 months and no one was brought in. Maybe Ayew on the left and JRS on the right, but he had never played a Prem game so it would have been a big risk.
Who would you have played on the left?

Similarly when Hughes played at the head of 3 CMs we had Eze and Doucoure injured. Again we were struggling for alternatives.
Personally at that point i would have gone 442 but there were not many alternatives.

It's easy to complain without providing alternatives