The more I watch the replay, the more it looks like Jimmy Mac got away with one last night. Thought the ref let a lot go yesterday and I much prefer games like that when they're not blowing up every 30 seconds

I much prefer games like that when they're not blowing up every 30 seconds[/i] I so agree, I'm not a fan of "soft" players diving on the floor every five minutes (even some of ours do it). That's why I always think of the 60's as a golden age. No soft c0ck football going on there, when men were men and sheep were scared.

In your opinion. I agree with PC that Vieira got that substitution wrong. The team became unbalanced with no decent out ball. IMO and, it's only an opinion of course, a better option would have been to bolster midfield with Hughes or even Schlupp so that we could at least press nearer the half-way line.

The squad are still getting used to playing the new Vieira system. Last night seemed to show that they are not yet ready to change shape and system in a game. Too often in the last 10 minutes players were going for the same ball or not knowing what to do with it on the few occasions they got hold of it. As you say, they are all having to learn (including Vieira) but the future is looking promising. Let's hope we put Newcastle to the sword on Saturday so we don't have to fret when the match enters added time.

It’s a good point about Wilf and psychologically can only be good for the players not to rely on his presence. Previously it’s looked a bit like No Wilf = No Point.
Let’s hope Ferguson comes in. Eze will be there and Hughes must get a game before long for either Luka or Jimmy Mac (in his case on age grounds more than performance).
With the options becoming available we can see some genuine rotation rather than just tactical substitutions.

The dust has settled a little, but it still hurts.

IMO the sub was wrong. He had already brought some extra height in with CK, so another midfielder, Jeff or Hughes would have made more sense to me. A bit more energy to help continue to press and play on the front foot. But look, he is more equipped to make that decision than us, and his other subs have been pretty good so lets cut him some slack.

Maybe with our new style, we are worse under pressure than we were last season? Roy’s teams could soak up quite a lot of pressure.

Regardless of the result and the last 10, we are looking decent. With no football knowledge, you would have thought that Palace was the home team, the bigger club with the bigger budgets. Its so encouraging that we are not just hanging in games, we are dominating them.

Couple of other thoughts:

We weren’t lost without Zaha. Sure he would have made a difference, but the team now functions without him.

Ayew played his part, from memory he set up the first, won the ball in a couple of decent positions and I also remember a beaut of a cross.

Olise looks very very decent. Amazing return from a limited number of minutes. I’d implore people to trust PV in bedding him in slowly. He will know when the guy is ready to start. He is doing amazingly well, but it is a big step up.

Hughes – is something up? Its very odd for a fit, new signing not to have got any minutes by now. Especially in a game like yesterday, with Macca on a yellow. Feels like he is not impressing PV.