Bizarre team selections, players not showing heart, aggression, intent plus running less than everyone in the league. Obvious holes in first team and lack of depth in squad. Manager seemingly making same mistakes over and over and with a previous track record of failing second season. Not scoring goals. Very tough run in of games and a forthright statement of no intent to sign anybody this window.

All seems very bleak on the face of things and on the pitch yes, awful. Probably not what anybody wants to hear but there are a few alternative points of thinking:

~ Some other teams and arguably all those below us are in far more disarray.
~ We are still twelfth with game in hand on most
~ Every team suffers a 'slump' and this may well be ours now. Might as well tie in with our toughest run of games
~ We do have some real quality in there, certainly more than some others
~ The likelihood of us going down is actually still low, would take a real turn of events including both us staying in this poor form and other teams miraculously resurrecting.

As things stand, for all my good will, I cannot see us signing anybody to really help the team out or getting anything more than two points until March, I'd actually be grateful just for that but fact is you really just don't know. I fail to believe Parish and co. would stand absolutely still if this dismal run continues and things start to look genuinely perilous. I'd rather PV stay and we do well of course but if not I can see him going and we may revert to type.

Things seem to have taken a dismal turn since the hope and optimism of last year but that may just be the crash back to reality. I will remain a non-fan of the sceptics unless they start putting some money in and we get players off the back of that. My fear is that the financial plan for us was perhaps overestimated and now the powers that be are quietly backtracking on it. My only hope therefore is that we stay in the league, which I have faith (nothing more) we will, and see where we go from there.

COYP

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

I have chuckled a couple of times when I keep hearing about how much talent we have going forward, presumably referencing Zaha, Eze, Olise. I think they're just pundits who don't watch Palace and have seen Eze's goal against Sheffield United a couple of years ago. I honestly don't think I've ever known a Palace player who disappears like he does. I've seen games where he's picked up the ball after half an hour and it will be the first time I realised he was even playing.

OK, so here's my contradictory counter-argument to stick up for these chaps, because I honestly think they're great when at their best. I worry that if they're no good for us, then they'll leave and be good for someone else. Sometimes we are too slow to get the ball 'in there'. Primarily because there's no focal point, and evidently no definitive action plan for what they're actually trying to do. Because there's no obvious target, there's a tendency to pass to someone else when there's no benefit in doing so. Or in Wilf's case, take that extra touch that slows the play and allows the opposition to close the gap that was there for a split second. It's not like we have energetic players marauding forward to join the attack. In these moments we just don't have time for players to think about what they're trying to do.

Olise at his best makes things look so simple. He looks up and plays the simple pass. Wilf, at his age, looked incredible when he beat the same full back 3 times. Olise on form instantly gets the ball and seeks a shot or a cross at the earliest opportunity. Even today, there was a point when Wilf takes an extra touch when you just want him to play it into the box with the first touch. I'm not asking for hoof ball, or the days when plan A was 'Give It To Wilf', I just want the sense that there's a clear attacking strategy that everyone can implement.

We have flair in this team, but very little steel and virtually no energy in the engine room. What happened to the high press? Where has this energy gone? Are our tactics too exhausting (I very much doubt it) or is our fitness substandard? I think I'm right in saying we have used the fewest players this season. If that is the case, and evidently we are not investing, then those players need to be super fit. Is the fact that we basically have a squad of 16 players across 38 games the reason they're not running? Given the World Cup break, I don't believe they're tired. I'm worried the coaching is just a bit s***. We can't be better, we can't be more talented, but we can be fitter and more combative. Yet we just aren't.

The flair cannot flourish without a backbone. I suspect Eze would benefit with 2 industrious central midfielders either behind or alongside. He's never going to be the one to stick the boot in, and be a bit of an annoying s***, like Gallagher was in moments today. We need that. Desperately.

I mean, if we can get our running stats up, move the ball a bit quicker, get some full backs who enjoy getting involed.... that's not the worst attack in the world. Surely? Or am I just naive and biased?

Here's a little reminder of a time when we had dynamism and hope... [Link] I feel sorry for Doucouré, who has never met this version of ourselves.

I actually started a thread once with that title SNH!

All that talk of top half and Europe had me going for a while but I think we’re back there now!

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

In terms of Eze, it was said about 5 years ago when he was at QPR that he needed to add discipline and work rate to his game.Probably a couple of years later it was stated that when he is "On it" he is unplayable but the problem was that he is not always "On it".
He has the quality,can get past players with ease and score with either foot but at present he is just a 'Luxury player' drifting out of games and not contributing to the team.

Edited by Willo (15 Jan 2023 8.46pm)

I think the hope for Eze is occasionally he will do something, or a couple of things, that will win you any given game. Unfortunately, when he doesn’t, he seems to be occupying and nullifying a position where we could really do with another body on the pitch who’s actually contributing something.

Playing the relegation odds on with not much at stake - let him out there to cause havoc.

Playing a top team away when we’re in a bad patch - put someone in there who can handle and bring something to a tough fixture.

There’s been games where he’s been the difference for us however only a few can I remember where he’s looked to have put in a good ‘full 90’. The games he is notable by his absence far outnumber either.

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

Whichever way we look at it, we played our best 11 minus McArthur against the Chelsea B team and lost.

No Mendy, James, Chilwell, Fofana, Kante, Loftus-Cheek, Sterling, Felix, Pulisic...

We've not been done by a Champions League side, we've lost to a mid-table level of quality - Chelsea's recent results reflect that.

26th January 2010 - Enter Administration
2nd May 2010 - D-Day 1 - Survival at Hillsborough
1st June 2010 - D-Day 2 - Survival at Lloyds
7th June 2010 - CPFC2010 exchange contracts.