Shoot was more my speed than Goal which I found a bit heavy going as a kid. Those league ladders were a real faff to sort out - never kept that up for more than a fortnight.

I'm in my mid-40s now, so based on your posts I'm maybe not exactly the same generation as you, but I have a vivid memory of the league ladders from Shoot circa 1989.

I've become fascinated by the way the human mind stores memories. Recently, and for the first time in my life, I have experienced the odd effect whereby a prompt (something someone says, an internet picture of something 'retro' that I used to have originally etc) instantly connects me to a memory I didn't know I had.

This happened a couple of years ago when I saw a picture of a Shoot league ladder. Suddenly, I was all but back there, standing in my childhood bedroom, pinning the ladder to the wall. I could see the little card for 'C.Palace', and re-live entirely the excitement of placing it next to ones that said 'Man.Utd' 'Arsenal' and 'Liverpool'. I mean I could actually feel the little card in my hand. I had just got my first season ticket with my Dad, having been to games on an ad-hoc basis up to then, and was still buzzing from the Blackburn game so it was an exciting time, but why on earth the mind preserves such fine details as these so deep down is beyond me.

I, like you, moved the little cards up and down the ladder for about a fortnight before deciding 'Feck this for a game of soldiers!' and giving up. I think I just put 'C.Palace' in 1st place, and waited for reality to catch up...

Returning to the question at hand, I said in the summer that I'd be very happy if we just stayed up, and that I didn't expect to see any real signs of our 'new' team gelling until towards the end of this season at the earliest. I stand by that. Eze is crucial but injured. Guehi, Olise and Rak-Sakhi are very young and inexperienced, but their development is crucial to our hopes, and even the experienced players will need time to develop their understanding of what seems a very different way of playing.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (01 Sep 2021 1.41pm)

I'd think we'll start seeing the best of the team, presuming all beds in well, around Christmas. Not later, but it could be sooner. While I do expect a few ups and downs over the next few games, I also think we might turn one or two bigger teams over if it all comes together on the day. The bottom line is that, unlike last season, we have a number of players who can do something different and win games and furthermore, we're now playing with purpose rather than to avoid defeat. If you give the big six the ball and invite them to beat you, 99% of the time they will. We may still lose to them, but I think we'll at least start giving some of the better teams a game.

I also think that by March or so, we won't be at the dog end of Match of the Day anymore. In fact, with Olise, Eze, Wilf, Gallagher, Edouard, and Benteke all firing, with a solid midfield anchored by Hughes, I think we might just become one of everyone's favourite second teams. We're likely to be entertaining, and it's a while since that was said about a Palace side. My guess is we'll be around 12th-15th at the start of November, but we'll go on a run in the New Year and finish very much on the up, at least in the Top Ten.

Next summer, though, will be a nightmare. If things follow the course above, we are going to get a lot of bids for our players from top clubs and Vieira is going to be in demand, not least by Arsenal. I also suspect Viera will throw the kitchen sink at the FA Cup. He's a winner and measures himself by silverware. My guess is that will be a priority after Christmas. It's a long time since we won anything :-)

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

That's already happened. WHUFC v CPFC

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

We now enter a pretty tricky set of fixtures for September which could be sparse points wise. But hopefully some positive performances.

Spurs
Liverpool

Can't expect too much out of those.

Brighton - time for a new recruit to make themselves a hero. Certainly a must not lose game for morale.

Hopefully we'll come out of those games still with a positive feeling in the squad and everyone still fit.

Leicester
Arsenal

These will be a real test of how we're doing as both possibilities of potential points

Newcastle in October will possibly be the first game we go into truly expecting something from the game so our performance in that may be a good guage of what's to come.

Edited by samprior (02 Sep 2021 4.36pm)

Edited by samprior (02 Sep 2021 4.37pm)

I'd love for you to be right, but my head still says what it said during the 'Roy In/Out' debate: very few teams our size survive in the Premier league playing open attacking football.

I think our recruitment has certainly delivered a more exciting squad, but my concern is that for Vieiras style to get the same points that Hodgsons did, the likes of Olise, Eze, Guehi and now edouard will all have to simultaneously hit performance levels that not only did their predecessors generally fail to attain, but which they themselves haven't ever delivered before. We've gone from a squad with a proven (if limited) track record to one based largely on the gamble of potential. Its more a case of hope than of expectation.