Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford FC - 18/03/2017

Spot on. I must have missed it at Norwich last season. I don't go to many away matches but was at that one too. But I did see it this time.

Booing isn't something I do myself. Sadness was all I did on Saturday really. But I do understand it. I'd agree that the booing wasn't really directed at the few players that had the bottle to come over and applaud us. It was really only directed at the one person who's never had the bottle to come over to us at all. I hope all the players understand that. It's too late for him now of course. If he did have the bottle to come over now then bottles would probably be thrown at him. Too much water under the bridge and too much time elapsed during which time he has made absolutely no effort to really engage with us whatsoever. Like some elitist, arrogant politician. Maybe he's related to Berlusconi. So f.ck off then. Gino Pozzo, if you're watching - just do the decent thing eh?

 

Come on, don't be coy - Mazzarri in or out?

 

How can he get match fit though if he only gets 10 minutes? More pertinently if he seriously cannot manage more than 10 minutes why isn't he playing for the U21 team to build up the fitness?

 

Firing Walt is only part of it
These players have now been petulant under a number of Head Coaches. Many of the those creating the toxic atmosphere need to be shown the door
Then we need to review our recruitment policy
Then the fans need to have patience

 

My heart bleeds for the little darlings on their tens of thousands of pounds a week.

 

I half agree but against Southampton he used his pace and skill to set up the equaliser. He makes things happen and defenders will not like facing him. He does make mistakes but no more than anybody else. Got to give him more than 10 minutes and to put Amrabat on before him was lunacy

 

Absolutely. ESPN have stats for fair play (three points for a red, one for a yellow) and comparing our ill discipline pre- and post-Pozzo is quite interesting:

2016/17 - 1st
2015/16 - 1st
2014/15 - 4th
2013/14 - 1st
2012/13 - 2nd

2011/12 - 11th
2010/11 - 24th
2009/10 - 20th
2008/09 - 24th

We've gone from being one of the best disciplined teams to one of the worst. Is this a symptom of our recruitment policy? It's been mentioned several times before but none of our players are exactly hard men, they just tend to commit petty fouls and mouth off at the officials. I wouldn't mind so much if we we picked up a lot of cards and were a nightmare to play against, but it seems to be more a case of collective mental weakness.

 

And our slow defence absolutely $hi**ing themselves at any sign of pace running at them like Zaha so have to resort to tripping and pushing and pulling them back.

 

Too much Walter under the bridge?

 

You can lead a horse to Walter and even the horse will think he stinks.

 

One of the worst games of football i've had the mis-pleasure of watching. No game-plan in the slightest, looks as if Wally and the players had been doing nothing for the 2 weeks prior and he named the team 10 mins before KO. It'll be interesting to see how many minutes Success gets for the Nigerian team on Thursday night...

 

Very interesting. Although Behrami does come across as 'well 'ard' sometimes. 'Arder then 'ighgrade anyway ...

 

My view is that our most mercenary players are the ones who show token appreciation of the fans, mostly ignoring us, pretty much always walking straight off the pitch every game regardless, who care more about their image of diamond earrings, designer ripped clothing, cars wrapped in sticky backed plastic, trendy beards and model girlfriends.

Football wise they think they are above tackling or tracking back and two games week never mind fan engagement.

As said by others, the few that actually came over aren't in that camp and didn't deserve (or expect) the bile that came their way.

 

My take on Saturday :-

1. We have no plan a - hoofing it up to Deeney as the lone striker doesn't work
2. We have no plan b
3. Where was the famed atmosphere at the ground ?
4. I loved the chant about the Palace fans wrecking their own coach. Quality.
5. Zaha was the best player on the pitch. By miles. And I detest him.
6. I'm not a huge fan of Berhami (he was going to be my boo-boy this season), but it looked as if we missed him badly when he didn't play in the 2nd half. Having said that, I thought Doucoure did okay when he came on.
7. Our mascot is a lot better than theirs.
8. I now believe that Walter should go as a result of 1. & 2. above.

 

Do you often find that you treat people differently based on how much money they earn?

 

You could also argue that the management hasn't been great - QSF was more interested in his mates and his own reflection and Walter seems to be insular and full of excuses.

Jokanovi* had problems with some players and got rid of them / broke them early on then led us to promotion. I just don't think QSF and Wally are great managers and their coaching entourages seem to leave something to be desired too.

 

Time to name names methinks.

 

Agree with nearly all of that especially number 4. That chant was absolute quality. Even the Palarse down at our end were 'aving a larff' about that one. Ha!

 

Nothing would give me greater pleasure then seeing the Joka back at the Vic. I'm almost creaming my pants at the thought of it ...

 

How did it go?

 

That chant? Very well. Not sure it was entirely original though ...

 

When Villa went down I was one wanting Adama Traore to come in. Very similar to Success in direct string running style taking on players and one of the few players who really stood out for Villa.

Watching Traore yesterday tear through Manu's defence over and over again made me sad that we didn't go for him. Then again, who knows what type of player he would have turned into with 6 months of playing for us.

 

You wrecked your own bus
You wrecked your own bus
You stupid w**kers,
You wrecked your own bus

 

Yeah. That was it ...

 

Hmm, I don't know how to gauge Traore. Under both Garde and Karanka, he made most of his appearances as a sub and from what I've got from Boro fans, he's one of those players whose feet go faster than his brain does. He could've just upped his game because he was on the telly against Man Utd. Alternatively, he could have been limited to these skills so far because he's played under defensive-minded (well, at least with Karanka anyways) coaches. That probably means he would still have been useless for us this season because Walter is more of a defensive coach than an attacking-minded coach.

 

A player who ups his game on TV - we could definitely do with him then just for the 8 games or so we're on as ours all disappear on TV.

The few times I've seen him, he's always been one of the stand out players.

 

It's hard to disagree that both Walter an Flores were/are bad coaches for us. Unfortunately they don't appear to be bad for anyone else ( apart from Inter). I really think the plyers are the problem.

 

Well when you put it like that.....

 

I sort of agree though I think the real issue is that we have too many similar sort of players here and theres no balance in the squad. I mean you look through our first team squad and we only have 2 fullbacks (who have missed more games through injury/suspension than they have played), one actual proper winger (whose been injured) and everyone else whose left is either a centerback, def midfielder or a striker. Thinking about it we have more goalkeepers than wide players.

 

Nope. We have a selection of players pretty much like anyone else. And we have a real maverick too. I do love a maverick. Only 20 y.o. But for some reason he's kept in cotton wool. I ain't seen a barnet like it since Jason Lee. So put him on the pitch at the beginning for effs sake Walter. In his various home cameos so far he's put the fear of god in the Manure and been instrumental in winning a late pen. He's scored a quite beautiful glancing header against the Muff. And he's come on against the Saints and created the equaliser all by himself. So just put the boy on the pitch Walter you tw.t and let the Rookery rise to his presence ...

 

Lol this forum never fails to amaze me.

He was in the squad 14 times, started 0 times, came on as a sub 10 times, he never got more than 33 minutes on the pitch in any single game. In fact he played a total of 186 minutes of Premier League football for Aston Villa

"Really stood out" did he? Hmmm.

 

You're doing a disservice to QSF as he wasn't a bad coach, he achieved something no other manager had achieved. His problem was he adopted a continental attitude once safety was pretty much achieved. In Italy and Spain the mentality for the small to mid size clubs once safety is secured is to go into auto pilot til the end of the season.

Unfortunately for QSF, he misjudged the Premier League, but to say he was a bad coach for us is unfair.

 

Do you not remember when he came on against us at Villa Park last season? He looked very dangerous and clearly had bags of potential.

Remember most fans around me after the game asking why he didnt come on earlier.

Doesnt matter how many minutes he got, he still stood out so no idea why that post 'amazed' you.

 

Been circulating around Twitter a bit:

https://twitter.com/wwawaydays/status/844310249725157381

 

I agree with this Squibba, but whenever I have seen (admittantly, only about 6 times) him he excites the crowd, he looks like he will do something, and seems to get those around him - going!

I'm at a loss, it is the same with ours, some coaches just do not like to see players that "excite", if they don't offer everything else, particularly defensively.

I'd rather see an exciting player in the expectation that he will produce a great chance every other match, than the likes of Capoue who rarely produces.

After all, a goal created is the same as a goal prevented.