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Tuesday, April 01, 12:28:33am [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

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Date Posted: Sunday, February 23, 05:43:08pm
Author: eganonoa
Author Host/IP: pool-108-18-149-21.washdc.fios.verizon.net / 108.18.149.21
Subject: Standard Blueprint Against Us Applied

Not sure of all the hand-wringing below, especially this business about the game being proof that our summer signings we all wrong; that we shouldn't have signed Andersen (because we had Diop), or Berge (because we had Lukic).

I find that quite bizarre. We play with two in each position and in losing Tosin we needed to sign another long-passing defender strong in the air, which we did with Andersen. And Berge has proven a more than capable replacement for Palhinha allowing, for instance, Lukic to play so well in the more advanced role that he did against Forest last week. And if the argument is that we should be signing younger players, while that might be justified from an economic standpoint (the mystical 60m+ player), youth doesn't typically bring you more consistency, and its the consistency that we lack.

The truth is yesterday was quite predictable and widely predicted. Palace did the exact thing that we've seen done numerous times this season, especially at the beginning of it. They slowed the game down to a crawl (that Eze moment with Andersen the absolute pick), frustrated us with space, and held on until they could nick one either from a set-piece (as yesterday and many others) or a ball over the top (like vs Wolves). It's our blind spot. We need chaos, the ball pinging around, little half-spaces opening up, and we lose our cool if, after 20 minutes or so, we're still banging our heads against the brick wall.

I'm not sure what the solution to this is. Not having the players that thrive operating in tight spaces like Nelson and Wilson and a bit of burnout from Iwobi is the likely main cause. Leno has clearly had a drop-off and this season we rank right at the bottom of the league in terms of expected goals conceded vs actual goals conceded, which is not good (his first season we were right up the table on that one). And there's probably something about Marco's overall style that means he's not quite as reactive as he might need to be in these types of matches. But the one thing I am sure of is that yesterday wasn't the fault of Andersen or Berge or our summer signings as a whole.

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