Crystal Palace vs. Brighton match thread

[silvertop]

Indeed.
We do have physicality with our centre backs, but any absence of Mateta (and Sarr on Afcon duty) could lead to a team selection including Nketiah, Pino, Kamada, Hughes and Wharton - none of them giants - and would lead us to be vulnerable to set pieces.
Lerma may well have a role in such circumstances.

Glasner has said one in every three goals comes from a set piece.

It's evident this season that clubs in the Premier League are placing far more emphasis on set pieces, and both Mateta and Sarr have important roles in defending them, so their absence could hurt us defensively as well as offensively.

Fingers crossed, Mateta stays fit and Senegal gets knocked out!

We are. One of the highest last season. Our style sees a surrender of possession and % drop in goals in open play.

Strangely, Sunday apart, that does not translate to duller football.

 

[PatrickA]

It's a credit to Glasner that he's been able to keep us so competitive with the loss of Champions League class players in Olise and Eze.

We're hard to beat, but I'm sure we would have turned some of those draws into wins this season with Olise and Eze or their equivalents.

Over a season Olise and Eze between them may well have contributed 30 goals and assists minimum.

That's a lot to make up.

Sarr looks to be on the way to making some of the shortfall, but Glasner said he could miss up to 8 games on Afcon.

Unless we strenghten in January we may well see a drop off in results.

 

[The Dolphin]

I do like a debate, but saying that you never want him to play for your club again is a little OTT dont you think?

Fair point 😇.
He seems like a fish out of water more often than not though.
Anyway, OG is in charge and is doing an amazing job so I will suck it up.

 

[Palacesince64]

Henderson had very little to do but did it with his usual brilliance. The 3 central defenders were awesome. Canvot pretty close to being MOTM were it not for Mitchell who nullified their wing back despite Brighton repeatedly going down that side. In addition Mitchell was a steadying influence on Canvot such that he now looks a great fit for Guehi’s place rather than backup for Richards. Munoz had to defend more than normal so carried less of an attacking threat. Wharton is a level above but looked a little below par understandably considering his recent illness. Lerma had his best game in a while. Sarr was our best chance of a goal and increasingly looks a bargain. Kamada is possessed of more footballing intelligence than any player in our side (and some of the posters on here too!). JP was disappointing and not for the first time.
The subs did ok but should have been on earlier.

 

[ASCPFC]

Henderson had very little to do but did it with his usual brilliance. The 3 central defenders were awesome. Canvot pretty close to being MOTM were it not for Mitchell who nullified their wing back despite Brighton repeatedly going down that side. In addition Mitchell was a steadying influence on Canvot such that he now looks a great fit for Guehi’s place rather than backup for Richards. Munoz had to defend more than normal so carried less of an attacking threat. Wharton is a level above but looked a little below par understandably considering his recent illness. Lerma had his best game in a while. Sarr was our best chance of a goal and increasingly looks a bargain. Kamada is possessed of more footballing intelligence than any player in our side (and some of the posters on here too!). JP was disappointing and not for the first time.
The subs did ok but should have been on earlier.

Indeed, no one has everything. Kamada works hard and takes up the right position in transition in particular. He lacks wide ranging passing and composure in front of goal but you can't have everything. He lacks a bit of pace but does have a bit of an edge on occasion. He's cute enough to go down.

Personally, I went crazy, however, with the two chances he absolutely murdered. Really did shout out loud. But these things happen. I didn't go as mad at Mateta's misses - for example, so Kamada is perhaps being judged unfairly. Likely for his poor start more than anything else. Mateta has fan credit in the bank. Kamada growing on people perhaps.

 

[park the bus]

Henderson had very little to do but did it with his usual brilliance. The 3 central defenders were awesome. Canvot pretty close to being MOTM were it not for Mitchell who nullified their wing back despite Brighton repeatedly going down that side. In addition Mitchell was a steadying influence on Canvot such that he now looks a great fit for Guehi’s place rather than backup for Richards. Munoz had to defend more than normal so carried less of an attacking threat. Wharton is a level above but looked a little below par understandably considering his recent illness. Lerma had his best game in a while. Sarr was our best chance of a goal and increasingly looks a bargain. Kamada is possessed of more footballing intelligence than any player in our side (and some of the posters on here too!). JP was disappointing and not for the first time.
The subs did ok but should have been on earlier.

Shhh, keep it under your hat! This is a key to disrupting Glasner's system, make Munoz defend and not get forward, where he provides a crucial link to attacking play. Notably we created little as other players don't get into forward positions - when this happens it can resemble Hodgson's approach to the game. I think too much is expected of Mateta, he plays all the time and could do with a rest.

 

[Spindle]

Warton was significantly worse than Kamada against Brighton. Yet Kamada is the one that gets dug out.

Says a lot about your footballing knowledge that you think that. Wharton made more mistakes in this game than he's ever made, caught twice and a blocked delivery, but he still delivered more in the game than Kamada. I daren't mention the errors I can recall from Kamada because I'l be accused of hating the guy.

 

[Spindle]

Isn't it strange how Palace fans have voted Kamada as our Player of the month for both September and October? That suggests he's been our most consistent player this season otherwise why have so many fans voted for him in two of the three months? BTW I wasn't one of them but i do agree with those who accuse some on here of jumping on Kamada's back when he has a poor game. As you say, let's hope Sunday was just a blip and Kamada is back to his more consistent self against Wolves (assuming he plays).

It's because he was poor and people got onto him, but that's given him some weird fanbois club who wil defend him now out of some weird loyalty. We had the same with Max Meyer who wasn't up to it if you recall, and sometimes we get the opposite, usually centre forwards, the hardest position on the pitch.

So yeah, they'll vote for him I'm sure. He has played pretty well recently but player of the month two months running? You seriously think he's been that? Don't make me laugh.

 

[Spindle]

I know some people hate this kind of stuff, but I find it interesting - a statistical comparison of the 4 central midfielders, based on last season's league games only;

Forward Passes per 90 Mins:
1. Wharton - 7.33
2. Kamada - 5.11
3. Lerma - 3.83
4. Hughes - 3.72

Progressive Dribbles per 90 Mins:
1. Kamada - 1.44
2. Wharton - 0.96
3. Hughes - 0.85
4. Lerma - 0.51

Forward Passes Received per 90 Mins:
1. Kamada - 3.22
2. Hughes - 1.15
3. Lerma - 1.03
4. Wharton - 0.75

Pass Completion:
1. Kamada - 80%
2. Hughes - 76%
3. Wharton - 75.6%
4. Lerma - 75.3%

Tackles per 90 Mins:
1. Hughes - 2.82
2. Kamada - 2.70
3. Wharton - 2.33
4. Lerma - 1.38

Interesting that Kamada is in the top two across all categories.

Forward passes RECEIVED and take ons. He's playing further forward, of course he's received the ball more.

 

[Willo]

Shhh, keep it under your hat! This is a key to disrupting Glasner's system, make Munoz defend and not get forward, where he provides a crucial link to attacking play. Notably we created little as other players don't get into forward positions - when this happens it can resemble Hodgson's approach to the game. I think too much is expected of Mateta, he plays all the time and could do with a rest.

Mateta has only scored 1 goal in his last 6 games and I agree he would benefit from a rest. Nketiah is injured and we don't possess another No 9 with similar physical attributes as Mateta which I believe would be beneficial to us.

 

[park the bus]

Forward passes RECEIVED and take ons. He's playing further forward, of course he's received the ball more.

My frustration with Kamada is that for a player who does receive the ball in forward areas he doesn't have much of a shot on him to test the keeper. It would be useful to see him chip in with the goal tally but thus far nothing to get excited by. Other aspects of his game I'm quite happy with.

 

[ASCPFC]

Mateta has only scored 1 goal in his last 6 games and I agree he would benefit from a rest. Nketiah is injured and we don't possess another No 9 with similar physical attributes as Mateta which I believe would be beneficial to us.

I meant to ask when Nketiah is due back? We could do with him.

 

[Casual]

You can have Munoz as part defender part attacker, but Mitchell is stronging it a bit.

3 big strong center backs that rarely lose a defensive header, Gabrielle will probably out score all of them put together.
4/5 a piece would do.

Munoz and Mitchell are part of the attacking unit - Munoz has 5 goals

/ 11 assists across 64 PL appearances, which is more comparable to a winger than a full back.

Mitchell had never managed a goal or more than 2 assists in a season before Glasner, but managed 5 last season.

I don't think the two deeper midfielders are really part of the attacking unit - when was the last time any of them scored a goal..? It's not coincidence that none of the four options we play in those roles are scoring goals.

Wharton alluded to it in a recent interview in The Athletic:

Contrary to the view in certain quarters, contributing a greater volume of goals and assists is not something Wharton is concerned about.

"Our system impacts that," he says. "I'm not really going to be making runs forward within the system we play."

 

[park the bus]

Mateta has only scored 1 goal in his last 6 games and I agree he would benefit from a rest. Nketiah is injured and we don't possess another No 9 with similar physical attributes as Mateta which I believe would be beneficial to us.

Having all our striking eggs in the proverbial one basket will prove problematical given injuries and the number of extra games.

 

[sprites]

Henderson had very little to do but did it with his usual brilliance. The 3 central defenders were awesome. Canvot pretty close to being MOTM were it not for Mitchell who nullified their wing back despite Brighton repeatedly going down that side. In addition Mitchell was a steadying influence on Canvot such that he now looks a great fit for Guehi’s place rather than backup for Richards. Munoz had to defend more than normal so carried less of an attacking threat. Wharton is a level above but looked a little below par understandably considering his recent illness. Lerma had his best game in a while. Sarr was our best chance of a goal and increasingly looks a bargain. Kamada is possessed of more footballing intelligence than any player in our side (and some of the posters on here too!). JP was disappointing and not for the first time.
The subs did ok but should have been on earlier.

🤣Daichi has more footballing intelligence than Wharton & Guehi? Lol, now I really have heard it all.

 

[CPFCSaturn]

You can have Munoz as part defender part attacker, but Mitchell is stronging it a bit.

3 big strong center backs that rarely lose a defensive header, Gabrielle will probably out score all of them put together.
4/5 a piece would do.

In terms of how we build up in possession and look to create chances, Munoz and Mitchell are clearly part of the 'attack', and end up in positions to score/assist far more often than our midfielders do, as evidenced by their output - that was my point.

Scoring from set-pieces is completely separate.

 

[CPFCSaturn]

Forward passes RECEIVED and take ons. He's playing further forward, of course he's received the ball more.

He generally plays the same role as the other 3.

I think the passes received stat in particular speaks more to the fact that a) he's better at finding space and making himself available to receive and b) his teammates trust him to receive in tighter areas.

 

[silvertop]

I meant to ask when Nketiah is due back? We could do with him.

After the international break along with Cardines, Guehi, Riad and Doucoure if you can believe that.

 

[PatrickA]

I was listening to a Palace podcast last night where it was pointed out that Kamada has no goals and one assist in 43 League appearances for Palace, and that Devenny has one goal and perhaps one or two assists in his League appearances.

The piece wasn't critical of them as players but was pointing out that at best they will 'do a job' when pressed into a front 3 role.
They are midfielders pressed into action further forward and will work hard and keep the shape, but that's about it.
They are not equipped to carry a sustained threat to the opposition (e.g the way Olise and Eze did when played in similar positions).

If Esse and Uche are not perceived to be the answer at present, and the evidence suggests that this is the case, we have to invest in January if we want to progress and turn draws into wins.

There's a demanding schedule ahead and Glasner wants to compete in every tournament without fielding shadow teams. He said if you do that, you may as well not be in the competition in the first place.
Personally I like this approach which encourages the highest possible standards with clear objectives.

 

[Palacesince64]

🤣Daichi has more footballing intelligence than Wharton & Guehi? Lol, now I really have heard it all.

I rest my case! 😉