Wolves vs. Crystal Palace match thread

It was a clear opportunity whereby it's just him, the ball, the keeper, and with time and space enough to make a decision, and therein lies the problem, he's good at the instinctive stuff but with a bit of time on his hands he lacks the composure to do what, ostensibly, he's there to do.
If he was great at everything, he wouldn't be playing for us
 
This is becoming ridiculous.

Having supported the club for over half a century all this 'winning,' nonsense is just getting tedious.

What was wrong with years of underachieving, grasping and enjoying the odd crumb of success, swapping war stories about away games at Grimsby in rain.

We are just getting too big for our boots. Trophy's international players that play for the bigger nations we have actually heard of and European football on a Thursday no less.

What was wrong with those old values we held so preciously?
Totally agree I'm starting to think we are a good team , is it 27 , 28 games 3 losses 2 trophies and a squad full of internationals its just not right ,
getting people saying how good we are , kills all my conversations about football and palace , not happy 😢😢
 
Yes, bits of it as streaming allowed.
Clinton Morrison on Sky said the first half was the worst he'd seen in the Premier League and was scathing of Mateta's miss, and none too complimentary about Sarr either.
It was notable that our two goals came from 'non strikers'
So, you didn't see all the game, which we won, but decide to criticise! Pino plays as a forward, you think he is a non striker.
 
Yes, all well and good. We have a player, Wharton, who is capable of threading a defence splitting pass in behind for an attacker to run onto, in this case it's either Sarr or Mateta. In Mateta's case finishing from this position is one area where he can improve, I doubt anyone can disagree. All the other stuff he does is fine and an asset to the team.
Without wishing to be awkward, I'm not sure it's a skill that can be coached or that Mateta can necessarily improve upon.
You either have it, or you don't.
Michael Owen was a fabulous one on one finisher at 18 years old, it was instictive.
Mateta will continue to be a good goalscorer, but I don't see him excelling at one on ones with opposing golkeepers.

It's a bit like Wharton with some saying he'll be guaranteed an England start when he gets his shooting boots on.
He's a brilliant passer of the ball, but that doesn't necessarily equate to being a great striker of the ball i.e head down, knee over the ball with the ball struck with pace and power like an arrow.
As others have observed he plays with his head up and tends to drag the ball when shooting.
It's not a criticism, he more than makes up for it with his other attributes.
 
they still know how to score. Unlike many of our previous strikers.
Agree with several of the comments defending Mateta. I understand the criticism but I don’t agree with it.

I don’t see many of our former strikers scoring more, in the sides they were in or even in this team, with this good service.

Yea Wharton and Yeremy put him through but it was a very well timed run too. He’s not the best finisher at the club (Eddie, Sarr and even Munoz spring to mind) but he gets/creates more chances than most strikers (Andy Cole was similar in this respect).

He also gives a lot more than just goals, I don’t think Sarr would be as effective without him and I actually think he helps Eddie. If you’ve physically gone to battle with JP for 60 minutes it will affect your ability to mark Nketiah.

We have a striker who plays and scores for France, hope he signs a new contract.
 
Why are people moaning about our striker when we are lucky to have him! Lucky if he extends his contract. He's much more than just a goalscorer anyway....real quality up front.

For feck's sake it's not like we can afford Messi is it.

Totally unrealistic.....Strikers will miss chances.....I've seen the best miss howlers and keepers have a right to make chances difficult.

Be happy we are where we are in the league.

I think JPM is suffering as the result of a raised-bar, something we’re in uncharted waters with as Palace fans.

Might do well for some of us to bear in mind it was him that raised the bar in the first place.
 
I love JPM, he plays like a fan would, loads of effort and always winding the crowd up/getting them going.
Ability wise, I’ve always thought he plays like he’s wearing roller skates, but he’s a big strong f**ker and this has taken him to being a guaranteed starter for a good premier league team /fa cup holders and got him caps for France.
He is shocking at one on ones, soo bad. When he goes through I just continue chatting to my mate next to me and expect him to miss ( was the same with Benteke), but for everything else he brings , I can forgive him for it.
It’s a great partnership , JPM and Palace. I can see him failing if he went elsewhere, him and us just works.
Love him , but if there’s an opening for a through ball for a one on one, it needs to be played through to Sarr.
 
At 60 minutes I was thinking we're in real danger of blowing this game and giving Edwards his 4th 1-0 win in his four starts as a football manager. We were the better team in the 1st half but Wolves came out 2nd half and started to grow in confidence as we kept misplacing passes and losing the ball unnecessarily...and then Munoz to the rescue and Yeremy putting icing on the cake and we were generally back in control (bar their horrendous miss from 2 yards).

How quickly a game can change.
 
I love JPM, he plays like a fan would, loads of effort and always winding the crowd up/getting them going.
Ability wise, I’ve always thought he plays like he’s wearing roller skates, but he’s a big strong f**ker and this has taken him to being a guaranteed starter for a good premier league team /fa cup holders and got him caps for France.
He is shocking at one on ones, soo bad. When he goes through I just continue chatting to my mate next to me and expect him to miss ( was the same with Benteke), but for everything else he brings , I can forgive him for it.
It’s a great partnership , JPM and Palace. I can see him failing if he went elsewhere, him and us just works.
Love him , but if there’s an opening for a through ball for a one on one, it needs to be played through to Sarr.

Agree. I also find the less time JPM has to think the better he is. Too much time and he just over thinks it. I will have to go back over his goal reels now.
 
I note there's a bit of criticism creeping in for Mateta on these boards.
Personally I didn't think his chance today was a sitter.
The keeper did well and came out and narrowed the angle.
I've just watched Haaland miss a one on one v Newcastle and £65 million Woltenmade miss a hat trick in the same game.
I recall Nketiah missing a few last season where he has hit the ball straight at the keeper.
The fact is there are not that many clinical finishers around.
The last assured one on one finishers I've seen in our league are Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler, with their so called ice running through their veins.
Kane, Aguero, Henry, Defoe and Haaland all have been great goalscorers, but they still missed their fair share of chances.
Mateta has arguably been our best goalscorer at this level and I think deserves the benefit of the doubt.
I would also like to add to that, Matetas’ hold up play is an integral part of our success. Yes I get frustrated with the amount of chances he misses but I can not currently think of many strikers I would put in front of him in this formation. His forward runs and strength in linking play is brilliant.
Just my opinion of course!
 
We all love Mateta and know he can be absolutely ruthless in front of goal and I don't think it's digging him out to say he has missed a lot of big chances this season. He's still high in the PL scorer charts but genuinely could, and probably should, have had 3-4 more.

I think he's tired and once he gets his eye in will still score a hatful this season. And even missing chances, he must be a nightmare to play against.

If I'm going to be really critical of a player (after a win as well), I genuinely don't know how Devenny keeps getting minutes, even as a late sub. He's one of these players who must perform a function that pleases the manager which I'm not sophisticated enough to understand as I really don't know what he brings and can't see how he's up to the standard at all.
 

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