Crystal Palace vs. Manchester City match thread

There's not much to learn from this. City will end up in the top 4, and we won't know anything about Palace for another 5-6 matches at least. If we lose Mateta, Sarr or Munoz, it will take even longer to determine our celing and floor.
 
All the goals were avoidable and caused by basic mistakes like giving the ball way, not jumping.
It's ok playing some decent football, but you have to get the basics right in both areas.
And the question remains where the goals are coming from without the contributions of Sarr, Mateta and Munoz.
Very much my take on tonight's match and the previous opener at Everton.

Individual errors and a lack of cohesion in the team are showing us up. We have a lot of new faces in the dressing room and I think Khalaili, Mingueza and Gozo will prove to be decent signings.

That said, Sage has his work cut out for sure with an inexperienced, rudderless looking team and I hope he is up to it.
 
We put on an American teenager with about 40 games under his belt in the US to make a difference against Man City. If that doesn't scream desperation I don't know what does.

We're a different side without Sarr. He doesn't do it every game, but he does it often enough. If he doesn't play, we've got nothing up top.

Far, far too lightweight. Anyone could tell last season JSL doesn't have the strength of Mateta.

Zero leadership. You can't take out Guehi and Lacroix and not replace them with a vocal leader at the back. It's obvious to everyone that the team is looking around for other players to say something and take responsibility.

The "we've had a great window" crowd have disappeared suddenly. Hobbs is clueless. Sage has walked into a mess. This is looking like a desperate season already.
 
There's not much to learn from this. City will end up in the top 4, and we won't know anything about Palace for another 5-6 matches at least. If we lose Mateta, Sarr or Munoz, it will take even longer to determine our celing and floor.
There a lot to learn ie our defense
 
But didn't Sage play this system at Lens? Or at least the 343 formation, anyway. I thought that was part of why the club liked him.

He will absolutely carry the can if we aren't clear of the drop zone come Xmas, deservedly or not.
Xmas will be far too late. Ipswich at home already looks like a massive game for Sage’s future. We will lose at Fulham. Lose at home to Ipswich and I think we may have to pull the trigger harsh as that is
 
I thought Khalaili looked decent but our 3 centre backs were all over the place and couldn’t tackle a paper bag. The subs were no better. Up front we have 2 championship standard strikers. Nketiah and Strand-Larsen are too lightweight for the PL. I hate to admit it but it’s time to play with a back four and give Kamada and Wharton some help in midfield. Given that our only other striker couldn’t hit a cow on the a*se with a banjo we desperately need a goal scorer to play alongside Sarr once his “injury” gets better on Wednesday.
 
Well…not really sure what to say after that performance.

We need a manager with passion, tactical knowledge and personality - so far, Sage has not demonstrated these. Parish / you have made a HUGE mistake 🙈🙈🙈

I’m not panicking, just incredibly disappointed - that performance was AWFUL.

The second half was a complete joke - city passed us off the park!

I don’t want to complain about our players, but they seem clueless. Richards was one of the best CB, and tonight was awful.

And to cap it off - was watching Muñoz smiling and joking - he is definitely leaving us!
 
I thought Khalaili looked decent but our 3 centre backs were all over the place and couldn’t tackle a paper bag. The subs were no better. Up front we have 2 championship standard strikers. Nketiah and Strand-Larsen are too lightweight for the PL. I hate to admit it but it’s time to play with a back four and give Kamada and Wharton some help in midfield. Given that our only other striker couldn’t hit a cow on the a*se with a banjo we desperately need a goal scorer to play alongside Sarr once his “injury” gets better on Wednesday.
It’s been time to play with a back four since Xmas last year.
 
Don’t know why people start on Sage, at this point . Our best defender has gone, and didn’t it show tonight. No quality replacement. The two players that provide our main goal threat are coming the old acid and not available to him. Looking at our subs nothing changes, they don’t improve anything. And just to make it a little awkward for him the opposition was mega money Man Cty.
Bright light Nketia had his best game for us didn’t score but unlike some around him was really up for it. And the new boy at right wingback looked decent.
A second half performance full of individuals making basic mistakes and just not competitive enough.
 
Whilst every other team is pretty much abandoning playing out from the back we decide to do it on steroids!!

there were some good things tonight but we gave it away so often and were far too open against a top team!!
 
Don’t know why people start on Sage, at this point . Our best defender has gone, and didn’t it show tonight. No quality replacement. The two players that provide our main goal threat are coming the old acid and not available to him. Looking at our subs nothing changes, they don’t improve anything. And just to make it a little awkward for him the opposition was mega money Man Cty.
Bright light Nketia had his best game for us didn’t score but unlike some around him was really up for it. And the new boy at right wingback looked decent.
A second half performance full of individuals making basic mistakes and just not competitive enough.
I have nothing against Sage but given things are an absolute sh*t show I don’t know he’s the right person. This feels like a “get Roy on speed dial” situation. In this case Dyche. It won’t be pretty or inspiring and we can give up on Europe already but we are going to need somebody to grind out 36 points, not a manager brand new to the Premier Legaue and who has never been in this position
 
It's early and there's injuries and it's City etc. etc. but I'm still walking away feeling worried.

I'm not sure that is that good a City side yet, but I think that's the easiest game they've had at Selhurst in a long time. We look easy to play against.
 
Obvious since the Como Cup warm up games that Sage is still figuring out his best starting 11 = not easy with players leaving, gossip, supposed injuries, and new faces learning their respective roles. It's not Sage's fault, his task is difficult enough as it is, knocking a rag-tag disparate squad into a competitive force in the space of a month.
Looking across the squad, there's a lot of mediocre filler and quite frankly this team will struggle.
 

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