Crystal Palace vs Newcastle match thread

[MrRobbo]

Back on topic of yesterday's game ; if we thought we had problems they are nothing compared to Newcastle's. The expectation level at that club is really high and Howe and his players are falling well short in meeting it. He's looking increasingly like the Eddie Howe immediately pre Bournemouth's relegation - can't find solutions to their problems.

As for Palace, I've written off Johnson for this season anyway. Hopefully a pre season under the new manager can turn him around. But I'm getting negative vibes about JSL. After a decent start with those goals against Burnley, he's not done much since. When Mateta replaced him yesterday I thought his performance highlighted all of JSL's shortcomings. Again, my hope is that he offers more next season under a new regime.

That was a welcome win. Any nagging doubts about being caught by Forest, West Ham or Spurs are now dispelled. The subs made a huge difference. I thought we were drifting towards a lame 0-1 defeat up until then.

He wasn't great, but to be fair to JSL, he had a midfield of Hughes and Lerma.

JPM got Wharton, Sarr and Kamada to help

 

[Teddy Eagle]

If people are expecting Larsen to be another Mateta type centre forward they are likely to be disappointed.
There only similarity is that they play in the same position.
Larsen is not a physically imposing or dominant centre forward.
He rarely wins duels with opposing centre backs.
He can link play , but usually when in space and unchallenged.
I think the key for him is a reliable early stream of passes and crosses into the box for him to finish.
As we don't play that way under Glasner I'm not confident that we will see a dramatic uptick in form from him this season.

Their differences are not necessarily a bad thing though: if one doesn't work in a game the other might.
Scrabbling for positives if Nketiah is ever fit he might benefit more from playing with/off Larsen than he has with JPM - not in Ollie's system but maybe in the future.

 

[NEILLO]

He wasn't great, but to be fair to JSL, he had a midfield of Hughes and Lerma.

JPM got Wharton, Sarr and Kamada to help

That's true, but the parts to his own game such as winning the ball in the air, keeping hold of the ball etc., weren't up to scratch.

And that doesn't apply to just yesterdays game.

Another player that I hope will come good, but when you pay £48m for a player I think you have a right to expect more than we've seen to date

 

[Runningman]

The referee cautioned Ramsdale.

Appreciate that Willo. But the booking didn't help Palace, there were no real consequences for the game actually being played.

 

[BromleyMonkey]

That's true, but the parts to his own game such as winning the ball in the air, keeping hold of the ball etc., weren't up to scratch.

And that doesn't apply to just yesterdays game.

Another player that I hope will come good, but when you pay £48m for a player I think you have a right to expect more than we've seen to date

We commented on that as the game was going on before he got hauled off, he had a poor game, I like him because he’s committed, but £48 million?? I just hope it doesn’t start to weigh heavy as we expect too much from him.

 

[ASCPFC]

That's true, but the parts to his own game such as winning the ball in the air, keeping hold of the ball etc., weren't up to scratch.

And that doesn't apply to just yesterdays game.

Another player that I hope will come good, but when you pay £48m for a player I think you have a right to expect more than we've seen to date

What worried me was that it was pretty obvious what we were getting for the price but still paid it.
Johnson is slightly different. Until this season you might have put Johnson in the top ten in the league. Now, unfortunately, not but it is somewhat understandable.
We left the Mateta situation too late and had to get a striker. We could have toughed out negotiations with players abroad until the deadline but I can understand why we had to get someone. We also maybe thought it would be off set by Mateta - which demonstrates the uncertainty unless you buy and sell early. Which we should have insisted on, in fairness. Hindsight in many ways but it's not really with us as we seem to have at least two transfer farces every season and still not learn.

 

[palace99]

What worried me was that it was pretty obvious what we were getting for the price but still paid it.
Johnson is slightly different. Until this season you might have put Johnson in the top ten in the league. Now, unfortunately, not but it is somewhat understandable.
We left the Mateta situation too late and had to get a striker. We could have toughed out negotiations with players abroad until the deadline but I can understand why we had to get someone. We also maybe thought it would be off set by Mateta - which demonstrates the uncertainty unless you buy and sell early. Which we should have insisted on, in fairness. Hindsight in many ways but it's not really with us as we seem to have at least two transfer farces every season and still not learn.

good point. Larsen struggled a bit last season (no issue there, a poor team, quite young and new to the English game and Prem league) but after xmas scored a few mainly against lesser teams - Ipswich, Southampton, us etc.
That gave his stats a slightly inflated view.

I noticed last season despite being 6 ft 4 he wasn't great with his head (similar to Mateta) and rarely scored headers (his header v Palace in May very much the exception).
Also rather than a traditional No 9 he preferred to run the channels and looked quite fast.

Whether you like Mateta or not he is a focal point to our attack and keeps defenders occupied. He made a big difference when he came on yesterday.

There is a decent player in Larsen, probably worth £30m at today's inflated prices.
However, not sure he is suited to the current formation and needs players around him

 

[est1905]

That's true, but the parts to his own game such as winning the ball in the air, keeping hold of the ball etc., weren't up to scratch.

And that doesn't apply to just yesterdays game.

Another player that I hope will come good, but when you pay £48m for a player I think you have a right to expect more than we've seen to date

I think he'll be a success at Palace in the long term. He didn't have a great game yesterday but as mentioned the players alongside him were hardly playing to his strengths. Notice how dangerous his runs are when Wharton is behind him.