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Review of the season so far!

Fuckin horrendous in all it's parts.
Maybe a dose of relegation will straighten Parish up a bit and make him realise what a poor performance he's put in on the transfer market for starters.
Glasnr needs to be far more flexible in his formations and change his style to suit the fit players he has.
Then of course it's up to those players to put a decent effort in to actually win a few fuckin games.
The support as usual from ourselves has been outstanding.
 
syd snot said:
Fuckin horrendous in all it's parts.
Maybe a dose of relegation will straighten Parish up a bit and make him realise what a poor performance he's put in on the transfer market for starters.
Glasnr needs to be far more flexible in his formations and change his style to suit the fit players he has.
Then of course it's up to those players to put a decent effort in to actually win a few fuckin games.
The support as usual from ourselves has been outstanding.
Click to expand...
A dose of relegation will mean we lose every last good player we have. Eze, Guehi, Wharton, Mateta, Doucore, Munoz would definitely be off. I imagine Lerma, Lacroix, Henderson, Riad would be looking to leave and have takers, if not here then abroad. Nketiah and Sarr would also probably want out but I don’t see anyone wanting them. So we’d be left with having the likes of Ozoh anchoring midfield having to build a whole new attack and maybe loaning players but not of the Conor Gallagher standard, think the Edouard standard.
 
JHB said:
A dose of relegation will mean we lose every last good player we have. Eze, Guehi, Wharton, Mateta, Doucore, Munoz would definitely be off. I imagine Lerma, Lacroix, Henderson, Riad would be looking to leave and have takers, if not here then abroad. Nketiah and Sarr would also probably want out but I don’t see anyone wanting them. So we’d be left with having the likes of Ozoh anchoring midfield having to build a whole new attack and maybe loaning players but not of the Conor Gallagher standard, think the Edouard standard.
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Review of the season so far, oh that's a tricky one !
Despite having proper funds to use after the sad but obvious departure of Olise, it was as usual an underwhelming Summer window, with the attacking signings being so far very underwhelming & Kamada, well let's not start. Added to that the annual 'let's loan out too many players so that when we have injuries we will have left ourselves too thin', leaving one striker and Nketiah, meaning we have a complete lack of forward options as witnessed by yesterday. As well as the poor decisions to sell Anderson and Ayew so close to the start of the season, again we are down among the dead men and in a relegation battle before the end of November, with most of the comparable sized clubs continuing to progress far better.
How many years at this level ?? Where's the progress or encouragement ? Oh forgive me, we have Parish, a man who doesn't do progress & every season complacently relies on there being 3 worse sides whilst spinning 'pie in the sky' plans to increase the capacity.
 
It's been a very interesting read on this thread and the one thing that seems ominous is that nearly every person that has commented is under the same impression that this season could be a season too far.... And sadly I have to agree with the majority.

Olise was irreplaceable in my opinion. A huge loss but inevitable. You only have to look at how he's slipped in at Bayern like he's been playing at that level for years.
I didn't think we would miss Anderson as much as we have and we certainly let the wrong goalkeeper go.

So the replacements... Well Kamada is just nowhere near competent enough to be playing in this league. The pace and physicality of it is too much for him and his inability to keep possession is truly frightening.

Lacroix has certainly grown on me I'll admit and looks like he's now finding his feet.

Chalobah is technically very talented you can tell but he does seem to have a big mistake in him. Reminds me very much of Sakho.

As for Nketiah I just cannot see why we've parted with £20/£25m for him. He wasn't particularly good at Arsenal. I have 3 or 4 Arsenal supporting mates who go regularly and they all used the same word for him of 'useless'. As Neillo pointed out in his post earlier I don't think Nketiah was a Glasner signing.

The signs aren't good and we are in danger of being left behind. I wouldn't be as worried if signs were there that we're playing well but that really isn't the case.
We have a left back who knows he's going to play week in, week out because he's had no competition for his place for 2 seasons. The same old substitution of Schlupp coming on every game as well.
Glasner clearly aired his disappointment a few weeks back when he mentioned that bringing everyone in in the last couple of days of the transfer window is not ideal and he's absolutely right. Poor decisions by the board.

I think we're in big trouble. Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, Forest have all come up and made the transition to being a well run, semi successful club pretty well...

We are in our 11th season I think in The Prem and are still using the 'there's three worse teams than us' mantra to get by.. That attitude will always catch up with you in the end and I think this could be the season where it does.
 
Some very valid points. Just as things started to look a little more promising we suffer an injury crisis and can barely field a side. We've gone into the last two games with 2 keepers on the bench and started the last game with a centre half and a debutant in midfield. Some will blame OG for going into the Villa game with a full strength side, but Hodgson used to get loads of criticism for not taking the cups seriously.

There's been a lot said on Kamada already. He just isn't good enough and it's alarming to think he will have earned around another £400K by the time he can next play.

I've never been convinced with Henderson. He's a bit like Hennessey in as far as you often wonder if he could have done a bit better with some of the goals we concede. With the odd howler chucked in for good measure.

Not sure what's happened to Schlupp. He hasn't been injured for as far as I am aware, but looks unfit and overweight. If he couldn't get a start on Saturday with all the injuries we have, I really can't see the point in him being here.

Nketiah looks lost. He doesn't have the physicality to play up front on his own, and lacks awareness when playing wide.

Some odd decisions in the summer saw Ayew go for peanuts. He was the one player we should have retained as a decent squad player/sub. Andersen to a lesser extent as at least Lacroix looked decent up until his howler on Saturday.

Olise's boots have been very difficult to fill. Perhaps when shopping at Arsenal we should have showed more of an interest in Smith-Rowe who is on a different level to Nketiah and would have been a much better option.

Saar doesn't look very good so we might as well have saved our money and kept Rak Sakyi. Haven't seen enough of Riad but he looked dodgy against West Ham.

Mitchell has gone downhill at an alarming rate and now must be the next position we look to upgrade.

I am keeping the faith for the time being as a month is a long time in football. Last season we looked like we were going to struggle, got an unlikely win at Liverpool and went on an amazing run. The likes of Fulham, Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth are streets ahead of us at the moment.

We've just got to hope that we end up better than the three teams that came up. I would like to chuck Everton and West Ham in the mix but they've both already beaten us this season. Wolves look too good not to climb up the table.
 
A most unenjoyable season so far, picked apart and analysed in detail above.

It's been almost traumatic watching, albeit via TV and streams, our lacklustre attempts to string together a decent period of possession football when we compare it with the end of last season.

I can't pretend to understand the issues we face apart from losing key players and suffering an unprecedented injury crisis, but sure as hell some urgent action is needed for us to remain a Premier League club.
 
It's illustrative to compare our situation at the same stage last season.
We had 15 points from the first 11 games i.e 8 points more than our current 7 points
We had lots of injuries and had played two 0-0 draws v Fulham and v Forest which the fans were highly critical of, but at least we didn't get beaten.

I think this season there seems to be a degree of complacency about our fortunes ... 'we'll be ok when our players return..'
The thing is this never really happens as on average we have around 4 or 5 players out.
The problem is compounded by the unbalanced nature of our squad.
Normally you want a rough equal split between defenders, midfielders and forwards.
On the other hand we are top heavy in central defenders and have no real cover at wing back or with the forwards
This means continually playing people out of position and occasionally putting players like Munoz in the forward line.
Two wins on the bounce would make things look brighter, but looking at the fixture list can anybody really see this happening before Christmas?
I suppose football can throw up the occasional surprise.
 
It feels like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong from the disallowed goals against Brentford and Wolves to key players struggling for form and fitness, to the new signings struggling to integrate. The key is maintaining some belief and positivity. Last season Bournemouth and Brentford struggled for long periods when they couldn't buy a win, but faith was shown and now this season they're both flying with the same managers. I have to admit, I was losing faith before the Spurs game but those sequence of three games with a still depleted squad showed to me what we're capable of. Worst case scenario we get relegated, the tourists disappear and I'll actually be able to take my family to a game!
 
eaglesdare said:
Last time we got relegated was 20 years ago. 😯

At least we had fight that season. We have nothing at the moment.
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Hard to believe it’s that long ago now. It’s strange to think there’s fans who’ve never actually experienced relegation. Someone said SP could do with a dose of relegation to straighten him out and realise his mistakes, well I think reading some of the desperate posts, there’s a few fans who could do with it to really feel what a bad season is like and give them a bit of a reality check
 
BromleyMonkey said:
Hard to believe it’s that long ago now. It’s strange to think there’s fans who’ve never actually experienced relegation. Someone said SP could do with a dose of relegation to straighten him out and realise his mistakes, well I think reading some of the desperate posts, there’s a few fans who could do with it to really feel what a bad season is like and give them a bit of a reality check
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If we get relegated we are in trouble as a club. This wouldn’t be like Leicester where they were able to keep the core of their squad together and bounce back. They also already have a modern stadium.

We’d lose every single decent player we have. Guehi, Eze, Mateta, Wharton and Doucoure would certainly be off. Henderson, Lacroix, Munoz, Riad and Lerma would be highly likely to go. Nketiah and Sarr would want out but we would struggle to find any takers. We might hold on to Hughes, Richards and Mitchell.

We already struggle to attract investment and that would get worse. The main stand redevelopment would certainly not happen (if it ever was going to).

I think people underestimate how bad it would be for Palace
 
The season has been awful. We have an amazing fan base, great support home and away - and yet again we are let down by poor decisions.

If we do go down to the championship, it would give the club an opportunity to rebuild the squad and find a proven championship manager who knows players in the lower leagues that could add value to the team.
 
JHB said:
If we get relegated we are in trouble as a club. This wouldn’t be like Leicester where they were able to keep the core of their squad together and bounce back. They also already have a modern stadium.

We’d lose every single decent player we have. Guehi, Eze, Mateta, Wharton and Doucoure would certainly be off. Henderson, Lacroix, Munoz, Riad and Lerma would be highly likely to go. Nketiah and Sarr would want out but we would struggle to find any takers. We might hold on to Hughes, Richards and Mitchell.

We already struggle to attract investment and that would get worse. The main stand redevelopment would certainly not happen (if it ever was going to).

I think people underestimate how bad it would be for Palace
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Should have read your post before posting mine. You make some good points I hadn’t really considered
 
JHB said:
If we get relegated we are in trouble as a club. This wouldn’t be like Leicester where they were able to keep the core of their squad together and bounce back. They also already have a modern stadium.

We’d lose every single decent player we have. Guehi, Eze, Mateta, Wharton and Doucoure would certainly be off. Henderson, Lacroix, Munoz, Riad and Lerma would be highly likely to go. Nketiah and Sarr would want out but we would struggle to find any takers. We might hold on to Hughes, Richards and Mitchell.

We already struggle to attract investment and that would get worse. The main stand redevelopment would certainly not happen (if it ever was going to).

I think people underestimate how bad it would be for Palace
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I don’t think anyone does underestimate it, it’s not good, BUT clubs survive, I’ve been going 50 years and have witnessed about 7 relegations, we’ve been as low as the 3rd division in my time. My point is the club has always survived(admittedly just a couple of times) and will still be around for those who still want to support it in the championship.
It seems those that get the most worked up about relegation on here are those that have never witnessed it and they’ll probably be jumping ship if the worst does happen. It’s not the end of the world though, a lot of us have had great times supporting this club outside of the top flight. If we get relegated and have to have a fire sale of players, it won’t be the first time and probably not the last
 
BromleyMonkey said:
I don’t think anyone does underestimate it, it’s not good, BUT clubs survive, I’ve been going 50 years and have witnessed about 7 relegations, we’ve been as low as the 3rd division in my time. My point is the club has always survived(admittedly just a couple of times) and will still be around for those who still want to support it in the championship.
It seems those that get the most worked up about relegation on here are those that have never witnessed it and they’ll probably be jumping ship if the worst does happen. It’s not the end of the world though, a lot of us have had great times supporting this club outside of the top flight. If we get relegated and have to have a fire sale of players, it won’t be the first time and probably not the last
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You're making me feel all nostalgic for the 'good old days' 😉
 
Obviously a very disappointing start but I remain confident we'll turn it round.

For starters, our defence is strong. 15 goals conceded from 11 games is the same as Brighton (6th) and two less than Villa (9th). In the bottom half, only Manchester United have conceded fewer.

Really our two problems are injuries and goals. our three most creative players last season were Olise (gone), Eze (tired and out of form before getting injured) and Wharton (carrying an injury all season) so it's no surprising we suddenly can't get Mateta decent service anymore.

We're benefitting defensively from finally having a settled backline but have we started the same midfield in consecutive games all season?

I maintain that when we see the following team on the pitch for a few games in a row, we'll start beating teams:

Henderson

Munoz Chalobah Guehi Lacroix Mitchell

Doucoure Wharton

Sarr Eze

Mateta​
 
kennybrowns leftfoot said:
It's been a very interesting read on this thread and the one thing that seems ominous is that nearly every person that has commented is under the same impression that this season could be a season too far.... And sadly I have to agree with the majority.

Olise was irreplaceable in my opinion. A huge loss but inevitable. You only have to look at how he's slipped in at Bayern like he's been playing at that level for years.
I didn't think we would miss Anderson as much as we have and we certainly let the wrong goalkeeper go.

So the replacements... Well Kamada is just nowhere near competent enough to be playing in this league. The pace and physicality of it is too much for him and his inability to keep possession is truly frightening.

Lacroix has certainly grown on me I'll admit and looks like he's now finding his feet.

Chalobah is technically very talented you can tell but he does seem to have a big mistake in him. Reminds me very much of Sakho.

As for Nketiah I just cannot see why we've parted with £20/£25m for him. He wasn't particularly good at Arsenal. I have 3 or 4 Arsenal supporting mates who go regularly and they all used the same word for him of 'useless'. As Neillo pointed out in his post earlier I don't think Nketiah was a Glasner signing.

The signs aren't good and we are in danger of being left behind. I wouldn't be as worried if signs were there that we're playing well but that really isn't the case.
We have a left back who knows he's going to play week in, week out because he's had no competition for his place for 2 seasons. The same old substitution of Schlupp coming on every game as well.
Glasner clearly aired his disappointment a few weeks back when he mentioned that bringing everyone in in the last couple of days of the transfer window is not ideal and he's absolutely right. Poor decisions by the board.

I think we're in big trouble. Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, Forest have all come up and made the transition to being a well run, semi successful club pretty well...

We are in our 11th season I think in The Prem and are still using the 'there's three worse teams than us' mantra to get by.. That attitude will always catch up with you in the end and I think this could be the season where it does.
Click to expand...
Excellent post. There was an interesting short video posted by the Athletic recently where they looked at who assisted for our goals last season. The top three were Ayew, Olise and Eze, and Andersen was not too far behind. Three of these players have gone and one has been injured for part of the season. You compare this with Sarr, Kamada and Nketiah providing next to nothing in terms of assists so far, and this is a big issue.

The other point I would like to make is the lack of leadership/experience on the pitch. You look at the spine of the team about ten years ago and we had Speroni, Dann, Delaney, McCarthur, Jedinak and Murray. All personalities, all vocal, all the types to "dig-in". I just don't see the same type of player who get the team going after conceding. In the past when we were down this end of the table, the aforementioned characters brought us through. I just can't see who is going to do that this season.

I think the most worrying aspect of this season is this lack of resilience and "heads dropping" when we concede. I think we're in deep trouble, and I can't see a major investment in January either happening or if it does, it even working.
 
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