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Official Matchday Thread: Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 7th October 2023. 5.30pm kick off

Who will win on Saturday?

  • Away Win - Second of the season!

  • Home Win - Away Day Blues

  • Draw - May Repeat

  • Waka Waka...40 signings....!

  • Dougie Freedman derby

Results are only viewable after voting.
Matt

Matt

Stuart Pearce
Captain Sinister said:
Mid-table is doable, but if we don't recover our home form it won't be.
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As ever the optimist cap - i think there’s plenty to suggest what we’ve been tried to build clicked at palace. It was going to take a little while and Luton will be a great test to see if we can make our quality show under immense physical pressure at home
 
Steve B

Steve B

Jack Armstrong
Bleddy Ada Worra a cracking day aht.
Used to ‘ate gooin Palace but last 2 trips a bin fantastic. Norronly is Coopa a great manager eez also the Landlord a the Kings ‘Ed in London Bridge,. Sez ee done abaht 200 selfies yestdeh.
Gorrin on an under 18 ticket at the ripe owd age a 54, brillyant day aht it wo.
First away game we’ve dominated since wi went up - Murillo = proper superstar.
 
Redemption

Redemption

One less gobshite...
Annesleyred said:
A point away from home and 'almost' a win even MOTD day featured our bad luck with Murillo, Toff, Montiel and especially MGW's rebound off the post. The general play for me looked good. Dare I think mid -table ?
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I thought MOTD's Goal of The Month (Nearly) section was high praise.

And the three they chose could have been added to with Toffolo's excellent strike, the other Montiel shot, etc.
 
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Trents

Trents

John Robertson
Annesleyred said:
A point away from home and 'almost' a win even MOTD day featured our bad luck with Murillo, Toff, Montiel and especially MGW's rebound off the post. The general play for me looked good. Dare I think mid -table ?
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Fair to do so I think. Seen lots of references to that being a typical mid-table clash as if it's a bad thing. For Palace maybe but a certain plus point for where we are looking after last season.

Yes they had injuries but so did we. Felipe, Aina, Awoniyi. All big losses. We also have a lot of players new to the side. The narrative going into this season was that we had to find a way to compete more away from home. Every away game so far has been an improvement on the respective fixture last season in terms of balance of play. Last season we would always sit back, concede the possession and rely on the quick breaks from Jonno. Yesterday was probably the best I've seen us control parts of a game away from home since returning to the top flight. 11 v 11 that is.

This is absolutely down to the midfield trio we have now. Players a lot more technical, not treating the ball like a hot potato. Able to find space, keep their heads up and be confident on the ball and work hard off it. A real step up from last season where we relied heavily on Colback, O'Brien, Freuler and dare I say Yates too. Some of the interplay between them to get out of tight situations yesterday was wonderful to watch and that's after just a few matches playing together.

The square peg seems to MGW. He's not a winger, he a 10. That's where he does his best work but with a back 4 not enough spots for the midfield 3, MGW, 2 wingers and forward. Unless he tries Elanga/CHO as wingbacks and 3 CBs. Can't see that. Might we see a 2 striker formation with Awoniyi/Woods alongside Elanga/CHO? Nice to have the options I suppose.
 
S

SouthManchesterTree

Viv Anderson
A year ago we lost 4-0 at Leicester and I’ve still got PTSD. slightly disappointed not to get a win yesterday but hopefully we can continue the upward trajectory.
 
Gyros Peter

Gyros Peter

Sauce salad?
I've got us in the improvements made but work to be done camp right now - without Taiwo we are lacking cutting edge and, while we created more chances yesterday, we don't look too fluid in that final third...

We look much better with the ball though and seem much more adept at winning it back.

I'm hoping we can see CHO and MGW click behind the striker in time, and that Taiwo's injury return is earlier than Cooper suggests.

With players returning the hope is that we can turn some of that possession and ball winning into clear cut chances while retaining our ability to break quickly.

Depth up top remains a concern - I've seen nothing from Origi yet to suggest he's any better than I thought when he was bought in. It's a shame we didn't land Guirassy, Batsushiyi or Pedro. Let's hope we can add someone on that level in January, assuming Origi hasn't proven me wrong by then...
 
Strummer

Strummer

Socialismo O Muerte!
LTLF Minion
Gyros Peter

Gyros Peter

Sauce salad?
I suppose the other way to look at things is that we are averaging over a point a game and on -2 goal difference, despite playing several of the big guns at their places. Decent then.
 
E

EmmersonForest4

Steve Chettle
Matt said:
Having watched the highlights back, I think Palace rode their luck substantially in that game and on another day we could have scored 3 or 4.

That first 45 minutes we were utterly dominant, composed and clinical in our passing. Considering that midfield and defensive configuration had only played together twice before; I think that’s a huge success, especially as we came back into the game for the last 15 minutes too having made some forced and unforced substitutions.

We are going to have games like this, but I come away much more positive than I went in.
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However Matt even though I do agree performance wise it was great. We need to actually take the chances and create better opportunities. No point playing well if you don’t get points. So it needs the next step. However again to echo you it’s positive we’ve gone aaay and dominated. I just don’t want it to be all bluster need some points now.
 
E

EmmersonForest4

Steve Chettle
Malwood said:
If MGW has scored that lob after 20 minutes and we won 1-0 the narrative would be how Palace never really laid a glove on us after that.
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You’re not wrong but we didn’t score. That is very cotterill-esque. I think the takeaway from that is we went away from home and played well with 4 at the back and no low block and hang on for dear life in sight. That’s an improvement but we all know that we are not finished in improving yet as we have to get the points the play deserves.
 
I

IdiotTricky

First Team Squad
In agreement with a lot of the above posts and pinching myself that we looked like the home side for long periods. Overall, though, I thought everyone in an Argentina shirt did well.

Some random observations:

I rate Niakhate, but I think Murillo is already pushing him for that left-sided CB slot.

Toff's isn't dynamic by PL standards but he's quality on the ball and decent in the air. I'd prefer Aina, but don't think he'll let us down when called upon.

That midfield 3 is looking very, very good already and nicely balanced. Not worried about Sangare finishing games yet; it took Mangala a season!

Don't like MGW out wide in a 433. Think he needs to be able to drift infield more, which likely requires someone at FB who can cover a whole flank, or one of the midfield 3 to push our when he drifts - easier said than done. Still think he's key. Alternatively, if we want to retain the 3 in the middle, we play a diamond with the FB's being asked to provide width and Elanga/CHO to come on later in the game. Again, not ideal.

In Taiwo's absence, think we need Wood twinned with Elanga out wide, or Origi with CHO; don't think Wood and CHO offer enough "verticality" together. I believe in them all as players, however. Even Origi - his record for Liverpool was excellent.

There were a couple of occasions when Palace had a player in space in our area which I didn't like (Ayew in the first half and Mateta (?) for a glorious chance that he put wide); hopefully that's players still getting used to each other, responsibilities, etc.

Palace obviously had a lot of first team players out and I think that affected the dynamic of the game. Had the likes of Eze and Olise been fit, it would have been a different challenge, but the fact that we have injuries but also a deep bench is testament to the work done at the club this summer.

Like others have said above, I'm looking at mid-table this season. It might take us a while to reach our full potential, but I just can't see us being in the relegation battle this season. Which is nice.

Apologies for the unstructured, incoherent ramble.

Thought the ref had a pretty good game.
 
Omar Devone Little

Omar Devone Little

Mr Realistic
dr_horse said:
I want Toff on them after that pile-driver. Maybe someone can loft it up for him to hit on the full volley.

Sent from my M2101K6G using Tapatalk
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Toffolo clearly strikes a good ball and Cooper has said he's the best crosser we have so I definitely would be considering him from wide free kicks. If he's on the pitch of course.

To be honest though it's difficult to imagine anyone being able to take set pieces off MGW who seems to have it written in his contract that he takes everything.
 
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