No Jorginho, which is a blow as, for me, he has been our most key player of late.

 

So how do we cope without him? Think we need to set our stall out a little different as we do not have a deep-lying playmaker to replace him. A more 4-3-3 than our normal 4-2-3-1.

 

Kepa

 

James

Zouma

Tomori

Emerson

 

Kante

 

Kovacic

Mount

 

Pulisic

Abraham

Willian

 

I know Kante can play further forward but for this one off game let him be an anchor again, shut them down. Let Kova support him and get the ball out of tight spaces and let Mount have the most freedom to join with the front 3.

 

Our home form has been poor, we have to pick that up here.

hopefully we can make a statement with our performance and result, be nice to have a really good home game, send the little Palace Ultras back to Croydon with their black hoodies between their legs. 

Win this and go 2nd, five points off Liverpool, put the pressure on the others before they KO in their games.

I’ll apologise now, my mates coming and he’s a bit of a curse. He blames it on his ex-wife but the only time she came we won 5-0. If we’re losing and you see a fat bearded idiot abusing another fat bearded idiot with glasses feel free to join in. 

12 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

I’ll apologise now, my mates coming and he’s a bit of a curse. He blames it on his ex-wife but the only time she came we won 5-0. If we’re losing and you see a fat bearded idiot abusing another fat bearded idiot with glasses feel free to join in. 

I had a mate who used to come watch games with me back in the 90s, it stopped when Wimbledon hammered us 4-2 at the Bridge,

15 minutes ago, coco said:

I had a mate who used to come watch games with me back in the 90s, it stopped when Wimbledon hammered us 4-2 at the Bridge,

He used to be fine but since the first game of Contes second season (Burnley at home) I think he’s seen two wins. 

36 minutes ago, coco said:

I had a mate who used to come watch games with me back in the 90s, it stopped when Wimbledon hammered us 4-2 at the Bridge,

I thought it was 5-2 with Beasant having a nightmare or perhaps you left at 4-2.............

25 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I thought it was 5-2 with Beasant having a nightmare or perhaps you left at 4-2.............

aye you might be right,

8 minutes ago, coco said:

aye you might be right,

Actually you are right we did lose 4-2 in 96 and also 5-2 in 89, just as well they got relegated.

Leicester is playing Arsenal, a draw there and we're above Leicester if we beat Palace and we extend our difference from Arse.
Then a possible draw between Liverpool and Mancity the day after would mean that we would have the same amount of points as Mancity.

Very important game and a tough one, I thought that Watford would be an easy win and I ended up eating my own words and apologizing at the end of that game...but even before the Watford game I thought Palace at home will be a tricky one. Hopefully I'm wrong again and we win this one easy then, I'll take that option.

A win at home would make the squad mentally ready for Man City, which would be the biggest game so far in the current Premier League season for us.

4 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

I thought it was 5-2 with Beasant having a nightmare or perhaps you left at 4-2.............

Didn't we lose to Liverpool 5-2 a few weeks earlier as well at home, they were 2 up after about 3 minutes, remember I played football Saturdays and when my old man got home after going to bridge he was not a happy bunny

4 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Actually you are right we did lose 4-2 in 96 and also 5-2 in 89, just as well they got relegated.

I was thinking of the 89 one, wisey was playing for them out wide and ripped us apart

5 hours ago, Munkworth said:

I’ll apologise now, my mates coming and he’s a bit of a curse. He blames it on his ex-wife but the only time she came we won 5-0. If we’re losing and you see a fat bearded idiot abusing another fat bearded idiot with glasses feel free to join in. 

Can't he bring her along for old times sake?

6 minutes ago, chi blue said:

Didn't we lose to Liverpool 5-2 a few weeks earlier as well at home, they were 2 up after about 3 minutes, remember I played football Saturdays and when my old man got home after going to bridge he was not a happy bunny

Yes we did and all this culminated in the Whitewall having a go against Beasant. It was a bit awkward in the Shed at the time.

1990

6 minutes ago, chi blue said:

I was thinking of the 89 one, wisey was playing for them out wide and ripped us apart

I don't remember Wise doing that though seeing as we signed him in 1990 suggests you are spot on.

6 hours ago, chi blue said:

Can't he bring her along for old times sake?

9 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

1990

I don't remember Wise doing that though seeing as we signed him in 1990 suggests you are spot on.

I'll have to dig out my old VHS tape for season 89/90 and check, on a side note that was a great season

With Jorginho missing just hope Frank does his homework after Ajax.

Palace over the years have been a bogey team for us by getting wins or draws against us that were not expected.

Palace lost at home to Leicester so they will try to get something out of the game against us. 

Call me a dreamer but if we win against Palace and then man City beats Liverpool then we are are entering the title race as the dark (blue) horse. It's still November and the scousers are not playing great, winning quite a few games by luck in the 90th + min. That luck will eventually ran out and they will start losing games, if we continue to get results who knows where would we be in Jan/Feb? 

 

11 minutes ago, BadBlue said:

Palace lost at home to Leicester so they will try to get something out of the game against us. 

Call me a dreamer but if we win against Palace and then man City beats Liverpool then we are are entering the title race as the dark (blue) horse. It's still November and the scousers are not playing great, winning quite a few games by luck in the 90th + min. That luck will eventually ran out and they will start losing games, if we continue to get results who knows where would we be in Jan/Feb? 

I'm thinking Liverpool's luck must run out soon too especially with Mane getting too much exposure for the wrong things.

Don't think City will beat them though a draw might be on the cards.

 

47 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I'm thinking Liverpool's luck must run out soon

I don't think they have been that lucky, they've scored some good goals at crucial times, and they dont let in many goals. But it has been a good run that must end soon, you never see a club carry that kind of form over two full seasons, teams are starting to make it harder for them on recent results, then when it gets in their heads they are beatable it could be a slippery slope for them, two bad results back to back, lets see what their made of.

Crystal Palace tend to make things tough for us and we are a bit patchy at home this season so I don't think this will be an easy one. If we win, I don't expect it to be by more than 1 goal.

This will be a tough one...silence Saha and we should be good for 3 points.

We need to improve the precision and decision making whenever we manage to recover the ball. I think Ajax did a much better job with that 11vs11 this game.