The game on Monday night against Fulham was pretty monumental for Palace.
A game that given Fulham’s recent form was one that many looked at as a chance to get some more points on the board. Pushing the form book aside for a moment it was also another game under the floodlights for Palace which is something that we are normally pretty good at.
To add more importance into the mix, it was a game following the defeats of a number of clubs around us currently and clubs that probably will be around us at the business end of the season.
An unusual Saturday what with sixteen teams playing, the key results for Palace were as follows –
- Hull lost 2-1 away at Everton which was a real shame as we are all massive fans of Steve Bruce for his time and commitment at Palace …..
- Stoke and West Brom played out a goalless draw which is a good result for us as Stoke may well struggle this year. They don’t look very good generally and have Mark Hughes at the helm which surely won’t work in their favour.
- Cardiff were beaten 4-1 away at Stamford Bridge having scored first
- Sunderland managed to go down 4-0 away to Swansea which is great for Palace and extremely bad for their confidence, points tally and goal difference.
With Palace playing on Monday night against Fulham, who prior to the game were languishing in seventeenth, this was surely a must win game at Selhurst. The term “must win” has been used a great deal this week but sounds very dramatic and the term “great to win” is perhaps a better fit in my opinion. Must win games surely come more towards the end of the season when every single point counts towards your future in the Premiership or in returning you to the Championship. The “must win” term is surely also more relative to Martin Jol who is under some real pressure at Fulham and much more pressure than our team and Ian Holloway.
Like it or not, the expectations at Fulham are far greater than they are at Palace given their time in the Premiership to date.
It would be good to get some points and not be cut adrift at the foot of the table at this early stage of the season. It would also be good to get some points against another struggling team but there is still a very long way to go and who knows what the future games will bring.
To add another few angles into the same mix mentioned above, the latest Palace game was a London derby against a Martin Jol side that pinched Darren Bent from under our noses. This was done after Crystal Palace staff kindly undertook his medical in the transfer window before he signed for them on the dotted line for Fulham.
In other news around South London and on the South Coast, M*llw*ll managed to secure a 2-2 draw with the currently unbeaten QPR. The highlight of the game was when a M*llw*ll fan managed to hit Harry Redknapp square in the face with a ball as it was returned by a very kind member of the crowd. By all accounts (and having seen the YouTube video) Redknapp was incredibly upset and his jowls were still wobbling as Match of the Day Two started on the following Sunday evening. Ch*rlt*n don’t get a mention and M*llw*ll were only mentioned due to the Redknapp ball to face incident. To add to his dis-pleasure M*llw*ll broke away and scored the equaliser which was a massive shock to all concerned.
The minor shock was due to M*llw*ll equalising but the major shock was because the actual scorer of the equaliser was ex-Palace player and goal machine Jermaine Easter.
The Weed managed a goalless draw with the mighty Yeovil Town. No disrespect to Yeovil at all and I wish them well but, the result looked great when it came up on the vidiprinter on Saturday afternoon.
Talking of Br*ght*n and also returning to the Premier League results above, it is fantastic to see that the “GusBus” has rolled into Sunderland and got them off to a rocking start under his amazing leadership. Everybody at Palace should all hold Gus in very high regard and show him much more respect for what he has done for Palace over the past few years. We should also all hope that this fine service to our club continues this season at Sunderland. He really is the gift that keeps on giving and we cannot thank him enough for the pleasure that he has given us on and off the field.
The #DougieOut campaign also appears to be picking up pace at Bolton after their result at the weekend. This term they have played twelve games, won one, drawn six and lost five having scored ten and conceded nineteen.
If you are reading this and are still one of the few that still thinks that he is a wonderful manager and should be welcomed back to Palace then the recommendation is that you get yourself checked out.
As a Palace layer, Dougie was a legendary. We were behind him 100% when he was our player and our manager and then he left for whatever reason (in addition to the money) without the common decency to at least thank and pay tribute to the fans that loved and supported him when he was at the club. Karma can be a bitch and just a few words would have made all of the difference as was demonstrated by Ian Holloway when he left Blackpool.
The rumours about Wilf still continue with clubs in the Premier League and Championship trying to get him on loan apparently. There have even been further reports that Palace are still contenders and even a report in the week linking him with a loan move to Juventus.
So, now we actually move onto the game on Monday night against Fulham. Palace started very brightly and managed to get ahead with a goal scored by Mariappa. Palace then continued to play well and were unlucky to be undone by an amazing chest and volley from Fulham. This goal is surely a contender for goal of the season. Another really well taken goal from Fulham before half time sent Palace in 2-1 down which was unfair based on the balance of play and the performances.
We had basically been undone by two excellent strikes.
Palace emerged for the second half and looked to take the game to Fulham. Unfortunately Fulham managed to score two more in the second half from set-plays. These were more down to poor defending and yet again giving the ball away in dangerous positions. The fourth goal was very dubious as it is clear to see that Speroni’s shirt is being pulled all over the place as the ball sailed in from the corner just before the Fulham goal. At least the referee probably got to use the goal line technology to award the goal but, shame that he and the linesperson never saw the shirt pulling. This was just one of many poor decisions from the referee who generally had a very poor night at the office.
I leave you this week with the quote below which was a paragraph from an article in one of the daily rags, the Daily Telegraph I believe;
“With Palace, it’s more complex. Essentially, their perceived troubles have become exaggerated because the regime achieved success ahead of schedule. Having seen his club promoted giddily quickly, chairman Steve Parrish had to re-adjust his steadier three-year plan for the Premier League. Most conspicuously, that necessitated rethinking their summer transfer policy three times – balancing an attempt to stay in the division with their existing approach to buying young and securing the future.”
Article written by Paul Price
