This fixture had never been kind to Palace in the past. And this was not going to change.
With injuries to KG and his understudy O’Keefe meant that Pulis had to turn to Joel Ward to play in the position he held at his previous club Portsmouth. This allowed Mariappa to continue in the back line and the return of Dean Moxey to left back.
Speroni, Moxey (Parr), Gabbidon, Delaney, Mariappa, Ward, Jedinak, Bannan (Bolasie), Puncheon, Jerome (Gayle), Chamakh
In awful conditions the fans did their usual thing and got behind the team both before and during the match. It’s what we do as Palace fans and it is getting a lot of love and admiration from other clubs. Atmosphere at football matches particularly in the top division is very different. Not at Selhurst. It’s as passionate and whole hearted as ever. Win, lose or draw. Take note fans of other clubs.
The big thing for Palace is that we are not playing the posession game. We just are not good enough at the moment to retain the ball for long periods. Against Newcastle we faced a team that had done their homework and were extremely comfortable on the ball. A team that looked like they had played alongside each other for years.
Taking nothing away from Palace, the usual spirit and effort was there for all to see. But the visitors dealt with the conditions far better and took the lead through Cabaye. It ws perhaps cruel on Speroni as the shot from the Frenchman had a wicked deflection off Jedinak which took it past the Argentine.
The goal was not totally against the run of play as Palace had efforts from Puncheon and Bannan before that.
More chances for Palace came and went through Jerome and Jedinak but it was Newcastle who doubled their lead when Gabbidon put into his own net without much pressure, not that he could see anyway. In what was perhaps the turning point in the game and just before half time, Palace had to chase the game.
Two changes to begin the second half. A poor performance from Moxey in that first half in which Newcastle exploited was sacrificed for the welcome return of Jonathan Parr. But more surprisingly was the departure of Bannan for a lively Bolasie. Both changes were positive but there is a case for the jury in that by adding Bolasie to the field opened up Mariappa more than he was in the first half.
But we gave it a good go, as much as we could. Nothing was really working and we weren’t getting a fair amount of decisions from the referee either but I don’t want to lay any real blame there. This was really a game of silly mistakes and one that we missed the security of a KG or a O’Keefe. They both play in a position which is difficult for some fans to understand their place in the team.
They do the ‘silent’ job. It’s not a glamour position, far from it. They get through the work rate during a game with very little true recognition.
Before the third goal for Newcastle we had more chances in an effort to get something from the game through Puncheon, Chamakh and Jerome. It was a challenge in the area from Parr that led to Ben Arfa to seal the win from the spot. But Speroni got his hands to it and to be fair to him, he had very little chance with either of the three goals. He also made one fantastic save from a long range effort that moved late in terrible conditions.
This game will be remembered for the return on Johnny Parr. I once dreamed of a team of Johnny Parr’s. It could still happen. He is solid and that showed in the second half. He shored up the left hand side and played vey well other than for his challenge for the penalty late in the game. A very impressive return from the Norwegian defender after a long injury lay off.
Fine performances from the likes of Cabaye, Sissoko and Debuchy for the visitors while Jedinak and Chamakh shone once again shone for Palace.
So where does this leave us?
It takes us to Villa on Boxing Day in a game that we really need something out of. I don’t think we can afford another bad patch. We need to pick up points here and there. We stay 18th after this result so nothing has really changed. We were always going to lose more games than we would win this season.
There are a lot worse teams in the Premier League and I expect Newcastle to push for a top six place if they continue to perform like they did against us.
The transfer window is looming ….
Article written by Jay Crame