You create your own luck in football, Palace need to somehow do that because we are certainly not getting help from the officials at this moment in time.
It was a poor decision, although Neil Warnock can grate on me with his constant moaning about officials but he was justified yesterday.
At 2-1 we would have definitely made a game of it but we have to look at our defending. Some of it was not up to scratch, in a department where we are usually very strong and resilient.
Again with every passing game our need for a centre forward is becoming clear, a few additions should lift the mood, as the table is looking pretty bleak.
Room for Improvement?
I was watching on Saturday and thinking how we can improve, obviously improvement in the striking area is paramount, but there is more than that.
You do not rest on your laurels in the Premier League, Warnock knows that – if you rest, if you take the eye of the ball for a slight second it can be devastating.
There are cracks that are beginning to emerge in other areas of the pitch, important areas.
Our general forward play tends to be good. We do not usually come away from a Palace display and grumble about our attacking endeavours. In recent weeks we have been grumbling about the defensive side of things.
The last couple of weeks our defensive unit has been Martin Kelly, Scott Dann, Brede Hangeland, and Joel Ward.
Ward had a below par game against City, nine times out of ten he never tracked the intelligent runs of Pablo Zabaleta, in which one of the goals resulted from.
Now some people might disagree but Martin Kelly is a player that I still think will be very valuable to us in the future. His defending recently has left a lot to be desired.
I watched him at Liverpool coming through the system. His defending was based on that ‘in your face’ approach but we have not seen that enough in a Palace shirt. We need more.
Overall on Saturday the defending was poor, but what was Hangeland doing for the third goal. Yes he was tracking back. If you watch him, he gets sucked towards the ball – he did not have to go there, Kelly was covering.
He ran straight past Yaya Toure and surprise, surprise it was Toure who finished with aplomb. In my playing days for the illustrious Wigmore Youth, goals like that really irked me, players just switching off. Considering a player of his experience, his know-how of the Premier League it was not the best
defending I have seen.
Looking ahead
As we know the festive period is the busiest time in the Premier League, games come thick and fast, there is no let up, but that is just how we like it here at TEB.
Our next four games in the league are Southampton (home), Queens Park Rangers (away), Aston Villa (away) and Tottenham (home). We need to find a win from somewhere, will it be against one of these teams?
I feel all four could be winnable. Southampton at home could be a tricky proposition. Their 3-0 win over Everton was their first after five losses. They will come to Selhurst with a bit of confidence – confidence is there to be knocked down, hopefully the lads will turn in a good performance and get a
much needed result.
Then QPR and Aston Villa away are vital, they will be in the relegation mixer come May another Dwight Gayle special would not go a miss at Villa Park on the January 1st.
Then we come to Tottenham. We were fantastic at White Hart Lane when we really should have won but Selhurst has been a funny place for us this season, so you never know what to expect.
Well that is all for me, I hope all our readers have a great Christmas, an extra present would be seeing Palace collect the three points at the expense of Ronald Koeman’s Saints.
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