Clayton Beerman has a cold, hard look back at the defeat to Crystal Palace…
I think in the aftermath of Saturday my biggest annoyance was that I could not enjoy the hilarious results of both Manchester United and Liverpool and the fact that despite our average start to the new season the white half of North London are still not above us in the table.
As for the rest of the team, there was little to argue about. That was a team that should have been good enough to beat Crystal Palace. Unfortunately not only did it not beat them it lost to them. So why did it happen? I suppose the simple answer is at least half of the team played poorly or in some cases not at all. In addition when those are the players who are pivotal, the team is in trouble which at the moment is very much the case.
So let’s look at those players who I perceive to be under performing. Branna is not the youngest of guys,
The Next is Matic. Can anyone point to a single good game he has had since his sending off against Burnley? His influence has lessened but surely a coincidence? I do not think it’s a case of other teams working him out because ultimately it’s not that sort of position. So is there any other explanation? It could be that he is simply getting no help and having to cover for other midfield players who are also in somewhat of a trough when it comes to their form. Step forward Cesc. I have no idea whether Oscar is really injured or being held back for the “Pogba Deal” but my sincerest hope is he is on his way back and Cesc can be given a rest.
It has defied logic that he has stayed on the pitch the last 2 games. He is being easily dispossessed and in my opinion playing to deep. He is better further forward as his lack of pace is cruelly exposed and again he is being targeted. I suspect Jose leaves him on because he is potentially the only one who can play that killer ball through to our forwards. At the beginning of the season I doubted whether Cesc would be in our starting eleven at the end of the season and nothing has happened to make me change my mind.
We are also seeing Willian being exposed. I do not think he is doing very little different from last season. The major difference however is the players around him are not performing and his lack of a finished product and lack of goals is now being highlighted whereas before it was less of a problem.
I think of all our squad he came back from his summer break the least fit. He looked like he had put on a little weight (#notonetotalk) and has struggled to make an impact. Don’t get me wrong he has contributed but has missed chances which he would have converted last year and there is no spark. Against WBA, his work towards the end of the game in protecting the ball and running the clock down was excellent. Indeed in that game he played well and his link up play good. It may be that he is just getting really fed up with being kicked every week without much protection, Saturday another prime example.
Finally we have Diego. Against WBA he was magnificent, a real warrior, playing on the edge is what he does and he was in football cliché terms unplayable. Sadly on Saturday he was back to the moany Diego.
That being said when he has his football head on he still looks great. The run he had on Saturday was outstanding but there was way too little of that. In general there were still too few shots from the team for the keeper to deal with on Saturday particularly in the second half.
We should not however lose sight of how well Palace defended and counter attacked. When all is said and done they played us very well. In Puncheon they had the best player on the pitch. They always had eight to ten players behind the ball at all times and it seemed our best chances only came when they had a corner. Bottom line is we should not be losing at home to them!
Then there was youth. It was great to see RLC with the shackles off. He was bright and powerful. With him and Kenedy on we were running at Palace and causing problems. Albeit they were more tired at that stage of the game but with these guys on there was a vibrancy I would argue has not been there all season. I really don’t get the manager making a point to the owner argument in terms of the substitutions. Our manager is a winner and point scoring over point winning is just not him.
Let me finish by putting Saturday’s result into some sort of perspective. My son has been going to the odd couple of matches a season for 6 years and Saturday was the first time he has seen us lose live. Remember, once a blue always a blue. Keep the faith fellow champions.
Clayton Beerman
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