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mrs miggins

The Positive and Negatives

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I''m not sure if this is kind of a LDC nothing thread (no offence LDC) but just wanted to have a discussion on how we can gauge this first game by looking at the pros and cons of what I''ve/we''ve just witnessed.

Positives

Started the first quarter really well and had a fantastic chance to open the scoring with Grabban (who also had another fantastic chance before but was offside)

The score should''ve been 2-2 ...or 3-3 (not just my opinion but Palace fans forum which I encourage you to look at, very honest bunch)

Should''ve had a penalty (again confessions from Palace forum) - video on twitter

Should''ve had a CamJams goal allowed. - video on twitter

Showed great desire to close the ball down in some parts of the game

Palace finished 10th last season (I think) and have only improved, yet we can be proud of that performance on the whole.

AN''s subs made a difference (though everybody in their right mind would''ve done the same thing having just gone down 2-0, at least we don''t have an illogical fool in charge ala Roeder). Although there''s a clear case that he should''ve started with either or both CamJam or/and Redmond what I think is positive is that CamJam can indeed be a force and score goals (or at least the possibility is there...as long as they''re not all disallowed)

Furthermore its also nice to see AN take off Tettey and putting on another striker, leaving just Wes and Howson in the middle, very ballsy.

Redmond''s already scored 1 and that will do his confidence wonders. Also got him on my fantasy PL so there you go.

Ruddy made so good saves and looked assured, unlike last season. Perhaps he''s the keeper we know he is instead of the haphazard juggler he was last season.

Negatives

Canary Call on the way home

Grabban missed the open goal - what we already knew, he''s not a natural finisher (but does well to get in those positions)

I think AN will be kicking himself at that team selection. Flat midfield made up of centre-mids; can understand it with our full backs, but not when Olsson is back please, Brady at LB...no.

Defensively we rather criminally switched off and we really can''t do that against mid-table teams.

Although it''s not fair to criticise a player on the first game of the season, I''m going to do it anyway. Again, as people are probably sick of me saying, the partnership of Martin and Whitts is the weak link in the team (imo). We just need to add quality to either the RB or the CB slot just to break up that partnership. However, on the ball (in possession) I thought Martin was great (yet we already know he is for a defender). But that first goal..not good enough, also think Howson needs to cover Whitts as well in the position.

-

General View (quote) from the Palace forum

"Well Norwich deserved a point, both for their performance and in terms of the laws of the game...

But sorry boys, my delight at a 3-1 polished off with a Cabaye debut goal will outweigh my feelings of sympathy."

-

What positives and negatives did you notice?

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Alex Neil is too proud of a Scott. His insistence on playing Martin, Whittaker and Dorrans may ultimately cost us. Glad he recognizes our strikers need strengthening i.e. New Signing / Cam Jam 1st choices, but he also seems to have given Grabban far too many opportunities. No way is he a 1st choice EPL level striker. Guess this may not be AN''s fault however, as he has also shown frustration about not getting the bodies in he wanted.

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I believe he says he wants 2 more players in. A striker is one of them, don''t know the other position though - hopefully its not just cover for LB, but a quality defender (either RB or CB)

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It''s funny, had that goal not been disallowed we would probably be a lot more positive. However, it was and while we had a lot of possession, we didn''t hurt Palace when we had the opportunity to do so. Chances were created though, which is something.I am encouraged by the lads'' bravery on the ball. Their desire to play out from the back and in tight spots in midfield took guts. This didn''t always work and left us vulnerable to counter attacks when certain less technically gifted players got the ball stuck under their feet (Johnson!).The defending though was pretty abysmal for all three goals. All very preventable.  We need to sign some quality at the back or AN will find it an uphill struggle all season long.As Paul Lambert once said, "I''ve learned you have to be absolutely ''on it'' in the final third in the Premier League". How true. You can''t switch off at the back and you''ve got to take those chances when they come your way.

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Platitudes from an opposing team who have beaten us to me have a very hollow feeling. Yes for large parts of the game we played well and were an equal match for Palace. Where we were short, as has been mentioned many times today, is both in attack (the Grabban miss, is he Jamie Cureton in disguise) and defence.

The lack of quality in defence has by and large been identified as a major weakness many times over the last three seasons and as yet, has not been rectified. We signed Wisdom on loan but he didn''t start today. Is he no better than the defenders we had here already? If not, why the hell was he on the bench?

Prudence with a lack of ambition seems to be overtaking the board again. If we are to remain in the upper echelons of the football pyramid we really need to invest significantly in both our defence and to a lesser extent attack. Just as a aside, why the hell didn''t we start with Redmond on the pitch?

I seriously worry about our CEO and his reluctance to invest in GOOD players! If we had perhaps been more ambitious in January 2014 we could have avoided relegation, but to me he seemed more worried about claiming a financial bonus for himself rather than speculating to hopefully accumulate the rewards of remaining in the Prem. Now we find ourselves more than second best to a Club whom we should be on a level playing field with!

Tin hat on!

OTBC

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Positives - We didn''t look out of place in the PL; didn''t switch off and give up at 2-0 down, and had the ref not been on the payroll of some far eastern betting syndicate (Come on, we''re all thinking it...!) we''d have likely had a point. Redmond and Jerome made a real impact when they came on; Exciting, attacking football which helps the fans get behind the team; and the silly sponsor box on the kit doesnt look as bad on TV as it does in a photograph.

Negatives - Whittaker clearly nowhere near PL quality; he might try but he just lacks the requisite talent. Martin yet again proves why he''s not a PL center back... Needs to be moved to RB immediately and told that''s where he''s staying, whether he likes it or not. Still looking light up front - Grabban just not good enough.If you can''t finish, those kinds of chances, you''re not good enough for this division. Simple as that. Hooper completely anonymous when he came on. Needs to do better. Brady wasted at LB - didn''t look convincing there and couldn''t use his skills fully. Would like to see Toffolo at LB next time with Brady given chance to do his stuff on the wing.

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Palace Fan in peace

I thought Norwich played really well today, I was really impressed, we had 3 midfielders worth £25m in central midfield and they hardly got a kick first 20 minutes.

We were poor today and very lucky to get a win, with 10 minutes left I wouldnt have been too upset with a draw.

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Positive:
Whitaker defended and attacked well
Negative:
We''ll need to find a new scapegoat, Russell Martin will probably do although Grabban should have scored early on.

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Thought the performance of Johnson was a big negative. Of all players in a Norwich shirt he looked the least like a Premier League player. Grabban not too far behind.

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[quote user="Buster Douglas"]I seriously worry about our CEO and his reluctance to invest in GOOD players![/quote]
I''m sorry, but that is completely unfair.
We are not a wealthy club, but Houghton spent £8.5m on RvW, and millions more on Hooper and Fer.  At the time we were all purring about the quality we had bought and the amount we had spent.  We can''t blame McNally because they all turned out to be cruddy.  If anything, after that debacle I could understand if he was reluctant to invest in "good" players, who, let''s face it, are only "good" with hindsight.

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Positives for me were that despite conceding either side of half time we didn''t capitulate and on another day with another ref could have gotten something from the game.
I was also pleased that AN made the substitutions when he did; how many times under Hughton did we complain that he left it too late to make changes.
We had good possession and we created chances, so the obvious negatives are going to be defensive lapses for the goals and failure to convert chances at the other end.
While my pants are still dry, I do think anyone who believes we''re going to finish in the top half or even a comfortable mid table is in for a shock. It''s going to be a scrap at the wrong end of the table all season long. Yes we''ve got largely the same squad that went down (and finished mid table the previous season) but it''s not as if every other team has stood still waiting for us to come back up.
Overall I think we''ve got a very good manager and a decent core squad but we''re missing that little bit of quality that can lift us above the relegation contenders. Whether that''s a commanding centre half, a clinical proven goal scorer or more pace or creativity in midfield, we need that something extra.

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I´m with "The Man, the Legend" on this one.  Thought Whittaker dealt reasonably well with his defensive side and always offers something going forward.  Zaha was the best player on the pitch by a country mile and perhaps we should be looking more at Howson for not helping out his RB enough.  Looked a lot more balanced once Redmond was on.  one thing i would say though is that Brady is definitely not a LB! Reminds me a lot of Marcelo, shite at deffending but v useful down the other end of the pitch.  Since we are not Real Madrid however it would be more useful to stick with a LB that can defend.

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The negatives are we lost a game when we deserved something, but have too score and grab ban should have scored early on.

the positives, we have an astute young manager who will learn a lot from this, far too early for anything other than dust ourselves off and pick up next game.

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The positives are that today''s performance might just jolt McNally into loosening the purse strings enough to buy survival. It''s a choice between spending £15m and losing something like 3 times that amount.The negatives are that the we''re getting treated to cheerful charlies like the OP who choose to look on the bright side while the club sleepwalks into another relegation. Wake up!

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The positives, ruddy was superb and def did not deserve three goals being let in by his name.

How''s on was a threat down the right, great play by the team in the first half

Subs made an impact

Wonderful strike by Redmond

The biggest positive is also a negative it proved why we need a leader and exceptional centre half and a new centre forward.

Negatives

Grabban proved his ability

We lost, and unfairly

3 goals for a team that will be mid table, third was at the end while we searching

AN made the wrong choice in starting grabban

Set pieces for us were on the whole poor, the set piece defending on the whole was ok apart from straight after half time. Moments of lapse concentration cost you and we found that today.

All in all we played very well, weaknesses were highlighted which is positive with the transfer window still open.

We have lost one game against a team we can cause problems against, energy levels were up there. Ruddy looked assured. Roll on next game, but Alex Neil needs to look at his best team and he will be learning a lot this season.

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Negatives

Approach. If we don''t target matches such as Palace we might as well roll over now. Redmond must start in winnable matches as must Jerome.

Team selection. Grabban is not a PL striker. Not starting Jerome may have cost us the match today.

Transfer window. Our defence was lacking last year. It will be an embarrassment this. New starters are needed at RCB and RB.

Result. Assuming a target of 39 points, three of these are lost already. A massive six pointer next week now.

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juicy plams wrote the following post at 08/08/2015 7:06 PM:

The positives are that today''s performance might just jolt McNally into loosening the purse strings enough to buy survival. It''s a choice between spending £15m and losing something like 3 times that amount.

The negatives are that the we''re getting treated to cheerful charlies like the OP who choose to look on the bright side while the club sleepwalks into another relegation. Wake up!

--------------------------------------

I think you must be illiterate sir as you haven''t read the post. The thread is not about looking on the bright side, it''s about looking at both sides of the coin; both positive and negative. I do hate stupid people.

Moving on, there''s been talk about Whitaker. To me, today sums up offensively what he offers; gets into great positions and provides a really good outlet for us, but because he''s not that good he lets the move break down too much. The intent is there but just the lack of quality for me is too much to just ignore (which is why the calls of ''scapegoat'' simply fall on deaf ears), leaving so much space behind him. If we were to have him at RB then a much faster CB needs to be partnered with him to cover the space as I''ve previously said.

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There are no positives, we conceded three goals,

The negative is that there is no talk of centre back coming in.

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Positives, we played well and the effort was there from everyone.

Negatives - however poor the team is, it can''t be as bad as the fans who constantly have to find a scapegoat. Reading this forum we really must be the biggest lot of whingers, and least supportive fans in the Premier.

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And there was also me thinking "why is Whittaker drifting inside, he shouldn''t be drifting inside, he''s going to lose it...and yes he indeed has lost it."

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Positives

Redmond, Howson, Ruddy

We did create and looked comfortable for large parts of the game.

There can no longer be any doubt about the necessity to strengthen the defence.

Negatives

Defence switching off, as we knew would happen

Jonno didn''t look like the player he did last season

Insufficient quality to finish chances.

Lost composure in second half and started lobbing the ball forward eliminating the quality we showed in midfield.

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