Greetings from a Palace fan

[Dan Cooper 0]

Hi guys, I''ve been having the occasional look at this site since I found it before our opening day game. Seeing as we''re both in the same boat (albeit with you 2 points ahead of us!) I thought I''d ask how you were enjoying the season so far?

As i''m sure was the case with you, a lot of our fans were insisting that everyone enjoy the season whatever. I have to admit that before the Villa game (after 5 straight defeats), my enjoyment levels were plummeting fairly quickly! The draw up at Villa was certainly encouraging and it seemed that we had chances to win the game. Add to this our 2-1 thrashing of Hartlepool in the Carling Cup and we''re unbeaten in two.

I was starting to forget what that feels like! I guess the problem that teams like us have is that even the supposedly beatable teams have at least a couple of top class players capable of unlocking us (Man City - Anelka, Wright-Phillips, Southampton - Beattie, Everton - Gravesen, Bolton - Okocha). Moreover, we lack Prem experience with only Hughes and Granville (and for a few games) Fitz Hall having really played at this level and I''m beginning to realise how crucial this attribute is.

However, we do seem to be making some decent signings (Ventola, Sorondo, Kaviedes, Lakis with Petit rumoured to be thrashing out a deal) and I''m beginning to believe that we will at least be able to make a fight of it (thankfully AJ also seems to be settling at this level).

Norwich have so far seemed to have a little bit more defensive resolve than us - I thought that the draws at Newcastle and Spurs were pretty impressive. How has the general reaction been to your start? We''ve had the usual doom mongers floating about but most people seem to be remaining positive. To be honest, even though I always look at your results hoping to see that you''ve lost (as I''m sure you do with us!), I''d love to see both of us stay up. But ultimately I think it will be between us two, WBA, Southampton and maybe one other surprise struggler.

Anyway, best of luck and lets hope we can both pull off the unexpected (if only to shut up smug gits like Hansen and Marsh!). All we can do is keep getting behind our teams 100%. Good luck!

[Tufnell Park Canary 0]

fairplay to you Dan, your experience of the prem season sounds similar to mine. There''s plenty of doom mongers agmonst the city faithful, but there always have been. We could win the premier league and some would say things like "yeah, we won the league, but we got knocked out of the cup. Grumble complain etc".

Anyway, I''m enjoying it and I will continue to, especially given that we''re just about to start winning some games...

I think you''re spot on about Southampton - if they lose Beattie they''ll be in real trouble.

I''ll wish you good luck for the season, but if it comes to the crunch I''ll pray for you to go down over City. I''m sure you won''t begrudge me that!

[Gentleman Jim 0]

Nice post Dan Cooper, seems you''re experiencing same emotions as us, perhaps a player exchange would be beneficial to us both !

We''ll have Andy Johnson from you !

Who do you want from us ?

 

[ZLF 342]

A warm city welcome to our board Dan.

Prior to our Villa game confidence we fairly good - despite a tough start of the season we had acquitted ourselves well putting in good efforts in defeat to Manure and looking comfortable against Spurs and Newcastle. Like everyone else we looked a league behind the gooners.

Like you our doom mongers have been out in force since the defeat at Anfield with most disquiet surrounding the choice of striker (Doherty) and our new defensive diamond formation.

The formation is the main concern as it forces the team to be defensive with three deep lying midfield protectors. As a result the goal threat has dropped to just two on target efforts goals during the last 2 games and no goal from open play since Newcastle all those weeks ago.

Despite this I remain cautiousally optimistic. If we can start to find the net over the next 8 weeks (when we face mainly lower/mid table sides) then our chances of survival will increase significantly, as would signing a striker to go alongside Huckerby.

Like you we would love to prove Hansen & Lawro wrong and wish you the best in your attempt to do likewise -as long as you finish below us!

OTBC

[Super Shaun Carey 0]

Good post Dan, and as others have said, a warm welcome.

On the first game of the season, I was particularly impressed with Routledge, who looked very sharp.

After your first game at Carrow Road, and results/performances since, are you now feeling, as I am sure many Norwich fans are, that it was definitely two points dropped, rather than one point gained, and are you wondering how significant that result will be come the end of the season?

 

[Dan Cooper 0]

Cheers guys for the warm welcome. As for swapping AJ - maybe not but could we tempt you with a Speroni for Green deal? No? Oh well. Yeah, I guess that we do now view the game at Carrow Road as two points dropped but at the time I, like many others, was more than happy with a point. But then I hadn''t seen us getting 0 points from Everton and Man City at home - two games that were a big blow for us. I think that so far our huge problem has been simply keeping the ball. You might get away with sloppy possession in Div 1 but here, as we all know, you get punished harshly. Though I couldn''t make it up to Villa, all reports indicate that we managed to keep possesion far better than in previous games and it made a telling difference. As for Routledge, he''s a player over whom there is a lot of debate amonst Palace fans. He''s more than capable of producing a bit of utter magic (eg against you to set up AJ''s goal) but often he does seem to try a little too much. Also, he has an annoying habit of beating 2 or three men with a sublime bit of skill before giving the ball away cheaply or delivering a pants cross. That said, I would certainly not drop him (as some fans have suggested) - his presence does make defenders nervous and we all know what he can produce. I guess he''s only 19 as well so is naturally going to have parts of his game that need development.

How have your new signings been? Ours have been up and down. Speroni (despite the earlier joke!) I feel sorry for, his massive blunder vs Everton did disguise the fact that he''s an excellent shot stopper who has already made some great athletic saves. However, once the defence loses confidence in the keeper disaster looms which I think is why he has now been dropped. Fitz hall looks class, Torghelle looked class against you but seems to be steadily going downhill (although I don''t think he''s 100% fit) and Kolkka has shown the odd good bit here and there. Ventola looks a class above from his fleeting appearances but, surprise surprise, is now out for 3 weeks. Lets hope Lakis does well and that the Petit deal comes off.

But this league is bloody hard isn''t it. No longer can we look at the fixture list thinking ''Rotheram at home - 3 points in the bag''! I really hope West Brom go but much as I would love it, I guess one of us is also certainly going to get the chop. Already getting nervous about Norwich at Selhurst and its ages away!

Feel free to head over to www.cpfc.org at some stage for some reasoned discussion!

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonzey 0]

Welcome Dan.

You''re right, it is tough in the top league. But I''m loving every minute of watching Norwich play against some of the best players in the world. Maybe we are very likely to get relegated, but then just think of the party we''re gonna have if we stay up! It''ll be like winning the league again!

While you''re here maybe you can explain to us exactly why Andy Johnson munches an imaginary burger every time he scores?