Palace Game - Last chance saloon

[BroadstairsR 2,209]

Houdini Hughton will likely pull another great escape ..... if his job is indeed as often on the line as some assume/hope.

I, and I think others as well have always wavered from between being slightly in favour or slightly against CH''s tenancy right from the very start. My fickle opinion sways with each result.

That''s a football clubs supporter''s privilege, surely?

In the long term I just do not fancy overmuch of this cautious, unadventurous stuff. In the short term I crave points.

"Fuckle is as fuckle does."

[simmo_2 6]

[quote user="Orford65"]A win would be great, one point acceptable and even a defeat would''nt be that much of a disaster.I have us down for a draw and we will finish the season with 40 points in 11th. place - no problem![/quote]To finish in 11th with 40 points would be a miracle, losing to palace would be a disaster and I think if we do lose Hughton will struggle to hold his position.

[Mello Yello 2,303]

Well regardless of all those stats and number crunching and manipulations etc, etc  of frankly which I actually care nought. I personally think at least 3 points against Crystal ''Pulis'' is a complete and unquestionable must.

If we are able to reproduce the focus, attitude and commitment witnessed against Man Utd, then hopefully we may just come away with all the points. Winning breeds confidence - and it''s that fluctuating confidence with on occasion poor motivation - coupled with inconsistency and discipline - is what I feel is causing our erratic and stuttering performances and inability to put the ball in the net.

Crystal ''Pulis'' are going to be encouraged by their display against Man City - and I hope that we are also buoyant after the most recent narrow defeat against last season''s Premiership Champs.

Crystal ''Pulis'' is in my opinion a ''must win'' game - as it will retain that narrow gap between us and those who currently occupy those places in the relegation zone.

Nobody in the top six are running away with the points  midway through the season - and it''s presently as tight at the top as it is at the bottom......It''s our run-in towards the latter end of the season that concerns me somewhat......I''d like the points under the belt before we get to compete in the last quarter against those in the upper echelons who are vying for a Premiership title and also a Champions League place.....

But then again, it''s only my personal opinion....... 

[Satoshi Nakamoto 0]

I agree, losing would be a disaster and 40 points would be a miracle!I think we will get somewhere between 34 to 37 points.However I expect that CH will stay in post for at least the rest of this season.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

I think we will draw. Hughton has a habit of getting something from these ''impending doom'' games.

[CanaryOne 0]

Simple fact is if you lose to Fulham at home and Palace away then the chances are you wont win enough games to stay up . Lose Weds and i see no other outcome but relegation , sadly i think we will accept relegation rather than sack the Mr Nice Guy manager , 9 wins in 40 is atrocious and he should have gone months ago.

[Holtcantshoot 0]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Holtcantshoot"][quote user="The gut"]Maybe not a must win but a definite 6 pointer![/quote]As the great Kevin Keegan once said, they''ve got two options. They can win, lose or draw.Personally can''t see us winning that game. We''re struggling for goals right now and Palace are much improved under Tony Pulis from the team we scrapped a 1-0 win over at home a month ago. Form would likely suggest a low scoring victory on the behalf of Palace unfortunately.Unless we''re beaten by 3+ goals though it would be worth replacing the manager over.[/quote]Pullis was appointed on 23rd Nov, his first game was away at Norwich. In the 7 games of his tenure he has gained 9 points (supposedly great form)In the same time period City have gained 8 pts (supposedly poor form).If both teams completed the season in the same form they still wouldn''t catch us.Many a beautiful theory spoiled by an ugly fact.[;)][/quote]I didn''t at any point state that Crystal Palace were on "supposedly great form" only that Palace are "improved under Pulis" 9 points from 7 games is better than the 7 points from 12 games they''d had previously, hence "improved".Apologies if that''s difficult to comprehend, I could try and explain my point of view in single syllable words if that would help you.The fact that we''ve failed to score in two games and Palace have won 4 recent matches against other teams of Norwich''s calibre in Hull, Cardiff, Aston Villa and West Ham without conceding would suggest to me they''ll likely just scrape a victory. Hence my 1-0 prediction.

[basil brush 0]

There is a simple equation for tomorrow:

Our record at Selhurst + Chris Hughton = defeat

[FenwayFrank 2,469]

So in a nutshell, with half the season to go some people think we''ll be relegated tomorrow ?

[Chelmsford Canary 0]

Bring in a manager who has no idea about our squad, who to buy or what we need at the beginning of the window.

Surely they would have sacked him a month before the palace game?

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

---------ricardo-------

In the 7 games of his tenure he has gained 9 points (supposedly great form)

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

Looking at the games that is pretty good form to me, given we are talking about Crystal Palace, the worst squad in the league, and when he arrived they had 7 points in 12 games.

WIns:

Villa A

Cardiff H

West Ham H

Defeats:

Norwich A

Man City A

Newcastle H

Chelsea A

Continue this to the end of the season and they will get 40 points. If Pulis keeps Crystal Palace up he has performed a miracle.

[Holtcantshoot 0]

[quote user="Chelmsford Canary"]Bring in a manager who has no idea about our squad, who to buy or what we need at the beginning of the window.

Surely they would have sacked him a month before the palace game?[/quote]Hughton has got a team promoted from the Championship and gotten a side into the play-offs in the two seasons he has managed at that level. He''s also kept a smallish team up last year in his first full season in the Premier League and his team is currently above the drop zone.If we did sack him we''d struggle to find anyone with as much recent experience and success of managing in the bottom half of the premier league / top half of the Championship. So doesn''t seem to be a lot of point getting rid of him right now.

[Highland Canary 76]

I suspect that if we''re 15 points adrift before our last ''tricky'' five games, these too would not be considered ''must win'' by some. Tomorrow''s match is a must win game.

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

Whilst two home defeats puts pressure on again, no away game is a ''must win'' at this stage of the season. IMO a draw would at least maintain the status quo. I''m hoping for a win, but won''t dismiss a draw. Whatever it may be, it isn''t a ''Last chance saloon'' as there are 18 more chances to come before the season finishes.

[PurpleCanary 5,586]

[quote user="Holtcantshoot"][quote user="Chelmsford Canary"]Bring in a manager who has no idea about our squad, who to buy or what we need at the beginning of the window.

Surely they would have sacked him a month before the palace game?[/quote]Hughton has got a team promoted from the Championship and gotten a side into the play-offs in the two seasons he has managed at that level. He''s also kept a smallish team up last year in his first full season in the Premier League and his team is currently above the drop zone.If we did sack him we''d struggle to find anyone with as much recent experience and success of managing in the bottom half of the premier league / top half of the Championship. So doesn''t seem to be a lot of point getting rid of him right now. [/quote]Twice?

[ron obvious 1,514]

Highland Canary wrote the following post at 31/12/2013 7:50 PM:

I suspect that if we''re 15 points adrift before our last ''tricky'' five games, these too would not be considered ''must win'' by some. Tomorrow''s match is a must win game.

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

Well, Mr McT, that''s an interesting mathematical proposition.

Let''s be generous & suppose the 3rd from bottom team had 30 points with 5 games to go. 15 points off of 30 is .... 15!

Wait a minute ....Ah! Now I see! - we''re going to be deducted points for having a boring nice guy manager.

Makes perfect sense now.

[Waveney Canary 0]

Unless we win and win convincingly tomorrow I am going to call for the sacking of hughton and the return of the Messiah

[SeattleCanary 0]

What is a convincing win though? The scoreline or the performance. West Ham at 3-1 wasn''t as convincing as say Stoke at 1-0.

Either way, there is no point hoping or calling for something that won''t happen, its too late now. Hughton should be replaced in the summer no matter what, as he has had more than the normal 10 game period, and much more time has passed that a change is almost now pointless.

[Norwich or die tryin! 0]

We must win tomorrow or that has to be it for Hughton. A draw is not good enough unlike the Sunderland game. Personally i am stragely confident for tomorrow, although a win would give clueless Chris more time so you could call it loose loose. How about a city win and Hughton out of a job, what a perfect start to 2014 that would be.

[Yellow Bird 0]

Ok, so its not a must win, but it would be good to win. We''ve not had a great end to 2013 and the final string of fixtures in April/May are tricky to say the least. I say get points on the board ASAP

[ricardo 7,402]

[quote user="Highland Canary"]I suspect that if we''re 15 points adrift before our last ''tricky'' five games, these too would not be considered ''must win'' by some. Tomorrow''s match is a must win game.[/quote]

It isn''t.

[ricardo 7,402]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]---------ricardo-------

In the 7 games of his tenure he has gained 9 points (supposedly great form)

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

Looking at the games that is pretty good form to me, given we are talking about Crystal Palace, the worst squad in the league, and when he arrived they had 7 points in 12 games.

WIns:

Villa A

Cardiff H

West Ham H

Defeats:

Norwich A

Man City A

Newcastle H

Chelsea A

Continue this to the end of the season and they will get 40 points. If Pulis keeps Crystal Palace up he has performed a miracle.[/quote]

There is no possibility of Palace getting 40 points.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]---------ricardo-------

In the 7 games of his tenure he has gained 9 points (supposedly great form)

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

Looking at the games that is pretty good form to me, given we are talking about Crystal Palace, the worst squad in the league, and when he arrived they had 7 points in 12 games.

WIns:

Villa A

Cardiff H

West Ham H

Defeats:

Norwich A

Man City A

Newcastle H

Chelsea A

Continue this to the end of the season and they will get 40 points. If Pulis keeps Crystal Palace up he has performed a miracle.[/quote]

There is no possibility of Palace getting 40 points.[/quote]Pulis may well still keep the worst squad in the division up however.Lose today and it is highly unlikely we will get 40 points. 

[Jim Smith 2,339]

A draw would be acceptable if we have to settle for it at the end of the game.

What will not be acceptable is playing for a draw for all or part of this game. If we try and do that then we will lose.

For all their upturn Palace are not very good. We beat them a few weeks ago playing poorly. If we play to the level we played on Saturday then we are certainly capable of winning there just as Newcastle did at a canter recently.

A defeat in this game will be disastrous not only in terms of our own points situation but also in terms of gifting further momentum to Palace. If we lose he must surely be sacked!

[ricardo 7,402]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]---------ricardo-------

In the 7 games of his tenure he has gained 9 points (supposedly great form)

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

Looking at the games that is pretty good form to me, given we are talking about Crystal Palace, the worst squad in the league, and when he arrived they had 7 points in 12 games.

WIns:

Villa A

Cardiff H

West Ham H

Defeats:

Norwich A

Man City A

Newcastle H

Chelsea A

Continue this to the end of the season and they will get 40 points. If Pulis keeps Crystal Palace up he has performed a miracle.[/quote]

There is no possibility of Palace getting 40 points.[/quote]Pulis may well still keep the worst squad in the division up however.Lose today and it is highly unlikely we will get 40 points.  [/quote]As no doubt I''ve told you before, there will be 5-7 teams who won''t get 40 points.

[Jim Smith 2,339]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]---------ricardo-------

In the 7 games of his tenure he has gained 9 points (supposedly great form)

--------------------------e

Looking at the games that is pretty good form to me, given we are talking about Crystal Palace, the worst squad in the league, and when he arrived they had 7 points in 12 games.

WIns:

Villa A

Cardiff H

West Ham H

Defeats:

Norwich A

Man City A

Newcastle H

Chelsea A

Continue this to the end of the season and they will get 40 points. If Pulis keeps Crystal Palace up he has performed a miracle.[/quote]

There is no possibility of Palace getting 40 points.[/quote]Pulis may well still keep the worst squad in the division up however.Lose today and it is highly unlikely we will get 40 points.  [/quote]As no doubt I''ve told you before, there will be 5-7 teams who won''t get 40 points.

[/quote]

Does not make it acceptable for us to be one of them. Regardless of whether we stay up or go down, if there is not a reasonable improvement in our points per game ratio over the second half of the season this will have been a disappointing season and Hughton will have done a poor job.

[ricardo 7,402]

[quote user="Jim Smith"][quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]---------ricardo-------

In the 7 games of his tenure he has gained 9 points (supposedly great form)

--------------------------e

Looking at the games that is pretty good form to me, given we are talking about Crystal Palace, the worst squad in the league, and when he arrived they had 7 points in 12 games.

WIns:

Villa A

Cardiff H

West Ham H

Defeats:

Norwich A

Man City A

Newcastle H

Chelsea A

Continue this to the end of the season and they will get 40 points. If Pulis keeps Crystal Palace up he has performed a miracle.[/quote]

There is no possibility of Palace getting 40 points.[/quote]Pulis may well still keep the worst squad in the division up however.Lose today and it is highly unlikely we will get 40 points.  [/quote]As no doubt I''ve told you before, there will be 5-7 teams who won''t get 40 points.

[/quote]

Does not make it acceptable for us to be one of them. Regardless of whether we stay up or go down, if there is not a reasonable improvement in our points per game ratio over the second half of the season this will have been a disappointing season and Hughton will have done a poor job.[/quote]It all depends on what you were expecting from this season.Disappointment comes when reality fails to meet your expectation. I was expecting 44 points this season but now it looks like being around 38-40. So yes I''m a little disappointed but not so much as someone who thought 50 points was achievable.