More On The Palace Match

[Standanista]

(Posted this originally on another thread but it's got chopped off, so anyway, here's my two twopenn'orth...)

Palace shaded the first half, a half scrappy in spells with a fair bit of head tennis played.  I disagree that they were a poor side.  For me they looked well organised, closed us down, were dangerous on the break and are a side worthy of their league position.

I was sat exactly level with the 18 yard line for the Palace penalty shout and the push looked just outside the box, but you will have seen them given.  But while the ref let play flow and was a bit of a homer if anything, the West Stand linesman was dire, failing to keep up with play and calling a few offsides where our player was literally still on by yards.  The push incident arose from a poor kick out by Sully, whose distribution wasn't great but who otherwise had a solid game, saving well low to his right in the first half and tipping another over in the second.  In a recent interview SOD discussed picking Woods over Sullivan because it gave us more options with distribution.  That, with retrospect, is possibly an indication that SOD was starting to lose the plot a bit, when you're picking a goalie for his ancillary abilities rather than the player who does the core stuff best, which is keeping the ball out of the net.

The back four were solid, Friend and Martis in particular but all worthy of a mention.  As with the Sullivan selection, I'd contrast Naylor getting subbed at half time the other week for not \"building from the back\" with the no-nonsense centre half's shift he put in today.  That five can start every game for the rest of the season for me.

We played variations on a 4-3-3, which was sometimes a 4-1-2-3 and sometimes 4-1-2-2-1, Stock dropping behind Oster and Gillett into a slot in front of defence.  He looked a bit rusty for me but good in parts, sloppy with some of his passing but better with his tackling.  Oster had a good game, and Gillett did okay.  Coppinger was off his game, Hayter his usual self but played down the left rather than in the lone striker role of late.  Parkin is a monster of a unit.  He put himself about and Palace defenders on their arse more than once, but the several attempts to reach him through the air first half were too often overhit or sprayed wide.  Finally, though, he gives us another dimension up front.  On the evidence today, I'm looking forward to seeing him and Billy lining up together, with Sharp feeding off Parkin's knock-downs.  With him and Shelts starting we finally had some height in the team again for the first time in a while.

I'd actually put that first half down as almost a training session and a chance for Saunders to have a proper look at his players.  Something significant happened in the dressing room at half time, anyway, because we dominated the second half, even before the subs were made.  I felt a bit sorry for Parkin, but you should have heard the reception when Billy's number was held up.  He was clearly well up for it going by his gestures to the crowd, and looked pretty much back to his usual self.  Lalkovic was the pick of the subs though and should start next game for me.  His flicks and touches, the way he ghosted between two defenders straight after coming on and a curling far post effort which went just wide all had \"Premiership\" stamped indelibly through them.  All credit to Deano for bringing both on with plenty of time for them to make a difference.

Oster's goal took a lucky deflection but we looked good all half and should have had a second when Hayter shot over with time and a gaping goal both in his favour, off a Sharp lay off.

It was good to hear the crowd getting behind Saunders, and even better to see positive football.  I'm reminded of a game at St Andrews in 1985 when I saw Liverpool at the height of their powers muller Birmingham, the 2-0 scoreline not reflecting a game they dominated.  I remember their 4-3-3 with Dalglish and Craig Johnston playing either side of Ian Rush.  While that's a bit before Deano's time with Liverpool, his Anfield days will naturally have had some bearing on his approach to formations and football generally at Wrexham and now Rovers, and I like what I've seen so far.  If the second half is indicative of what's to come then book your North West London season-end accommodation now.

[BRMC_rover]

If the second half is indicative of what's to come then book your North West London season-end accommodation now.

Hope so. The little Bald man on FL show was asking for Dean Saunders to do his Brian Clough impression. He didnt do it, hopefully because it involves impersonating managing a teams climb from bottom to top of the 2nd tier.  Cant be done in a 2 minute interview.

Top post btw, great summary. Im excited for Tuesday.

[Jonathan]

Good summary of the game, not really a lot that can be added to that!

Although given the choice I'd still rather see Spurr at left back and Friend in the middle (a choice we won't have for a long time it seems).

I'm not overly convinced on the prospect of Sharp playing upfront off a big target man, although I'd happily be proved wrong. I'm not sure Billy's strengths are exploited through fighting for scraps from knockdowns. For me he's at his best when he's pulling defenders around, looking to run in behind or busting a gut to get on the end of crosses. He's so good he almost does the 'target man'/focal point job himself in the middle of all that. Whether having a big man in that area would actually negate some of his strengths, invade his space or ironically slow the ball getting to him, I'm not sure? Time will tell if that's what we go with.

Statistically his best runs infront of goal have come alongside quick/clever players like Keogh and Coppinger, whereas playing with Henderson at Sheffield United didn't always work for him.

[The Red Baron]

Stan- a very fair summary of the game. I must say I thought the first-half shout for a penalty by Palace was nailed-on and whether inside or outside if a foul had been given it would surely have been followed by a red card. Agree 100% with your comments on the \"assistant.\" I thought in the penalty incident Murray had come back from an offside position and the decision to flag Oster off in the second half was scandalous.

I didn't think it was significant at the time but looking back I realise Saunders was taking something of a watching brief in the first half. After the break he seemed a lot more involved and appeared to be calling the shots. That could explain the difference in the way we played in either half. If that's the case, maybe we'll see a performance like the second 45 for 90 minutes on Tuesday. That would be something worth seeing!

[Standanista]

I'm not overly convinced on the prospect of Sharp playing upfront off a big target man, although I'd happily be proved wrong. I'm not sure Billy's strengths are exploited through fighting for scraps from knockdowns. For me he's at his best when he's pulling defenders around, looking to run in behind or busting a gut to get on the end of crosses. He's so good he almost does the 'target man'/focal point job himself in the middle of all that. Whether having a big man in that area would actually negate some of his strengths, invade his space or ironically slow the ball getting to him, I'm not sure? Time will tell if that's what we go with.

Statistically his best runs infront of goal have come alongside quick/clever players like Keogh and Coppinger, whereas playing with Henderson at Sheffield United didn't always work for him.

That's a fair point.  No doubt Deano will give the pairing a go at some stage, anyway, and we'll get to find out.

I must say I thought the first-half shout for a penalty by Palace was nailed-on and whether inside or outside if a foul had been given it would surely have been followed by a red card.

Yep, agreed on both counts, we were lucky.  I looked at the ref straight away expecting him to be pointing to the spot and he didn't, doubly surprising as he wasn't that far away from play.  Luckily our aforementioned linesman friend was covering that diagonal, and missed it.