Relegation

[davek]

We'll see mate.

We play with more caution and tend to win, other than the Watford game like, where the manager did make a mistake in not being braver in the second half.

I thought we were back to old ways under Lampard today when we got our noses in front. We should have been a lot more defensive minded.

Add that to West Ham away and Burnley away when we saw Lampard not keep this team tight when we needed it.

I thought he'd learned that lesson.

 

[BlueToff]

I agree with all of that, The fact is we are unable to string two passes together and even if we survive we are definitely one of the worst three teams in the league.
People say it's in our own hands but we are not good enough to beat Palace or Arsenal.We may still stay up but it will due to Burnley and Leeds failings rather our own merit.

We've won the same number of games as Palace have this season

 

[MikeH72]

It was hard today because the options just weren't there at the back but Allan on to at least press Eriksen made sense. I guess he wanted Gomes' height in there for set-pieces but fat lot of good that would do tbf.

Yeah the fella is petrified of footballs, I don’t think he was going to contribute anything in that department.

 

[Mr K.Dilkington]

I thought we were back to old ways under Lampard today when we got our noses in front. We should have been a lot more defensive minded.

Add that to West Ham away and Burnley away when we saw Lampard not keep this team tight when we needed it.

I thought he'd learned that lesson.

We scored just before half time and then we had 10 men behind the ball until we went behind?

 

[Del-boy]

Having no centre backs on the bench to bring on didn’t help to be honest.

 

[BlueToff]

I thought we were back to old ways under Lampard today when we got our noses in front. We should have been a lot more defensive minded.

Add that to West Ham away and Burnley away when we saw Lampard not keep this team tight when we needed it.

I thought he'd learned that lesson.

Hmmm don't see that really

The mistake at 1-0 was just that, a mistake, from a long ball. A more experienced CB doesn't make that error. But we were playing well.

Then when we did go back in front, we sat really deep because we only had 10 men. So we weren't being too open at all. Brentford just picked us apart and we fell asleep from a corner and Gordon switched off for their winner.

 

[BlueToff]

We scored just before half time and then we had 10 men behind the ball until we went behind?

yeah exactly

 

[BlueToff]

Yeah the fella is petrified of footballs, I don’t think he was going to contribute anything in that department.

He looked half-decent in the first 20 mins but it's his fault for their first goal as he has the chance to clear it and let it bounce. Which our defenders do an awful lot, even though it's literally the first thing anybody is told not to do when they play footy.

 

[Rudolf Hucker]

We need a German doctor to get Mina & Delph on the pitch on Thursday!!!

 

[davek]

I agree with all of that, The fact is we are unable to string two passes together and even if we survive we are definitely one of the worst three teams in the league.
People say it's in our own hands but we are not good enough to beat Palace or Arsenal.We may still stay up but it will due to Burnley and Leeds failings rather our own merit.

Now that the dust has settled on that game today I'll say this: we wont win another point now.

However, if Burnley lose to Villa I just cant see both them and Leeds winning their final games to relegate us. It's very unlikely that will happen.

I think out of the 5 games left of the 3 clubs left to take that final place there'll be 2/3 points won maximum out of all them.

I said it the other day after Watford: we may have secured our PL status with that draw.

We'll see, but if Burnley get beat against Villa I'd put our chances of survival at about 70%-80%.

 

[blueblood]

Even if we lose

They're a good team with a genuinely world class player in midfield, and for the first 20 minutes today I honestly thought we were going to wipe the floor with them because we started that well.

Thomas Frank's change at HT was good. He took off that walking disaster at the back who should have been sent off, pushed Henry (who is actually a really good FB and showed what we lack in Mykolenko from an offensive point of view) up and that gave space to Eriksen to just dictate the play.

I'd have liked Lampard to react by bringing Allan on for Gomes to try and get near Eriksen but 10 men for 70 minutes was only gonna end one way.

This. After the frustration of today has cleared this is what we need to focus on. That was the best start to a game we’ve had possibly all season.
Need to take that into Thursday. Doucoure, Allan and Iwobi in a midfield 3 to try and cut off the supply to Palace’s dangerous attacking players.

 

[paultheblue]

We've won the same number of games as Palace have this season

Several of our wins have been due to adrenlin and the crowd pushing them over the line that can only work for so long and to be honest I think they have already hit a wall with nothing left to give.

 

[davek]

We scored just before half time and then we had 10 men behind the ball until we went behind?

That's not 11 is it?

 

[davek]

Hmmm don't see that really

The mistake at 1-0 was just that, a mistake, from a long ball. A more experienced CB doesn't make that error. But we were playing well.

Then when we did go back in front, we sat really deep because we only had 10 men. So we weren't being too open at all. Brentford just picked us apart and we fell asleep from a corner and Gordon switched off for their winner.

We were sucked up front looking for a second when we should have been protecting what we had.

You just need a goal to win a game.

 

[MACCA75]

5 at the back against Watford really was a shocker.