Blue Armour

So apparently the reason according to Maresca to drop James, was partly because of fitness reasons, but mainly because he believes in Gusto. Embarrassing really. No point in keeping James around as luxury sub. Might as well make a profit.

Stupid reaction by the referee, but what's up with Enzo F. So careless on the ball.

Not to worry. We have Garnacho to solve everything

Hamstring vs cruciate ligament injury.

Tosin awful positioning.

Probably smarter to just hold on to Jackson. Delap will be out for a bit. But not that long, ala Colwill. And these guys haven't bothered getting a CB replacement. Don't think we will get a replacement just for Delap.

Well. Now it looks like we have a real confirmed injury. Delap.

Might as well just sell him if he's only going to stick around as a sub. I get dropping him for every other game. Or at worse, dropping him if the opposition is low tier. Anyway, there could have been another reason for Maresca to drop James. Might find out after the game.

Needs to match the blue of the Osgood jersey

Hilarious the SportingID have to tell the club how to better place the CWC badge. Looks better than leaving it bang in the middle between the Nike and club logos.

What happens if Nknuku and Jackson remain, and there are no further incomings? Will the club still be foul of the UEFA books? Would leaving a player or two out of the registration for UEFA competition mitigate this?

And this against West Ham:

Arsenal and other clubs fans were quick to gloat after this result. Probably been waiting all summer to give it back, after Chelsea’s world cup exploits. Disappointing, but make no mistake. Palace were well organized throughout the game. We won't face too many teams like that in the league.

Because of the high wages, Sterling will likely only be loaned out. These long term contracts are a pain. Other clubs will know about our situation with UEFA and FFP. No doubt they will twist the knife in these negotiations.

Also, even if Pedro was marked out for most of the game, I wish we had kept him on, by moving him to the wing and let Delap come on for one of the other wingers. Just to get more goal threat up front.

Game was calling out for the likes of him. Maybe Estevao will get there in time, but having a player that can make things happen out of nothing,..those were the days.

Yeesh, barring Chillwell, the rest of them were stockpiled by these guys. They are getting better, but they need to have more signings like Estavao and Palmer, as opposed to squad fillers like Disasi. The fact that that a lot of them are on long contracts can't help either.

Again. If true, very worrying.

We had a 2 match preseason in addition to the club world cup. If anything, I think the team needed a little bit of rest before jumping straight into the pace of the Premier league. Disappointing tactically against an organized Palace side. They're going to face more of the same against West Ham, but at least they are not as well organized as Palace. So hopefully our attackers can open their account there.

Enzo was off it, but not sure what was up with Palmer. Came alive only during the last 10 mins of the game. Guess Delap helped draw some attention from the defenders away from him

Positive is the fact we kept a clean sheet. With all the talk of injured CBs Josh and co did a solid job. We were just outplayed tactically. Should won it at the end with Santos though.

Santos. Damn.

Gusto has low game IQ. All the time in the world and the guy decides to blast a shot.

Good. Was worried about him up against Gusto.

Andrey Santos and Gusto