Jase

Yes, we did well to stop their counter attacks but really, let's not pretend Crystal Palace are anything other than pragmatic, defensive under Roy Hodgson. We played a more proactive side yesterday, a side looking to attack and press us and look what happened. I don't know why the other Big 6 have struggled against Palace but our record against them has been good over the last few years. We have won 11 of the last 15 encounters, including the last 6.

Does Cech fancy coming out of retirement? Has been in training with the other keepers and is younger than Caballero...

But it doesn't mean we should just blindly give him time if there's no progress. The club knew they got an inexperienced manager but am sure they also expected progress and improvement. As I said in the other thread, if we continue to take a step forward and two steps backward in the next 1-2 months, am sure Roman and the board will start asking questions.

No one is questioning that but whether Lampard is the right person to get the best out of those players and the team in the long run remains to be seen.

If we continue to take one step forward and two steps backward in the next 1-2 months, think Roman and the board will start asking questions.

Oh right. That makes this even shittier then.

That is still no excuse to be dropping points in 3-3 (THREE-THREE!) draws against the likes of West Brom and Southampton...

But that doesn't tell the whole story, does it? Liverpool have had a tougher opening 5 games compared to us and they are the ones who gotten more points out of it. And mind you, we are only 2 points ahead of Man United, who are supposedly very shit under Solskjaer. Lose to them next weekend and we'll be behind them...

You're sorely mistaken if you think this is about the goalkeepers only when it comes to the system.

Sevilla's record since Feb 16 this year - DDWDWDWDDDDWWWWDWWWWWLWWDL. 14 wins, 10 draws, 2 losses in 26 games. One of those losses was to Bayern Munich in extra time while they lost the other after going down to 10 men. 8 of Sevilla's 10 losses in all competitions under Lopetegui have been 1-goal losses.

We see the same individuals make mistakes on a regular basis but who is the one that keeps picking them to play? Moreover, no player is perfect and players should be set up in a system where their strengths are highlighted and mistakes are minimized but we are seeing more of the latter than the former. The manager's job is also to iron out mistakes from players - as much as possible, if not to next to zero - and if they are still making mistakes, then they really should be binned and not allowed near the team again. But if they are, then only one person is responsible for that because he picks the team.

To be fair, not many teams beat Palace 4-0 or by a heavy scoreline when their manager is as pragmatic/defensive as Roy Hodgson. In any case, our record is still better than some of the shockers the other Big 6 have had against Palace in recent seasons.

I don't know what's their exact record against the others but we have won 11 of our last 15 matches against Palace, including the last 6.

Quite the sudden turnaround given we were arguing from opposite ends only like 2-3 weeks ago, IIRC.

What happened to your positivity!?

But Palace have never really been a problem for us over the years, even with the odd hiccup against them like in 2016/17. And given how they set up few weeks ago, Palace weren't really the greatest of tests for Silva and Zouma. As it stands, yes but they still need to be tested as a pair against better opponents than Crystal Palace.

But we know we won't. We should have 12/12 four of our five league games - apart from Liverpool - but have only 8/12!

You're right. All these individual mistakes seem to happen on a weekly basis, which seems to suggest a deeper malaise in the team. Even if it's not entirely wrong, the "individual mistakes" reason feels like a cheap cop-out at this point.

Said it in another thread, it feels like Lampard is being "forced" to play Kepa because of his price tag. If he had cost 7 million and not 70 million, he would have been sent to rot elsewhere by now. At this point, the club just need to accept the financial loss from this Kepa mistake and move on OR Lampard needs to grow a pair and bin Kepa for good. At the rate it's going, Kepa is going to cost us more on the pitch than off the pitch!

Pretty sure Barkley pushed for the move to boost his own chances of going to the Euros with England.

He may not have put a foot wrong since then but let's not kid ourselves here considering he has played only against West Brom and Crystal Palace in the league. West Brom, once they got the 3-0 lead, were happy to just sit back and defend that lead. They didn't even bother to have a go at us. Crystal Palace are hardly an adventurous side under Roy Hodgson. They set up defensively and just tried to play on the counter. Long story short, West Brom and Palace have hardly been challenging opponents for Silva given how pragmatic they were. Assuming he plays both, the Sevilla and Man United games will give a better indication of whether he is an upgrade or will he just be inconsistent in this team.

And they came back to win 4-1. Still "little easier" to swallow?

I. FUCKING. HATE. FOOTBALL.

So this is where we're at now? Measuring Tomori against Piazon with him as a barometer? But Greenwood is not exactly a winger is he? Abraham was only 20 and playing in his first season in the Premier League. Hardly a surprise he struggled, especially in a terrible team like Swansea were back then. More top performances but what else? Has Kovacic gotten more creative? Has Kovacic provided more assists or scored more goals?

He's been involved in three 3-3 draws over the last month. Must be frustrating indeed.