Brighton 1-2 Crystal Palace - Monday 22nd February, 2021

[Stan]

Kick-off 20.00

Live on Sky Sports

       VS     

Recent Form
Brighton - DLDWW
Crystal Palace - LLWWL

Last 3 Meetings
18/10/2020 - Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton
29/02/2020 - Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace
16/12/2019 - Crystal palace 1-1 Brighton

[Dave]

The dynamics of the HF have changed a lot of the last previous seasons. A lot of the influential members who bought attention to the group when we first got promoted have grown up and are no longer involved. As a group, they're also not as representative of the fan base as they once were. Not paying for season tickets this season and refusing to attend games previously because they weren't allowed to sit where they wanted did grate people.

However, it goes without saying that Steve Parish has bent over to appease them in the past. Some of the bigger clout chasing Twitter accounts have suggested that Steve Parish is well aware of the fan base's anger towards the lack of direction the club have under the current coaching structure. 

My personal opinion is that a lot of these fans, whilst being very passionate, don't understand business. Football is a business at this high level. Every year we are in the Premier League we make £150,000,000+. Under the current structure we are under no risk of losing that. Whilst The Championship is very exciting, would any of those owners trade their current position for the security of eight straight seasons in The Premier League? Of course they would.

We need to be careful, there is absolutely no reason why we couldn't fold like Charlton did with Curbishley and Ipswich did with McCarthy if we go as rogue as some of this fan base wants.

Roy Hodgson will leave at some point, but he will go when the time is right. Sean Dyche isn't available, Frank Lampard isn't available, Eddie Howe doesn't seem interested in taking a job until the end of the season, Steve Cooper is unlikely to be available until the end of the season. Ideally a new manager would assess the players he wants to keep now but that doesn't seem feasible.

For now though, we've been in the Premier League for eight years, our manager is a local man that gets the club, our best player is a local lad who may go down as the greatest player in our history and we're Crystal Palace. Lets just enjoy it.

[Danny]

49 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

The dynamics of the HF have changed a lot of the last previous seasons. A lot of the influential members who bought attention to the group when we first got promoted have grown up and are no longer involved. As a group, they're also not as representative of the fan base as they once were. Not paying for season tickets this season and refusing to attend games previously because they weren't allowed to sit where they wanted did grate people.

However, it goes without saying that Steve Parish has bent over to appease them in the past. Some of the bigger clout chasing Twitter accounts have suggested that Steve Parish is well aware of the fan base's anger towards the lack of direction the club have under the current coaching structure. 

My personal opinion is that a lot of these fans, whilst being very passionate, don't understand business. Football is a business at this high level. Every year we are in the Premier League we make £150,000,000+. Under the current structure we are under no risk of losing that. Whilst The Championship is very exciting, would any of those owners trade their current position for the security of eight straight seasons in The Premier League? Of course they would.

We need to be careful, there is absolutely no reason why we couldn't fold like Charlton did with Curbishley and Ipswich did with McCarthy if we go as rogue as some of this fan base wants.

Roy Hodgson will leave at some point, but he will go when the time is right. Sean Dyche isn't available, Frank Lampard isn't available, Eddie Howe doesn't seem interested in taking a job until the end of the season, Steve Cooper is unlikely to be available until the end of the season. Ideally a new manager would assess the players he wants to keep now but that doesn't seem feasible.

For now though, we've been in the Premier League for eight years, our manager is a local man that gets the club, our best player is a local lad who may go down as the greatest player in our history and we're Crystal Palace. Lets just enjoy it.

Isn't that the issue? You've not really been exciting to watch since you had Bolasie and Zaha down the wings, you'd of expected a return to something when Eze was signed. Currently you are the stodge on the plate that no one wants to touch that seems to be happy just being on the plate, would you genuinely rather be consistent lower-table mediocrity that achieves little, with no chance of improvement under current management & the occasional win over a big side over the potential to either fight for a Europa League spot/end up midtable at worse or if you do get relegated, be in that consistent top half battle to go up?

I get what you mean when people don't really understand the full mechanics behind how a club needs to operate and you had some dark years prior to your promotion, but surely you're more financially stable now? What is the future with £150,000,000+ going into your back pockets? What are the current plans you have in place that make your current positioning worth it?

[Dave]

8 hours ago, Danny said:

Isn't that the issue? You've not really been exciting to watch since you had Bolasie and Zaha down the wings, you'd of expected a return to something when Eze was signed. Currently you are the stodge on the plate that no one wants to touch that seems to be happy just being on the plate, would you genuinely rather be consistent lower-table mediocrity that achieves little, with no chance of improvement under current management & the occasional win over a big side over the potential to either fight for a Europa League spot/end up midtable at worse or if you do get relegated, be in that consistent top half battle to go up?

I get what you mean when people don't really understand the full mechanics behind how a club needs to operate and you had some dark years prior to your promotion, but surely you're more financially stable now? What is the future with £150,000,000+ going into your back pockets? What are the current plans you have in place that make your current positioning worth it?

There's a lot of progress that has happened behind the scenes. We're working on a new stand (the area has made it really difficult) and have now achieved Cat A academy status. The new training ground is fantastic. Stability is key at the minute and shouldn't be risked just to improve our xG by 1.16. It wasn't long ago people were laughing at us because we were regularly top five spenders in the league (30 odd million for Benteke and the same again for Sakho !!) and went through managers like hot dinners. We're the polar opposite of that now.

I don't want to see us in The Championship. As your experiencing now, its a bitch to get out of that league and there's every suggestion once we go we could eventually drop twice. We're getting victories over top six sides every season, every team in The Championship is thirsty for that.

I imagine over time we will become a better team to watch. Eze has been a breath of fresh air at times but Roy is right in the sense that he does need to improve the defensive element of his game. Yannick Bolasie is a great example of somebody who could do it in all phases of play. All the players we've been linked with in the last eighteen months by reputable sources have been positive.

Fans need to be patient about it. We may not be as data savvy as the likes of Leicester, Man City, Liverpool and Brentford to aid recruitment to further the club and we're very much playing catch up but we're still in safe hands which is a far cry from a lot of other clubs we have been similar too historically.

[Dave]

Mateta went from zero to sex with that goal.

[Stan]

That is one hell of a way to get your first goal. Perfect opponent to do it against, too...

[Danny]

That was a lovely finish from Mateta, Palace have been crying out for a goal scorer for years. He seems to have a record that suggests there’s potential in him, score 10 goals in 17 apps for Mainz this season? Done 14 two seasons ago.

How comes Mainz sold him? Money doesn’t seem that inspiring, at the end of his contract?

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 minutes ago, Danny said:

That was a lovely finish from Mateta, Palace have been crying out for a goal scorer for years. He seems to have a record that suggests there’s potential in him, score 10 goals in 17 apps for Mainz this season? Done 14 two seasons ago.

How comes Mainz sold him? Money doesn’t seem that inspiring, at the end of his contract?

According to wiki looks like he had 2 years left.... so idk if the price would be low because of the contract? I mean honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Mainz just needed a bit of money because of COVID and probably were hoping to get more from Palace, but Palace also probably dealing with COVID finance issues could easily have said "this is the best we can do during COVID."

Might mean the transfer market is getting a bit closer to "normal" prices because of the affects of the pandemic. January spending was just under 1/3 what it was last year. No fans in stands means no concessions sold to those stands - so there's a lot of lost revenue for pretty much every club (not Man City probably).

[Bluebird Hewitt]

1-1. Veltman with Brighton's equaliser. 

[ROBBIEFC]

Absolute spew! Had a bet cashed out for £3.14 when Palace were 0-0. Potential returns of nearly £500. They had to be winning be half-time.

Two minutes later they score. Cash out would've been three figures easily. Spew! A rookie error!

[Dr. Gonzo]

I thought that was pretty quick thinking from Welbeck... but looks like the defender's made a mistake.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, Robbie said:

Absolute spew! Had a bet cashed out for £3.14 when Palace were 0-0. Potential returns of nearly £500. They had to be winning be half-time.

Two minutes later they score. Cash out would've been three figures easily. Spew!

If I start betting on matches... is it going to make me enjoy football more, or make me frustrated as I watch myself lose money ? 

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

If I start betting on matches... is it going to make me enjoy football more, or make me frustrated as I watch myself lose money ? 

the latter

[Stan]

Palace defending 

[Stan]

Oh my word. 

How have Palace won this  

Benteke volley 95th minute.

[Dave]

Absolute robbery that. What a club.

[Stan]

2 Palace touches in Brighton's box.

Brighton 45 attempts on goal in the 2 games vs Palace this season. Palace 4?

@The Palace Fan must be loving this!

[Dr. Gonzo]

I can't believe I witnessed blatant theft like that on television.

[Dave]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

2 Palace touches in Brighton's box.

Brighton 45 attempts on goal in the 2 games vs Palace this season. Palace 4?

@The Palace Fan must be loving this!

xG you say?

 

[ROBBIEFC]

53 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

If I start betting on matches... is it going to make me enjoy football more, or make me frustrated as I watch myself lose money ? 

It would've won me £478.56. Gutted is an understatement. To answer, a bit of both.

 

[Dave]

 

[Dan+]

Brighton are pathetic up front. It feels like every single home game of theirs they absolutely dominate the stats but never actually win.

[Danny]

I don’t know how their xG is so good cos whenever I see them play they just smash the woodwork 

[Devil-Dick Willie]

XG is an enormous farce. Palace, proved it in their 2 games, against brighton, but more ongoingly, Brighton and Liverpool are proving it week in week out. 
XG in of itself isn't any more important a stat that possession, fouls in your own defensive 3rd or touches in the box as far as the outcome of a game. If your strikers lack ability or confidence I couldn't give a fuck how many chances are created for them or how many one on ones guys like Timo Werner get.

It's just a part of a tribe of circlejerkers who watch twatofootball and watch videos on how Real Madrid and Barcelona should be targeting a "surprise package from Mexicos 2nd dvision" or a "cunning midfielder who has created the 6th most chances in the Eredevise"

[Inverted]

For elite teams I think it’s useful for seeing who isn’t taking their chances and teams which are on a hot streak.

For teams like Brighton, which have a decent coach and a lot of nice creative players, but no serious forwards, it just becomes farcical. 

Part of football is finding players who are good in front of goal, and training the team so that it is able to put those players into goal scoring positions. Expected goals is useful if you assume that is what every team is doing - but Brighton clearly aren’t doing that. 

They cram as many creators as possible into the team, get them to combine nicely around the box, and then assume that some shit will stick to the wall.