Crystal palace --- prem survival challenge fm14

CRYSTAL PALACE SURVIVAL CHALLENGE

After watching the eagles get stuffed in reality by Fulham on Monday night 4-1 I began to think to myself this could be one of the weakest & poorest squads to grace the pre since Derby amassed only 1 win out of 38 a few years back.

I started analyzing their squad and by my own opinion decided that the playing staff for the by and large isn't cut out for them prem (no offence palace fans) and that they were probably stronger in the C'chip when they still had Zaha and Murray banging in the goals before his bad knee injury.

This brought me on to think if I could keep them up in the prem on FM........ so i'm going to give it a go.

>FIRST BUDGET TRANSFER WINDOWS HAVE BEEN DISABLED

> ATTRIBUTE MASKING IS ON

MEDIA PREDICTION 20TH

The squad is high on numbers but low on quality and i think i could be in for a real struggle until the transfer budgets are available in January.

Various attempts were made over the summer to get in some good loan deals domestically & abroad but unfortunately Palace already have Puncheon & Jerome on long term loans so no deals could be struck. Unfortunately what I have is what I will have to use.

MILE JEDINAK comes into my office demanding to move to a bigger club...I tell him to slow himself as we havent kicked a ball in the PREM yet.... he's not interested and submits a transfer request which i agree to. That's loyalty for you, when I came into the club he was in with u21's on transfer list and set as not needed. Put my arm round him sorted out his squad status and got him back in with the 1t team and this is how he repays me.... MODERN FOOTBALLLERS!!!

PRE SEASON RESULTS (ASSISTANT MANAGER IN CONTROL)

MLADA BOLESLAV (H) 0-2

LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW (H) 2-2 CHAMAKH, JEROME

EAST STERLINGSHIRE (A) 2-0 HOARE, CHAMAKH

PETERBOROUGH (A) 1-3 SPENCE

LUTON (A) 2-0 MOXEY, JEROME

MODENA (A) 2-2 GUEDIOURA, H'MAIDAT

A tough opening month of the season ahead with the following baptism of fire

CHELSEA (H), EVERTON (A), SHEFF WED (H) LG CUP, ARSENAL (H)

I think being realistic I will be pleased to come out of these opening 3 league games with just 1 point.

Good luck .

Good luck with this - it'll be a tough challenge but Chamakh always looked like he was capable of being deadly when he was at the Emirates - if you can get him firing, you'll be fine ;-)

An interesting challenge, set out a bit different to the usual ones. You should be OK, but on paper they have to be the weakest team in the Premiership this season by a good distance.

17.8.13

CHELSEA (H)

ATT: 25,781

Lined up in a 4-3-3 with about the strongest side I could put out bearing in mind 6 of my squad are currently out with injury

GK- SPERONI, RB- HUNT, CB- DELANEY,CB- MARIAPPA, LB- MOXEY, DMC- JEDINAK ©, MC- WILLIAMS, MC- DIKGACOI, AMR- GRANDIN, AML- PUNCHEON, CF- CHAMAKH

SUBS: PRICE, GABBIDON, WARD, GUDIEOURA, DOBBIE, CAMPAGNA, JEROME

I have set my side out to hassle and tightly mark Chelsea and get in their faces to make it tough for them. I the event we can get on the ball play at a high tempo.

CRYSTAL PALACE 0-4 CHELSEA

Ivanovic 19,35, Eto'o 39, Ba 90 (+1)

A disastrous start to life in the premiership with this game being done and in the books by HT. 3 1st half goals all disappointingly conceded from set pieces could have been avoided with Ivanovic bullying my centre halves from corners to score 2 headers and Eto'o's goal coming from a goal mouth scramble after a free kick pumped into my box. The 2nd half display was a big improvement with Chamakh going close on a couple of occasions after good work down the flanks but Ba put further gloss on the score line for Chelsea finishing from close range after being player through by Hazard.

This was always going to be a tough game but i'm not happy to lose to anyone 4-0 especially at home. A lot of work needs to be done on the training ground next week especially defending set pieces.

PALACE MOTM: JEDINAK 7.5

Tough start, good luck man.

24/8/13

EVERTON (A)

GOODISON PARK

ATT: 37,311

Only 1 change from the Chelsea defeat with Guedioura in for Jon Williams in Midfield to make us more compact and tight to beat.

Set my philosophy out to the lads during the week that we need fight fight and fight again if we are to get any results in this division. I privately know we are individually short in this league with the squad I have so I need to unite to them and get them going together.

Set out a tactical plan to spoil Evertons play today and hopefully knick something on the counter when we get the ball. The full backs have been told in no uncertain terms not to cross the half way line today I want my back 4 in a line at all times and that means in the dressing room, pitch, shower you name it I want them together.

EVERTON 1 - 1 CRYSTAL PALACE

LUKAKU 18 PUNCHEON 3

As bad as the start was last week against Chelsea this couldn't of been any more different and the game plan that was set out pre-match was executed within 3 minutes of the start of the game. An Everton attack was broken up and the ball played down the right channel to Chamakh who managed to bomb down the flank and send in a tempting drilled cross which evaded the Evertone centre halves and was tapped home from 8 yards out by an unmarked Jason Puncheon who had skipped into the box unmarked from the left flank.

Everton equalised in the 18 minute when AGAIN (3rd time in 2 games) a Corner wasn't defended and Belgian power house Lukaku who was a constant menace all game managed to loop a header over Speroni into the net from Baines's out swinging corner. It was backs to the walls from here on out for the remainder of the game and we were more than lucky to come away with a point after some heroic defending and keeping from Speroni to keep it at 1-1.

Everton had 66% possessions so maybe Roberto Martinez will feel aggrieved his side didn't win but that was the fighting quality I was looking for from my side and I am delighted to come away with a point which was my monthly target for the 3 games from Chelsea, Everton & Arsenal. We really dug in today and if we can take that spirit away from home with us all season we will nick more points like this.

PALACE MOTM: MOXEY 8.8

Hurray! You're on the board. A point at Goodison is very impressive. You'll find it tough at the Emirates, but it would be a lot worse if you had zero points after three games!

Love the right up fella.

I'm at home to the gooners though I doubt that will help me judging by the Chelsea result

Nice match reports & a good way to bounce back from the heavy defeat by taking a point at Everton.

Hopefully it will be the springboard to many more points.

27/8/13

SHEFF WED (H)

CAPITAL ONE CUP 2ND RND

SELHURST PARK

ATT: 7,617

I will be mainly using this competition to field squad players in as the priority and the challenge of course it to keep Palace afloat in the PREM.

Wholesale changes were made for the midweek visit of Championship side Sheffield Wednesday with Speroni & Gudieoura the only survivors in the side that got hard a earned point at goodison park on Saturday. Tactical alterations were also made to allow the side to express themselves more with the formation being changed to a narrow diamond formation.

GK- SPERONI, RB- WARD, LB- JEROME WILLIAMS, CB-GABBIDON, CB-RYAN INNISS, DMC -CAMPANA, CM- BANNAN, CM- JON WILLIAMS, AMC-DOBBIE, CF- JEROME, CF- GAYLE

CRYSTAL PALACE 3 - 0 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

Jerome 42, 75 Gayle 48

In what was a closer game than the scoreline suggests with the Yorkshire side having 60% possession it was the clinical finishing of my 2 front men Dwight Gayle & Cameron Jerome that was the difference on the night with both staking very good claims to lead the line in future league games.

The first goal came after good work by creative Welshman Jon Williams, his incisive through ball split the defense to send Dwight Gayle free in the box who then unselfishly squared the ball across the box to leave his striking partner Cameron Jerome with the easy task of stroking the ball into an open goal.

Williams was again the focal point for the 2nd goal, again feeding Dwight Gayle in the box who had his initial shot that could only be parried by the Wednesday keeper Jameson back to Gayle who slotted the rebound into the corner to chalk up a goal on his Palace debut. Palace's 3rd goal was more of the same with Williams again at the heart of it this time feeding Jerome who made no mistake in lashing the ball home from 12 yards out first time past the hapless Jameson.

PALACE MOTM: WARD 9.0

Was very impressed with Williams, Jerome & Gayle and their performances have given me something to think about going into what is going to be a big test against Arsenal

31/8/13

ARSENAL (H)

PREMIER LEAGUE

SELHURST PARK

ATT: 26,297

Despite some good performances in the mid week cup win over Wednesday I have reverted back to the same side & formation that played against Everton as I am expecting a similar type of game where we will be without the ball and on the back foot for large parts of the game.

CRYSTAL PALACE 0 - 0 ARSENAL

YES! YES! YES!

A superb point against a strong Arsenal side which contained the talents of Ozil, Carzola & Giroud in it.

In truth the game was a very drab affair and we looked very comfortable with little in the way of key highlights which is a testament probably to how well we defended as a unit. The best effort of the game came from a speculative cross from Bacary Sagna that cannoned off Speroni's bar in the 80th minute.

We lacked offensive punch not even registering a shot on target but I can swallow that against top opposition, its the games against the similsr sides around me down there which will determine if i stay in this league or not, anything i get from games like this is a bonus and the 2 points I have got from the 2 games v Everton & Arsenal could prove huge come May

PALACE MOTM: HUNT 9.0

I shall be reading this due to you having Guedioura and me liking underdog saves.

Good luck.

At the end of August I am 15th

The board are satisfied how things are going so far (and so they should be) and the positive dressing room atmosphere has also pleased them

SEPTEMBER'S FIXTURES

NORWICH (A) PRM

SOUTHAMPTON (H) PRM

SPURS (A) LG CUP

HULL (A) PRM

International break then 3 league games coming up in September that are very winnable in my opinion. If I could snatch 6 points out of the 9 on offer I would be more than happy but also need to bare in mind that 2 of the games are away and with the squad I have no games are going to be easy.

14/9/13

NORWICH (17TH)

PREMIER LEAGUE

CARROW ROAD

Big fixture against the canaries who have been struggling so far and find themselves 17th after 3 games.

This is the first possible winning game in the league so far and the shackles have been let off on the full backs giving them more license to get forward.

The side remains the same as the Arsenal game though competition for places is increasing with a number of players now returning from injury such as Parr, kebe, blake and the explosive Bolasie's return only around 2 weeks away.

NORWICH 1 - 2 CRYSTAL PALACE

Elmander 55 Chamakh 28, Grandin 33

We started the game well with Puncheon getting a lot of joy against his marker down the left flank and being able to deliver some good crosses which seemed to allude the Norwich defence and unfortunately Chamakh who completely missed the ball from point black range when it seemed impossible to miss. However the same axis combined again in the 27th minute to put us infront/ Puncheon drove into the box again andstood up another cross wihch via the help of deflection the ball was coming towards Chamakh who managed to slide out a leg and make good contact with the ball in a crowded area and the ball cannoned in off the post leaving Ruddy with no chance as the travelling faithful went barmy.

Joy turned to elation 5 minutes later in the 33rd minute when Rob Snoddgrass who had now been asked to drop back to help double up on Puncheon was skinned and the Palace flyer managed to whip in another beauty of a ball which found Grandin completly unmarked who scored with a cushioned side foot finish. Palace in dream land and playing well!!

HT 2-0 Up with many in the press box commenting that Puncheon had so far being electric.

Now came the part when I earnt my money. --the ht team talk-- do i congratulate them on a great half, tell them to keep their feet on the ground and not get complacent..it was a tough choice. I knew full well Chris Hughton would be giving his team a rollicking next door and they would come out for the 2nd half at it with the flee in their ear. After a quick chat with my no.2 Keith Mullen I decided I couldn't be anything but positive after what I had just witnessed in that 1st half, the lads were outstanding and I told them to go out there and perform a repeat prescription.

55 mins- I was starting to regret my soft love approach at HT as Adrian Mariappa completely switched off from a Rob Snoddgrass centre and allowed Johan Elmander to nip in front of him to hammer home to reduce the arrears.

75 mins - Digkacoi was looking a bit leggy so he was replaced in the middle by the young 20yr old Spaniard Campana. I Used this time to bark out instructions to try play on the counter in the knowledge that the canaries might be throwing a lot at us in the last 15.

84 mins- Jerome on for Chamakh who has lead the line well today.

FT.

PALACE MOTM: GUEDIOURA 8.0

Brilliant result, any wins on the road in this league are precious and against a side I think maybe struggling as well they are even more important but this was no freak result we deserved it creating more chances and enjoying more possession.

Up to 11th with this win!

Brilliant win, and cracking draws against Everton & Arsenal.

21/9/13

SOUTHAMPTON (15TH)

PREMIER LEAGUE

SELHURST PARK

Winnable home game against a Saints side who have so far been shakey and with a passionate home crowd behind us and current good form i'm quietly confident we can get a positive result today.

Bad news on team selection. Jason Puncheon who has been in great form so far this season is unable to play under the terms of his loan against his parent club. Jimmy Kebe replaces him in the side in what is the only change from the previous games.

CRYSTAL PALACE 2 - 0 SOUTHAMPTON

MARIAPPA 29, KEBE 83

A cagey opening half hour was brought to life with a cracking Adrian Mariappa half volley from around 14 yards which gave us the lead after Guedioura's free kick from just outside the box was blocked and broke to him in space.

HT- 1-0

I Kept the players feet on the floor after the dip off against Norwich in the 2nd half last week and made it clear that whilst playing well we could certainly still up it a couple of notches in the 2nd half.

The 2nd half was another cat & mouse affair with little in the way of good football being played be either side until the 82nd minute when after Adam Lallana lost the ball on the half way line we broke out with Eliott grandin beating luke shaw and feeding the ball inside to debutant Jimmy Kebe who's pace took him past Yoshida and then the Mali international unleashed a powerful drive into corner past Gazzianaga.

FT 2-0

PALACE MOTM: MARIAPPA 8.1

9TH IN THE LEAGUE

Couldn't of asked for anymore from the players so far and I've already hit my 6 point target I set out before the 3 prem games in September.

Spurs next in the cup away but i'm already thinking about the trip to Hull next week and will pick a side at spurs to reflect this.

FEELING GLAD ALL OVER!!!

You're smashing it! Outside shot at Europa League surely? But seriously, great start.

very surprised at how well its going tbh , thought i was going to get walloped every game after the chelsea start

Superb start mate!!! just hope you can keep this up...

Gaz - come on don't set him up for a fall. He's doing really well and should now stay up which is amazing in itself. Europe can wait.

25/9/13

TOTTENHAM (5th)

CAPITAL ONE CUP 3RD RND

WHITE HART LANE

TOTTENHAM 1 - 0 CRYSTAL PALACE

The short journey from South to North London proved a fruitless one in this cup tie as Jermaine Defoe's scrambled 25th minute winner proved to be the difference between the 2 sides. I made a full 10 outfield changes and was proud of the boys display against a strong spurs side. Youngster Ryan Inniss particularly impressed and could definitely be one to watch in the future.

There could be no complaints on the score line with spurs missing a few chances but to be honest i'm not to fussed about getting knocked out of this competition as I would rather focus on getting to the magic 40 point mark. If we are going well come January we will field strong sides in the FA cup.

PALACE MOTM: PARR 9.0

Gaz - come on don't set him up for a fall. He's doing really well and should now stay up which is amazing in itself. Europe can wait.

Surely that should have been taken in jest and the pure compliment that it was, I'm in no way whatsoever setting him up for a fall.

berrers, I think that defeat to Spurs will help you later on without the further league cup fixtures to play! Keep going mate.

28/9/13

HULL CITY (20th)

PREMIER LEAGUE

THE CIRCLE

Back to league business against the top leagues bottom club, they are currently win less and will no doubt be targeting us as their first scalp since returning to the league.

In my one change from the regular side I have been fielding Puncheon comes back in for Kebe after missing the southampton game due to loan rules. Jerome Thomas makes the bench after the returning from injury.

HULL CITY 0 - 0 CRYSTAL PALACE

The boys were sent out with the agenda of continuing our good run of league form. We had to settle for a 0-0 which was probably a fair result with Speroni having to make a couple of vital saves towards the end of the game, we created very little so i can't complain on the end score. This continues our unbeaten run and puts the side in a good habit of grinding out points away from home.

PALACE MOTM: MOXEY 8.50

9TH IN THE LEAGUE

The points total set for the month was set for an optimistic 6 and i've achieved 7 so i'm pleased with september's work.

roll on October

OCTOBER FIXTURES

NEWCASTLE (H)

MAN CITY (A)

VILLA (H)

I will target the 2 home games as winnable but I've got to be realistic with my expectations for the City game that is going to be tough. After 6 points but would take 4.

In other news: Jedinak has made it clear he will leave the club on a bosman in the summer and despite being club captain he won't even sit down and have a private chat with me....i'm giving serious consideration of stripping him of the captaincy but with results and form going well I don't want to shake the apple cart at the moment

5/10/13

NEWCASTLE (16th)

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 7

SELHURST PARK

The big team news before the game was that after 2 u21 games for fitness purposes Yannick Bolasie was back in the squad and on the bench. Hopefully his pace can cause teams a lot of problems especially in later stages of games.

CRYSTAL PALACE 1-1 NEWCASTLE UNITED

BOLASIE 88 AMEOBI 89

A low par game which burst into life in a frantic last 5 minutes where we managed to snatch a draw from the grasp of victory.

Newcastle were the better team in the 1st half and came out the traps very lively probably on the back of some strong words from Alan Pardew after a bit of media spin was put on some questions that were asked on each other during the build up to the match.

Speroni was in top form to deny cisse twice and made a further vital save from a point blank stephen taylor header.

We came in at HT and I was worried we looked like a team that were a defeat waiting to happen. After reminding them of what they could do I got a good response in the 2nd half though I wouldn't say we were creating much but we certainly managed to stem the black and white tide that was coming at us in the 1st half.

With 65 minutes on the clock I decided we needed to freshen it up with an injection of pace. Grandin's work for the day was done and on jogged Yannick Bolaise for his 1st action of the season to a rousing Selhurst Park applause after a long lay off with hamstring trouble. He took his place on the left wing with Puncheon going to the right just to give the Newcastle full backs something new to think about.

The game was dwindling down to a bore draw untill a moment of brilliance completely out of keeping with the game. Yannick Bolasie picked up the ball mid way inside the Newcastle half beating one man for pace he then moved towards the area cut inside onto his favoured right foot and BOOM! 1-0 selhurst park erupted to the seven nation army tune of 'OOOHHHH YANNICK BOLASIE OOOHHH YANNICK BOLASIE' i to also got a bit sucked in not with the singing obviously but in thinking that would be it.

Unfortunately the old football fable of your never more vulnerable than when you have just scored came to haunt us. Directly from the kick off a long ball came up field which broke to Gutierez, who was allowed to feed the ball to Shola Ameobi inside the box with his back to goal the Veteran forward managed to turn on a 6 pence and struck an unstoppable shot into speroni's top right hand corner. Joy to despair in one minute......the cruel mistress that is football.

PALACE MOTM: DELANEY 8.9

9th Position

Great start to the season. As Parr doesn't get any games for Crystal P irl, will he get into your team eventually?

I do want to play him but moxey has been one of my best performers at left back. Also he put my back up by wanting a move to a bigger club while out injured and not having kicked a ball in the prem

Also I have a question, how do you get print screens into messages as I have seen them in other game updates on the forum and I tried attaching one that i saved to the screen shots folder but when it uploaded an error message kept coming up, would be grateful for any help on this

Really enjoying this so far - great work with a very weak side. As for the print screens, you'll need to upload them to a hosting site (Imageshack or Photobucket are good bets) then add by clicking the Image Button in the Post box and choosing 'from URL' - this is all easier if you change your forum settings to advanced posting options.

Cheers for the positive & constructive feedback will have another update to put on soon

19/10/13

MAN CITY(1ST)

PREMIER LEAGUE

CITY OF MANCHESTER STADIUM

ATT: 45,964

Following on from the point against Newcastle the fixture list has thrown up a tough test against a rampaging top of the league Manchester City.

TACTICS: It will be very much a containment job today in trying to stop City getting the ball down and play and I am lining up with a defensively set up

TEAM NEWS: One change from the previous game, Yannick Bolasie comes into the side for Elliot Grandin after his great goal and cameo appearance off the bench against the Geordies

MAN CITY 2-0 CRYSTAL PALACE

Negredo 6, Nastasic 60

After a poor start in conceding after 6 mins from another corner we defended well and limited city to few chances despite their 71% possession. Unfortunately we were breached again from another corner on 60 mins with Nastasic rising unmarked to power home from David Silva's corner..... really need to sort out defending from set pieces.

PALACE MOTM: HUNT 8.1

I didn't expect much out of this game and in only losing 2-0 we haven't really embarrassed ourselves and the morale is still good.

26/10/13

ASTON VILLA (10th)

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 9

SELHURST PARK

ATT: 20,598

Targeted as a very winnable game at home to Villa and quite vital to get the 3 points after the late lapse of concentration in the previous home game. Need to keep any leads we get a hold of as they way I am setting out in most game is to dig in and we aren't scoring many goals or creating that much but a wise scott once said play to your strengths and that's what I have been doing in trying to nick games and be solid, a midfield 3 of Jedinak, Guedioura & Digkacoi may not be pleasing on the eye or great on the ball but for work rate, determination and giving there all I cant fault them

TACTICS: Send the side out with the balanced-standard formation and see how we go for the 1st half but as the game wears on will defo look to attack more.

TEAM NEWS: One enforced change with Guedioura missing out through suspension in totting up 5 yellow cards already. Creative Welsh midfielder Jon Williams takes his place in what should add some more creativity to the side.

CRYSTAL PALACE 1 -1 ASTON VILLA

BOLASIE 66, BENTEKE 73

POSSESSION: 39% - 61%

19 MINS - Speroni makes a good save from Bennett from the angle

HT- Not really happen at what I have seen with us going forward in the first half I tell the boys to go out there and control the game in the 2nd half and put Villa on the back foot

53 MINS - Benteke heads over from literally in front of the goal when it looked easier to score from an outswinging corner

66 MINS - Palace 1st notworthy attack of the game brings a goal. The source of most good palace things this season Puncheon raids the right hand flank skinning nathan baker and driving into the box drawing in the 2 centre halves and looks up to pick out and unmarked Bolasie who has the easy task of knocking the ball into the empty net for his 2nd goal in 3 games.

73 MINS - For some reason we decide to drop to deep and invite pressure. Westwood plays a ball into the box for Benteke who peals off delaney to slot the ball 1st time into speoni's bottom left hand corner!

90 MINS- FT

ANOTHER LEAD CHUCKED Grrrrrr

PALACE MOTM: Moxey 9.0

Couldn't argue that a point was a fair result but still very disappointing to lose a lead so close after scoring again. Only 2 points from 9 for the month -2 below the realistic 4pt target!

11th Position

Shame you weren't able to grab at least one win in the home games but you got a cracking result away to City.

Could have been much worse.

Being midtable is great, lets hope you're still there come the end of the season.

NOVEMBER FIXTURES

FULHAM (A) (6th)

LIVERPOOL (H) (2nd)

TOTTENHAM (A) (9th)

Another tough month of fixtures beckons with all 3 opponents currently sitting in the top 10 with Fulham currently being the league's surprise package in 6th place. Liverpool are currently unbeaten and Spurs have already taken my scalp in the league cup.

Possibly targeting a point for the Fulham game but anything this month will be a bonus.

OTHER NEWS: Scouting beginning to get cranked up with a lot of players now being watched in preparation for a lot of January activity when the transfer budgets are available again when the window re-opens with a top class striker being my main priority as i may need more than the current return of 1 in 9 that Chamakh is offering

2/11/13

FULHAM (6th)

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 10

CRAVEN COTTAGE

ATT: 25,700

TEAM NEWS: One change from the Villa game with Guedioura coming back in for Williams after serving his one match suspension

FULHAM 2 - 0 CRYSTAL PALACE

BENT 47, AMOREBIETA 67

POSSESION 52% -48%

1st Half

42 MINS- BENT FIRES WIDE FROM INSIDE THE BOX WHEN 1 ON 1 WITH SPERONI

45 MINS- DUFF HITS THE BAR WITH SPECULATIVE CROSS WHICH HAS SPERONI SPRAWLING

--TEAM TALK-- YOU CAN STILL WIN THIS TODAY BOYS

2nd Half

47 MINS- DARREN BENT SCORE'S WITH A HEADER FROM JUST OUTSIDE THE 6 YARD BOX AFTER TAARABTS CROSS FROM THE EDGE OF THE BOX 1-0

65 MINS - GOOD SAVE LOW DOWN FROM SPERONI AFTER A FIZZING DRIVE FROM KARAGOUNIS

66 MINS- FROM THE RESULTING CORNER FULHAM MAKE IT 2-0. A SCRAMBLE INT HE BOX SEE THE BALL FALL TO BENT WHO'S SHOT DEFLECTS IN OFF FULHAM CENTRE BACK AMOREBIETA

76 MINS - PENALTY AWARDED TO FULHAM AFTER MOXEY BRINGS DOWN BENT IN THE BOX

77 MINS - SPERONI MAKES A GREAT SAVE FROM TAARABT'S PENALTY GETTING DOWN LOW TO HIS RIGHT TO STOP THE MOROCCAN MAKING IT 3-0

79 MINS- DIGKACOI EFFORT FROM OUTSIDE THE BOX COMFORTABLY SAVED & HELD BY STEKLENBURG

80 MINS- CAMERON JEROME OPTS TO TRY A CUTE CHIP WHICH GOES HIGH AND WIDE WHEN IT WOULD OF BEEN EASIER TO PLACE THE BALL AFTER BEING PLAYED THROUGH BY JEDINAK

FT

PALACE MOTM: MOXEY 8.2

A poor 2nd half display when we largely had no answer when Fulham upped the tempo and came at us. Bent had a big game for Fulham and made me think we really need a forward who can lead the line for us and at least chip in with 10-15 goals. Could be the difference between relegation at survival.

9/11/13

LIVERPOOL (2nd)

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 11

SELHURST PARK

ATT: 21,759

TEAM NEWS: UNCHANGED FROM THE DEFEAT AT FULHAM

CRYSTAL PALACE 1 -3 LIVERPOOL

Jerome 80 Aspas 39, Sturridge 65, Sakho 90+1

Dikgacoi Sent off 55

POSSESION: 40% - 60%

A deserved 3 points for Liverpool as Palace form wobbles..... would of made a good opening headline for a sunday paper but i'm going to take the positive's out of this one and that's with 10 men I threw a bit of a care free attitude to it and had a go and the players responded well especially Cameron Jerome who came on for the struggling Chamakh at HT had a very strong game.

Unfortunately the damage was already done before this, with the game fairly even ex Palace favourite Victor Moses broke lose from the attentions of his marker Jack Hunt and delivered a center that Iago Aspas didn't need to break stride for and put the reds 1 up on 39 minutes.

The problems increased soon after the interval when Digkacoi threw himself into a 2 footed lunge on Lucas Leiva made no contact with the ball and was deservedly sent off (and i've fined him a weeks wages). The team regrouped and reverted to a 4-4-1 formation but this only served to allow a good passing side like Liverpool more space and it was soon 2-0. Daniel Sturridge had time to control and turn on a clever worked free kick from Aspas on to his favored left foot and from outside the box nearly made a hole in the net.

I was fearing the floodgates could open after this so I opened the play book a little took off Guedioura for the more creative Williams set the mentality to attacking in the hope we could lessen their attacks with advances of our own and so it proved when in the 80th minute Mariappa's long pass saw Jerome beat the off side trap round Mignolet to tap in and reduce the score to 2-1.... were the ten men of Palace ready to snatch a point???? However the answer was a resounding no as Liverpool strangled the game by retaining possesion and making us chase. Sakho added gloss to the score line by scoring a header completely unmarked from Lucas's free kick.

PALACE MOTM: JEDINAK 7.70

Saw some things I liked in that game with the fighting spirit but the reality is I havent won in a while now and we are starting to slide down the table.

14TH POSITION

24/11/13

TOTTENHAM (9th)

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 12

WHITE HART LANE

ATT: 36,259

TEAM NEWS: CAMERON JEROME GETS HIS FIRST START OF THE SEASON IN PLACE OF CHAMAKH

TOTTENHAM 0 -0 CRYSTAL PALACE

POSSESSION: 64% - 36%

A fantastic point at a very hard place to go to. Maybe a good fixture to have after an international break

I Set the team out with a counter style and it seemed to work well even if we did have to ride our luck at times with Speroni in top form with noteable saves from Townsend & Soldado.

There's my 1 point of the month I was looking for and in the place i expected to get it least!!

PALACE MOTM: HUNT 8.9 (is there a full back bug on this game for overly high ratings...Hunt & Moxey seem to get my MOTM every week?)

14TH POSITION GOING INTO DECEMBER

DECEMBER FIXTURES

SWANSEA (H) (19TH)

CARDIFF (A) (13TH)

WEST HAM (A) (15TH)

STOKE (H) (5TH)

MAN UTD (H) (8TH)

SUNDERLAND (A) (16TH)

WEST BROM (A) (7TH)

EVERTON (H) (11TH)

A huge month of fixtures in December with a total of 8 Premier league games in total. Starting with 3 in 7 days

I currently have 12 points from 12 games and ideally want to be no less than half way to 40 points after 19 games.

The target from the 8 games is to hopefully attain 11 points and no less than 8....anything under 8 and trouble could be ahead.

I am going to list all the results from December with a brief write up to properly break the back of the season

Where do you see yourself getting three wins then? The Swansea match is a must-win - other than that I guess at West Ham and at Sunderland? Might be able to pick something up against Stoke too, but they are very good on this version from what I've seen so far...

1/12/13

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 13

SELHURST PARK

CRYSTAL PALACE 1 - 0 SWANSEA

Puncheon 62

Much needed first win in 7 games with a strong solo run from Puncheon and cool finish proving the difference

PALACE MOTM: Moxey 8.3

13th Position

Awesome start - gotta say, these Palace threads are addictive

4/12/13

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 14

CARDIFF CITY STADIUM

CARDIFF 4 - 4 CRYSTAL PALACE

Maynard 27, Cowie 73 Caulker 53, 90

Jerome 2,7 Mariappa 31, Chamakh 77

Had to change the system to 442 with Jedinak missing this game through the totting up process on bookings and also still without the banned Digkacoi. Jerome partned Chamakh in attack and it was explosive. 2 up in 10 mins and I thought what a start surely we wont throw this

Went in 3-1 up at HT then the problem of defending corners done us again with all their remaining 3 goals coming from them!!!! Even when they got it back to 3-3 Chamkah manged to restore the lead with a great curling effort in the 77th Min but in stoppage time we buckled when Caulker somehow scored a header from just inside the 18 yard box with Speroni having a wonder to the near post for some reason...Aggghhhhh

Still another point on the board but oh how it should of been 3. West Ham up next in 3 days sides and fatigue is starting to hit my squad

PALACE MOTM: Cameron Jerome 8.8

11TH PLACE

WOW, you're doing much better than me, haha

7/12/13

PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 15

BOLEYN GROUND

WEST HAM 2 - 0 CRYSTAL PALACE

Tomkins 30, Nolan 51

A poor performance against a side that was managerless and lost it's last 4.

We looked knackered and created very little after the goal fest v Cardiff 3 days ago. Perhaps it was an error that i reverted back to the usual formation as Jedinak and Digkacoi had returned.

Not happy with this result at all and said a few words in the dressing room after the final whistle to that extent.

PALACE MOTM: Moxey 8.2

14th place

WOW, you're doing much better than me, haha

I'm defo not out of the woods yet still think it will touch and go on survival, want to get a beast of centre forward in the jan window