PL [A] v Crystal "look a goal" Palace post match musing

[RichC]

On Moreno. He was brilliant but if you can't see a problem with a full back standing off a lad instead of closing him down and attempting to stop a a cross then you're mad. I get accused of being on a bandwagon against him but not seeing a problem with that is crazy. It's almost like folk are determined not to see anything he does as problem just cos he gets loads of stick. He was immense in that second half though. The hands behind the back thing is not the problem although it annoys the **** out of me.

Yeah I agree with the standing off your man for the cross that's not good defending at any level. Not a fan of Moreno he just has too many moments he switches off but he played well yesterday and was a constant threat down their right side.

Moreno is the new Glenn Johnson anything he does that's not brilliant is higjlighted and jumped upon.

If he could eradicate the ball watching from switching off we'd have no issues with the LB position for a while

[BobTheCharmer]

He has far too many Enrique arse dances for my liking. He uses it instead of playing the ball either trying to shield the ball out for a throw or getting caught wrong side infield and losing the ball. If he just played the ball, occasionally used his right foot and got closer to the bloke crossing the ball he'd be OK. Going forward he was good and offered a nice outlet. He just can't defend very well.

[RichC]

His right leg is for standing only

[Exiled_red]

I agree it is much better than Mignolet's, no doubt about that but I suspect your kicking game is also much better

He seems to be a 'lucky' goalkeeper in so far as his mistakes don't cost goals whereas Migs is the polar opposite on that front!

I guess time will tell, luck runs out at some point. Also I imagine that once a keeper has been around a while people learn his weaknesses and how to exploit them which could be part of the reason why Mignolet's mistakes seem to be more costly. I would like to think that Karius will improve given time in the side and will become a better goalkeeper than Mignolet, at the moment I don't think that there is much between them, but Mignolet seems to have stopped improving (significantly at least). I actually thought Mignolet was more vocal and confident in the League Cup game than he had been earlier in the season, so if he is prepared to fight for his place that at least has to be a good thing.

[BobTheCharmer]

His right leg is for standing only

Yeah I know but if he spent a couple of hours a week hitting the ball with it in training, he wouldn't get himself so ****ed up trying to use his left in certain situations. It annoys me that a pro can't use both feet comfortably. They have so much time on their hands to kill.

[Exiled_red]

You would rather he backed off and made no attempt to block the cross than try and possibly give away a soft pen? Really?

It's mad. It's completely unnecessary to have your hands behind your back anyway, the law is "deliberate" handball, hands by your side in a natural fashion should never be at risk of giving a penalty away. We do have ****e refs though.

But who gives a **** we won.

I think I mentioned this in the match thread yesterday but I imagine you probably concede more goals by not being able to close down properly through worrying about where you hands are than you do from pens given away for handball in such situations. Until the referees have a major clamp down on such incidents I wouldn't worry about it (also the shirt pulling at corners clamp down that started this summer lasted about 2 weeks)

[Shaggy]

On Moreno. He was brilliant but if you can't see a problem with a full back standing off a lad instead of closing him down and attempting to stop a a cross then you're mad. I get accused of being on a bandwagon against him but not seeing a problem with that is crazy. It's almost like folk are determined not to see anything he does as problem just cos he gets loads of stick. He was immense in that second half though. The hands behind the back thing is not the problem although it annoys the **** out of me.

He's not the only one that does it though. Gary Neville said recently, in an incident when Ivanovic did the same thing, that increasingly top level players are being coached to do this.

[G]

He's not the only one that does it though. Gary Neville said recently, in an incident when Ivanovic did the same thing, that increasingly top level players are being coached to do this.

I know he isn't, I've seen many of them do it but it's bloody crazy. Are we all forgetting the deliberate part of the hand ball rule. As I said anyway it's not the hands behind the back thing that was the problem, it's the complete lack of effort to prevent the cross that's the problem.

Edit :I assume its the hands thing we're talking about here, I'm heavily hungover and can't think straight.

[Liverpool]

this is the first time in my life, we are just as good as anyone and not needing to punch above our weight massively, previous title challenges have been chasing but looking at the fixtures til Christmas we should really be top going into the city game on NYE, they should be second. Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea have a tougher set of fixtures.

Going to be some season, i'm very relaxed this time round, going to enjoy the journey and not worry about the destination wherever it may be.

[cannotmakeit]

Crystal Palace man marked for their set pieces, yet no pundit mentioned it.

[Kenneth]

For theirs or for ours? It was incredible how much space Matip had for his header.

[Exiled_red]

Crystal Palace man marked for their set pieces, yet no pundit mentioned it.

Yeah but someone losing their man and conceding a goal while man-marking is an indivdual error, whereas conceding a goal from zonal marking is a failure of the system, keep up

[Kenneth]

On Moreno. He was brilliant but if you can't see a problem with a full back standing off a lad instead of closing him down and attempting to stop a a cross then you're mad. I get accused of being on a bandwagon against him but not seeing a problem with that is crazy. It's almost like folk are determined not to see anything he does as problem just cos he gets loads of stick. He was immense in that second half though. The hands behind the back thing is not the problem although it annoys the **** out of me.

It's not that I'm determined to ignore anything he does wrong, it's just that picking on such tiny issues is nitpicking of the highest order. No player goes through a game doing everything 100%, Lovren was beaten for for two headers for that goal for example, **** just happens. But we hear 'he's garbage defensively etc' in response to one minor positional slip up (that is debatable anyway) and it is just bizarre to say the least. If that was Milner, nobody mentions it.

Honestly, nobody would pick out the LB as the problem with their second goal unless they were looking to. And I can't imagine the names he would have been called if he had put his arms out and had conceded a penalty by the very same people.

[Mattshark]

It's not that I'm determined to ignore anything he does wrong, it's just that picking on such tiny issues is nitpicking of the highest order. No player goes through a game doing everything 100%, Lovren was beaten for for two headers for that goal for example, **** just happens. But we hear 'he's garbage defensively etc' in response to one minor positional slip up (that is debatable anyway) and it is just bizarre to say the least. If that was Milner, nobody mentions it.

Honestly, nobody would pick out the LB as the problem with their second goal unless they were looking to. And I can't imagine the names he would have been called if he had put his arms out and had conceded a penalty by the very same people.

[Gibbo]

It's not that I'm determined to ignore anything he does wrong, it's just that picking on such tiny issues is nitpicking of the highest order. No player goes through a game doing everything 100%, Lovren was beaten for for two headers for that goal for example, **** just happens. But we hear 'he's garbage defensively etc' in response to one minor positional slip up (that is debatable anyway) and it is just bizarre to say the least. If that was Milner, nobody mentions it.

Honestly, nobody would pick out the LB as the problem with their second goal unless they were looking to. And I can't imagine the names he would have been called if he had put his arms out and had conceded a penalty by the very same people.