Lotus

We deserved a draw. Oh well…

Should’ve scored. That’s the only thing he’s actually good at. The rest is very average. But, goals are gold and that’s what we payed for. Unfortunately he missed making his evening extremely forgettable.

I didnt have high hopes but he exceeded them. A brain fart and misplaced easy pass aside, I thought he looked alright. Seems to have his stride back. Would love him to get plenty of sub minutes so he can get back to full fitness and strength.

He didn’t do anything at CF Osula couldn’t have done. Osula might’ve even connected with that early Elanga ball. I don’t think Gordon lacked effort though, just talent at that position. He looked knackered by the time he went to LW. Lack of playing time.

1st 15 minutes it felt like they had more players than us all over the pitch. Was well uncomfortable. We start to get to grips with it. Nice goal, settled us down. We looked dominant after. Still need pace at CB.

anyone got a river for this they can PM me?

I'm sure that opinion was conditional upon signing someone useful.

Objection: the counsel is speculating!

Fail to see how working within the rules and regulations is lying and cheating. Think your issue is less about what we’re not doing and more about the people noticing.

I’m just wildly guessing rather than anything analytical but I reckon the opposite. Woltemade to start. Osula to come on later (for at all).

Cannot be surprised. Am upset though.

I think he may play a Firmino type role for us, at least at first. Coming deep and linking play. He's got good strength and great feet. Ofc what made Firmino so effective in his role was Salah and Sane either side of him, stretching the play and scoring. I'm speculating that EH would want to try and emulate that with Wissa and Elanga on the flanks. Our two aren't the same calibre at all but, we can see what it does if we play that way

I used to hang about in a crowd that he was in. He was nothing like the persona I saw on TV later. He was always the chancer type but was a decent fella. Quite reserved in some ways. Don’t know what happened

Evidence has supported your theory. Hope he’s an actual point of difference.

I’m from South London and I like Palace. Not enamoured with their Chairman but, they do seem to give local lads a chance. The other option is Chelsea and I can’t do that for some very, very strong reasons.

Pope Livra Schar Botman Hall Tonali Bruno JL Elanga Wissa Woltemade

Thought he did a fantastic header from a fast diagonal ball from the right, he got across his man and put a firm head on it then sent it away from the box. Burn wouldn't have the mobility for that. Botman did struggle a bit with some high balls though. Thought that was unusual for him. Hopefully it will come back.

Burn doesn't have Botman's range of passing. Also, tbf I thought some of Botman's defensive work against Leeds, Burn couldn't have replicated. But there was some headers that Burn won that I think Botman wouldn't have been so certain of.

Ramsey can definitely do things JL can’t but, that’s a vice versa. Happy we got a CM who is different though. Elanga is a slightly hyped Murphy. Let’s see if he becomes better than that. Thiaw - no idea until/if he has a run of games. A back up to Schar, let’s see if he can be a successor. Ramsdale, squad filler. Woltemade is the best option we could have got imo. Can’t believe Bayern f**ked that up Wissa. It’s a ‘on the one hand….’ situation. Cannot escape his fee and most importantly, age. Think we left the window with money in our pockets due to bad time management. That is a missed opportunity. PiF are culpable.

I wonder if the club might be culpable of something here…..it’s might that somethings gone on and the club have not acted honourably and the players know it. Just I thought……insert ‘are we the baddies?’ Meme

Maybe Isak would only have signed one with a release clause around £120M and Mitchell thought, not worth it then?

Apart from Woltemade I’m not sure we’ve signed any nailed on starters. And he will be only because Isak left. I think Elanga should have to fight it out with Murphy. Neither looked too clever against Leeds. I don’t see much between them atm.

Our scouting process appears to be a) did we look at them 2/3 years ago? or b) have they played against us? for all but one and even he seems to 6th on a list (Pedro, Delap, Ekitike, Šeško, Strand-Larsen then Woltemade) who all went through our a/b decision tree.

I respectfully disagree. We play a 433 with only midfielders 2 who we can rely on to start and be available for most of the season. JL - fitness Ramsey - fitness/not sure of suitability until 3-6 months in the side Willock - fitness and low form for a couple of years Miley - all ifs and buts but no performances to compete with main 3 since 2 years ago. No one from the youth set up has remotely looked likely.

It’s a good deal if we get another player in.