Palace v Arsenal ratings

I am guessing we have a slight hangover from the end of last season and everyone is just being a little more cautious this time round.

Sometimes playing total dogshit and still winning is the stuff you need to learn to do to grind out the results when the the business end comes around.

Hopefully in the next few weeks we will start to paly into our game more and start scoring goals, but for now, a win is a win.

I think last night proved what a waste of money Rice was. Yes he played well but there was simply no need for him. The reason for signing a central defensive midfielder was to have someone who could deputise or interchange with Partey. Rice is far too technically deficient to be that player, so he’s played as an extra DCM which we don’t need….let’s not pretend Partey is a right back, he understands the role about as well as Zinchenko understands left back.

What are we doing? Are we hoping that we will have our own version of Rodri, when he lacks the technical ability, passing and vision to be anything more than an upgrade on Elneny.

Caicedo was the player to buy, despite the shit he produced on Sunday he’s technically superior to even Partey and he loves playing against the press.

Then we should have replaced the Albanian Wally with a player in the style of Tielemans (not necessarily Tielemans, been poor for some time)

Then we buy an actual striker. We didn’t need a defender, Timber obviously very good but you can’t play him at left back because he’s not good enough going forward to prevent Martinelli from being isolated and so essentially you’d only have him as an upgrade on Tomoyasu.


When Arteta goes, we are going to have so much work to do cleaning up the mess he’s made. So many players with potential will have to go because they’ve been infected with his stench.


Awful. I’d like to think lessons will be learnt but it’s hard to see

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

I think last night proved what a waste of money Rice was. Yes he played well but there was simply no need for him. The reason for signing a central defensive midfielder was to have someone who could deputise or interchange with Partey. Rice is far too technically deficient to be that player, so he’s played as an extra DCM which we don’t need….let’s not pretend Partey is a right back, he understands the role about as well as Zinchenko understands left back.

What are we doing? Are we hoping that we will have our own version of Rodri, when he lacks the technical ability, passing and vision to be anything more than an upgrade on Elneny.

Caicedo was the player to buy, despite the shit he produced on Sunday he’s technically superior to even Partey and he loves playing against the press.

Then we should have replaced the Albanian Wally with a player in the style of Tielemans (not necessarily Tielemans, been poor for some time)

Then we buy an actual striker. We didn’t need a defender, Timber obviously very good but you can’t play him at left back because he’s not good enough going forward to prevent Martinelli from being isolated and so essentially you’d only have him as an upgrade on Tomoyasu.


When Arteta goes, we are going to have so much work to do cleaning up the mess he’s made. So many players with potential will have to go because they’ve been infected with his stench.


Awful. I’d like to think lessons will be learnt but it’s hard to see

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We say the same thing after each manager leaves and repeat the same cycle. This club will never change. Coming 2nd or 3rd is as good as winning the real thing in the minds of the owners. How many years and how much money has Arteta wasted now?. 5 years, 500M?. Must be close....The only thing that will change Arsenal is when those wankers in white down the road start winning things and rub it in our faces. Fortunately or unfortunately that could be in 50 years time.

Jorghino is the best midfielder at the club, by a mile. Is that his name? He should start. He's the only one in the centre who isn't in full panic mode when he receives the ball.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

I think last night proved what a waste of money Rice was. Yes he played well but there was simply no need for him. The reason for signing a central defensive midfielder was to have someone who could deputise or interchange with Partey. Rice is far too technically deficient to be that player, so he’s played as an extra DCM which we don’t need….let’s not pretend Partey is a right back, he understands the role about as well as Zinchenko understands left back.

What are we doing? Are we hoping that we will have our own version of Rodri, when he lacks the technical ability, passing and vision to be anything more than an upgrade on Elneny.

Caicedo was the player to buy, despite the shit he produced on Sunday he’s technically superior to even Partey and he loves playing against the press.

Then we should have replaced the Albanian Wally with a player in the style of Tielemans (not necessarily Tielemans, been poor for some time)

Then we buy an actual striker. We didn’t need a defender, Timber obviously very good but you can’t play him at left back because he’s not good enough going forward to prevent Martinelli from being isolated and so essentially you’d only have him as an upgrade on Tomoyasu.


When Arteta goes, we are going to have so much work to do cleaning up the mess he’s made. So many players with potential will have to go because they’ve been infected with his stench.


Awful. I’d like to think lessons will be learnt but it’s hard to see

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"Proved"? After 2 games? Sounds like a kangaroo court to me (another one). It "suggested" he might not be all that. "Proved"? Hardly. The media "proved" Bergkamp was shit when he first arrived. Nobody finds them credible either.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Jorghino is the best midfielder at the club, by a mile. Is that his name? He should start. He's the only one in the centre who isn't in full panic mode when he receives the ball.

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quite correct, at least as far as defensive midfielders are concerned, of course we didn't spend that much on him so he doesn't get to start - only players we paid too much for get to do that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

"Proved"? After 2 games? Sounds like a kangaroo court to me (another one). It "suggested" he might not be all that. "Proved"? Hardly. The media "proved" Bergkamp was shit when he first arrived. Nobody finds them credible either.

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It’s got nothing to do with the players quality or not. I think Havertz is a very talented player for example, but we absolutely didn’t need him and he’s jumped from the frying pan into the fire at Arsenal.


Rice is an athlete, very fit, reasonably strong and he’s excellent at paint by numbers football. That’s why his stats are good because he does the easy things easily. But anything complicated like winning the ball deep and getting past players that will press him all over the place he’s going to look as silly as Elneny. It’s not his fault, he’s technically limited. Since you believe in God even though I don’t, it’s reasonable to say God didn’t make him that way. Certainly not as anything other than an average footballer.

It is misleading I concede to say he’s proved he’s a waste of money, because there was simply no possibility of him proving otherwise. His transfer fee set him up to fail

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Originally Posted by Mac76

quite correct, at least as far as defensive midfielders are concerned, of course we didn't spend that much on him so he doesn't get to start - only players we paid too much for get to do that

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Jorginho has an excellent range of passing, but he’s horrendously slow…that’s not even a thing with age. He’s always been that way. There are certain games you can start him in but they are few and far between especially when half our problem is not getting the transition right between defence and attack. If we were playing Havertz up front instead of midfield, long balls from Jorginho which Havertz would be very adept at holding up, would be excellent

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Jorginho has an excellent range of passing, but he’s horrendously slow…that’s not even a thing with age. He’s always been that way. There are certain games you can start him in but they are few and far between especially when half our problem is not getting the transition right between defence and attack. If we were playing Havertz up front instead of midfield, long balls from Jorginho which Havertz would be very adept at holding up, would be excellent

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You mustn't actually be watching the matches, so we're even on that score.

But in the 15 minutes I watched I saw a £100million player who couldn't clear a ball 5 yards, along with the rest of his useless (though highly competitive in this non-competitive league) colleagues.

Except for three players.

That Saliba bloke seems to be a fairly decent defender in the mould of real defenders who we've all seen in the past but generally don't exist now. REALLY, rEAllY (can I do the weird case thing?) simple stuff. Ball in danger area - kick ball a fucking long way up the pitch. Amazing how nobody else on the team can figure that out.

Partey - did well in defence. Was very suprised. The guy is so fucking useless in midfield you'd think that's his SOP. But no, pretty effective at the back. Pretty determined. Of course once he's done his defensive duties he reverts to being incapable of doing anything with the ball.

Jorginho. So what if he's slow? He didn't look any slower than the other fucks tbf. But he actually has a plan when he gets the ball. Can't say that about any other player in the middle. The rest of them look for the easy option and if they can't find that they give the ball to the opposition without fail.

You need to actually watch the games.

I get it, you have this vision of how you WANT the team to play. But you are overlooking how the team ACTUALLY plays.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

It’s got nothing to do with the players quality or not. I think Havertz is a very talented player for example, but we absolutely didn’t need him and he’s jumped from the frying pan into the fire at Arsenal.


Rice is an athlete, very fit, reasonably strong and he’s excellent at paint by numbers football. That’s why his stats are good because he does the easy things easily. But anything complicated like winning the ball deep and getting past players that will press him all over the place he’s going to look as silly as Elneny. It’s not his fault, he’s technically limited. Since you believe in God even though I don’t, it’s reasonable to say God didn’t make him that way. Certainly not as anything other than an average footballer.

It is misleading I concede to say he’s proved he’s a waste of money, because there was simply no possibility of him proving otherwise. His transfer fee set him up to fail

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The little bit I saw was shocking, particularly Rice. He has a ton of games to find his groove, so not panic stations yet. But what he did in that match was below Sunday league level. The simple things, he got them all wrong. So I don't agree he's a master at that, based on what I watched.

Xhaka was the best midfielder. Any honest person could see that. Not great, just best.

Now it's the old, slow guy from the chavs.

So plenty of scope for the other guys who are pocketing a wheelbarrow of money every week to step up and deliver. Maybe they will.