Crystal Palace V Sunderland - Sky Sports 1 - 5:30pm

Paully D

Sunderland XI: Westwood, Celustka, O'Shea, Diakite, Colback, Larsson, Vaughan, Johnson, Giaccherini, Wickham, Ji

Crystal Palace XI: Speroni, Ward, Gabbidon, Delaney, Moxey, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Campana, Puncheon, Gayle, Chamakh

I'd expect Palace to get their first win of the season here to be honest. The Sunderland side is looking as weak as ever. The center of midfield is an embarrassment.

Professional Griefer

GOAL!!!

Where'd the bush go?

Paully D

Why do I even bother?

ThunbergsAreGo

Messy Messy goal

CastingCouch

Hoping for goals and more goals.

jamaamaj

Already more exciting than all the 3pm kick offs

CastingCouch

Ji-sus!!!

What a wussy!

Mars Bar

Penalty to Palace.

And now a red card for O'Shea!

jamaamaj

Good aul John o'shea

COYVB

Paully D wrote: »

I'd expect Palace to get their first win of the season here to be honest. The Sunderland side is looking as weak as ever. The center of midfield is an embarrassment.

what's gone wrong? You were fairly confident at the start of the season that they'd be fine. players not settling in?

klose

Good game of ball this, palace look a decent team.

Mars Bar

It's all over now. Great feet for the assist and can't fault the strike!

jive

Sunderland look like they'll be relegated. They'll miss O'Shea badly for the next few games and look pretty awful all round recently. Quality last goal from Palace, serious finish

jamaamaj

Good game and delighted for Palace and Holloway (sorry Paully D)

Paully D

COYVB wrote: »

what's gone wrong? You were fairly confident at the start of the season that they'd be fine. players not settling in?

Key areas still haven't been strengthened, namely left back and central midfield. The players that have come in have generally done okay but it's the plodders here that we can't shift which are bringing us down just as they have done year after year since they arrived. Only three new players started today, for example.

I was pretty confident that players would be sorted before the start of the season, but three of our easiest fixtures until January have been and gone now with 1 (lucky) point and we're still stuck playing plodders like Vaughan and Larsson who together form arguably the worst central midfield partnership in the league at present.

Ki has signed on loan today but we're still a good central midfielder and left back short with the window looming shut, and we now Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City in our next run of home games and given how we're always a poor away side, it's not entirely unlikely that we may go past Christmas just picking up a point here and there.

Worrying.

Mars Bar

jive wrote: »

Sunderland look like they'll be relegated. They'll miss O'Shea badly for the next few games and look pretty awful all round recently. Quality last goal from Palace, serious finish

He'll only miss one game.

Frankie Lee

Paully D wrote: »

Key areas still haven't been strengthened, namely left back and central midfield. The players that have come in have generally done okay but it's the plodders here that we can't shift which are bringing us down just as they have done year after year since they arrived. Only three new players started today, for example.

I was pretty confident that players would be sorted before the start of the season, but three of our easiest fixtures until January have been and gone now with 1 (lucky) point and we're still stuck playing plodders like Vaughan and Larsson who together form arguably the worst central midfield partnership in the league at present.

Ki has signed on loan today but we're still a good central midfielder and left back short with the window looming shut, and we now Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City in our next run of home games and given how we're always a poor away side, it's not entirely unlikely that we may go past Christmas just picking up a point here and there.

Worrying.

Ki will be a big help and overall the Sunderland squad should be good enough to stay up. There are still question marks over Di Canio's managerial ability imo and if morale gets low in the squad I'm not sure he is the man to lift players.

ctrl-alt-delete

Fair play to Palace, they pretty much dominated and it was great to see Selhurst Park buzzing, the crowd were class.

Poor from Sunderland, just no creativity at all, not anywhere in the key areas of central midfield or out wide.

Set piece deliveries were for the most woeful.

Diakite got away with what undone O'Shea and he looked very shakey throughout the whole game.

I think it will get better once Altidore and Fletcher can pair up under Di Canios favourite formation, but from now until Christmas is one hell of a tough run.

CastingCouch

Long way to go before talking about relegation (still January if panic sets in). But, if Sunderland don't go down it'll probably be because of Fletcher and the rubbishness of other sides.

COYVB

Don't think they're quite going to be news enough to go down, but as paully says, a lack of points between now and January could cripple them. Surprised only 3 new signings played given they've signed something ridiculous like 11 players... Doesn't sound to promising for di canios transfer acumen. Not sure who they signed, but could this add to the problem if having a bunch of existing lads they can't shift in the seasons ahead?

As a villa supporter I can certainly empathize with that feeling anyway. We've still got hangers on lingering from the dark days...

Paully D

COYVB wrote: »

Don't think they're quite going to be news enough to go down, but as paully says, a lack of points between now and January could cripple them. Surprised only 3 new signings played given they've signed something ridiculous like 11 players... Doesn't sound to promising for di canios transfer acumen. Not sure who they signed, but could this add to the problem if having a bunch of existing lads they can't shift in the seasons ahead?

As a villa supporter I can certainly empathize with that feeling anyway. We've still got hangers on lingering from the dark days...

I don't necessarily think the signings have been bad, we have just failed to strengthen significantly in the one position it was most needed and has been since Cana left years ago. Giaccherini, Altidore and Cabral have pedigree and a few of the new signings are either younger lads or not quite ready yet (Karlsson, Ba and Mavrias). Mannone was brought in as back up, same for Roberge, and Celustka is first choice right back. That accounts for nine of the new signings.

Altidore was injured today and Cabral is seemingly out of favour despite being the best player on the pitch on his debut so something must have gone on behind the scenes there. Very strange.

I see that Gary Lineker has Tweeted that Di Canio has launced a scathing attack on his players in his Match of the Day interview. That would make three since he has taken over. Of course it's never his fault, despite leaving our best central midfielder on the bench for the last two weeks when we are clearly lacking in that area :rolleyes:

I'm all for holding players accountable and having a go after poor performances, but as I said a few months back, that doesn't work every week any more when you've brought in the equivalent of a new team.

Given our coming fixtures, Di Canio's temper, and lack of strengthening in key areas as of now, I'm worried.

ctrl-alt-delete

Paully D wrote: »

I don't necessarily think the signings have been bad, we have just failed to strengthen significantly in the one position it was most needed and has been since Cana left years ago. Giaccherini, Altidore and Cabral have pedigree and a few of the new signings are either younger lads or not quite ready yet (Karlsson, Ba and Mavrias). Mannone was brought in as back up, same for Roberge, and Celustka is first choice right back. That accounts for nine of the new signings.

Altidore was injured today and Cabral is seemingly out of favour despite being the best player on the pitch on his debut so something must have gone on behind the scenes there. Very strange.

I see that Gary Lineker has Tweeted that Di Canio has launced a scathing attack on his players in his Match of the Day interview. That would make three since he has taken over. Of course it's never his fault, despite leaving our best central midfielder on the bench for the last two weeks when we are clearly lacking in that area :rolleyes:

I'm all for holding players accountable and having a go after poor performances, but as I said a few months back, that doesn't work every week any more when you've brought in the equivalent of a new team.

Given our coming fixtures, Di Canio's temper, and lack of strengthening in key areas as of now, I'm worried.

I didn't enjoy watching his interview with Sky, he came out late so you can imagine the reasons why.

He made what i took as a smart comment about his "leader" O'Shea, and for me he doesn't say much for saying a lot if you know what I mean.

Paully D

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

I didn't enjoy watching his interview with Sky, he came out late so you can imagine the reasons why.

He made what i took as a smart comment about his "leader" O'Shea, and for me he doesn't say much for saying a lot if you know what I mean.

I didn't see it, I switched off after Palace's third as I was about to lose the plot (:pac:) but I'm sure I'll see it at some stage over the weekend.

I noticed the commentator on Sky Sports made reference to Ji walking out of the dressing room before everyone else after half time and going over to sit on the bench on his own too. There's no way Ji would have played today if Altidore had been fit and although he was awful against MK Dons during the week I felt Di Canio humiliated him by taking him off after 48 minutes in that game. He could have done it at half time. I didn't like that to be honest and I feel sorry for Ji. He seems to be get a lot of hardship here but is clearly a good player as he proved in Germany last season. So I wonder what went on in the dressing room at half time today? Maybe Ji stormed off when he heard he was being substituted, or perhaps Di Canio gave him so much abuse to trigger it?

I'm not a fan of managers constantly dressing over issues and protecting players even when they are clearly in the wrong, but Di Canio goes too far the other way IMO and considering we haven't even gone past August yet, the signs are not good on that front.

Aye, I agree on your comment about him saying a whole lot without really saying anything. I've seen some of his interviews and press conferences that have dragged on over 40 or 50 minutes and there is nothing in there that couldn't be said in half the time.

Don't get me wrong, he's doing a lot of good too. Isolating the wasters/troublemakers and making us a more professional side in a number of ways, bringing in some quality players like Giaccherini (who incidentally must be thinking ''what the **** have I got myself in for here?''), but there are a few issues creeping up already, almost all to do with his management style, that he needs to address. By all means give them a bollocking behind close doors but three times in press-conferences in the space of a few months is ridiculous.

ctrl-alt-delete

Paully D wrote: »

I didn't see it, I switched off after Palace's third as I was about to lose the plot (:pac:) but I'm sure I'll see it at some stage over the weekend.

I noticed the commentator on Sky Sports made reference to Ji walking out of the dressing room before everyone else after half time and going over to sit on the bench on his own too. There's no way Ji would have played today if Altidore had been fit and although he was awful against MK Dons during the week I felt Di Canio humiliated him by taking him off after 48 minutes in that game. He could have done it at half time. I didn't like that to be honest and I feel sorry for Ji. He seems to be get a lot of hardship here but is clearly a good player as he proved in Germany last season. So I wonder what went on in the dressing room at half time today? Maybe Ji stormed off when he heard he was being substituted, or perhaps Di Canio gave him so much abuse to trigger it?

I'm not a fan of managers constantly dressing over issues and protecting players even when they are clearly in the wrong, but Di Canio goes too far the other way IMO and considering we haven't even gone past August yet, the signs are not good on that front.

Aye, I agree on your comment about him saying a whole lot without really saying anything. I've seen some of his interviews and press conferences that have dragged on over 40 or 50 minutes and there is nothing in there that couldn't be said in half the time.

Don't get me wrong, he's doing a lot of good too. Isolating the wasters/troublemakers and making us a more professional side in a number of ways, bringing in some quality players like Giaccherini (who incidentally must be thinking ''what the **** have I got myself in for here?''), but there are a few issues creeping up already, almost all to do with his management style, that he needs to address. By all means give them a bollocking behind close doors but three times in press-conferences in the space of a few months is ridiculous.

Yeah Ji was out 5 mins before anybody else, and was followed out by the kitman with the jersey for Fletcher who had been warming up, He didn't look happy at all ( who would be), but something certainly went on.

I like Ji but these past few games have done him no good at all, most of the problems lie in the lack of creativity which obviously affects the strikers game.

Giacherrini was hauled off, He never had a chance with the balls coming to him in the air against those Palace players. Johnson was very frustrating, the only decent delivery of the day was the one from Colback for the goal.

I'd say Di Canio is a hell of a manager to play for with things going well, but the sacrifices (probably the wrong word) these players are making for him and the effort they put in to reach his high standards will be in vain if he continues to come out like that when things go wrong.

Paully D

Lineker just trying to hype up a boring show tonight it seems. Di Canio's ''scathing attack'' is basically him saying the goals we conceded were poor and pathetic, along with saying the players need to play with more determination and desire, which I'm sure everyone would agree is true. That's far, far less than I expected after reading his tweet. :rolleyes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23900421?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter