December 31 2018

Eagles attack Chelsea in Holmesdale end in final minutes but it was too late.

With fixtures coming thick and fast, Chelsea visited Selhurst for an early Sunday kick-off (Dec 30). Jamesey was less than impressed by a 0-1 defeat.

Compared with many other clubs, Palace supporters are a knowledgeable and civilised group of people.

Personally, as a lover of things Greek, especially choriatiki salata with extra feta and olive oil, they surely wouldn’t object to my reference to classical mythology.

Sisyphus, the King of Corinth in Ancient Greece, punished by the gods, for eternity was made to roll a huge boulder up a hill only for it to roll down again.

Rather reminiscent of this season in SE25 where, for example, CPFC won two successive league games, Leicester (Dec 15) and, more importantly, Manchester City (Dec 22).

Whoopee, the boulder’s at the top of the hill and the season is looking good.

Then came the goalless home draw with Cardiff (Dec 26) which should have been wrapped up with ease but for the ineptitude of the shooting.

This was followed by a 0-1 home defeat by a sluggish and below-strength Chelsea.

Blow me, the boulder’s rolled down the hill again.

Some of Roy Hodgson’s decisions in the Blues match were a complete mystery to this supporter although I naturally admit to being a mere punter, a no-nothing against the manager’s deep knowledge and experience after half a century of practice all over the globe.

To go gung-ho against a top team like Chelsea with players like Hazard, Kante and Giroud would be suicidal but, really, we long-suffering home fans deserved a bit of a show?

Playing Wilfried Zaha a skilled winger and our star player, as a makeshift striker (henceforth known as “The Loan Wilf”) when we have Connor Wickham who nearly scored against Cardiff, on the bench, seems strange.

And when Max Meyer and Wickham came on, far too late in this writer’s opinion, Palace were so much better.

Nevertheless, towards the final minutes of the match the Eagles looked like they might actually score.

But by then Chelsea had Kante’s goal in the bag and could sit back with the probability that we couldn’t net the ball in a month of Sundays, never mind this one.

Palace didn’t register one attempt on target in the whole match. That is really alarming for a side playing in front of their home support.

Reading back over this last column of 2018, apologies for the sour note.

May I make up by wishing all supporters of the red-and-blues a very happy New Year and let’s get that boulder back up the hill and make it stay there, contrary to the wishes of the gods!

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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