Personally if he has to play I'd rather see him as one of the front 3. He used to play well as an attacking midfielder, went down hill since pardew decided to play him as a defensive midfielder. Might be a good foil if he played close to benteke, as at the moment the two other forwards are more wingers who don't get close enough to him...

Last match of 15/16 season

Palace 1 Manchester United 2 aet

Edited by chateauferret (05 Aug 2017 6.45pm)

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The Ferret
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Lokilo looked neat and tidy and I think he'll play a part this season, but he does look very lightweight, which is to be expected given his age. However, most of his set pieces were weak so I'm not sure why he was taking them all?

Townsend is not a wingback and although he may be able to manage that role against lesser teams he would get absolutely destroyed against the better teams unless he dramatically improves. He is definitely a confidence player so I hope he doesn't become despondent and slip back to his performances pre-Allardyce/Sammy Lee.

For me Luka is more suited to the deep lying midfield role than Puncheon. He has a better range of passing, he can tackle without fouling and he can score. Sadly unless Puncheon has a big turnaround then I think he needs to make way. He does still link up play quite well and talks to the players, but I just don't think that's enough given the competition for places in that area. RLC looks like he's going to force his way into the first team and should come up with a few goals for us.

We ended the game strongly and there were positives to be had but I'm none the clearer as to how this is going to pan out. Let the roller-coaster continue!

Well my view is for the system to work we need movement and touch and CB has touch and his national team play a passing game.

Full game on YouTube is with Dutch commentary from Fox.

Divorced...And LOVING it!
VJRAM Rev.
CPFC since Boxing Day 1989 CPFC 2-2 CFC
Gregg Berhalter, US International & USMNT Head Coach
Jill Ellis, England International & Retired USWNT Head Coach
Trevor Francis, International PRAT

That's what happens when the opposition play the high press - Speroni did exactly the right thing to do when under pressure.

IMO:

Today's positives:

1) Our high press;
2) Loftus-Cheek;
3) The Zaha/Puncheon/PvA left-side triangle: when Wilf's on the left and Puncheon's in the team, Wilf sees a lot more of the ball than he does on the right, where Puncheon often turns inside, away from him. Zaha is our most dangerous player and as such, should be saturated with the ball. In that respect, today was alright.

All-in-all, it was okay.. although I didn't think much of the opposition - they looked distinctly ordinary to me.. but I'm quite pleased.

One negative: our camouflage home strip. Not stand-out enough. Players at distance start to disappear into the background. It must be pretty bad at ground level. Brighter colours please - more bright red and less blue.