Good win, well done to Roy and the team.

However, I strive to not be reactionary and I'm afraid it does little to change my mind that we should be considering our mangerial options.

The late substitutions continue to infuriate and I'm sure is partially responsible for our injury record. Roy said before the game that he was upset that he hasn't had a full squad to work with this season. Well, he never uses the bench and that's why.

Absolutely desperate to see Franca given more than 10 minutes as well. He better play in the FA Cup. Would like to see Ebiowei as well.

On a positive, Olise is an unbelievable player and I think will eventually be far superior to Zaha in his career. Sadly it won't be for us but let's enjoy him while we have him, even if it's just for another 18/19 games.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Very good point.

If Mateta was not a big old lump he would not be a footballer. He’s a physical presence and a a glory hunting forward.With a bit of a workrate, he’s both a goal threat and a useful asset. Benteke had all the right attributes but not the mentality to match. JPM is similar.

I thought he was superb today, if he played like that every game we’d only be talking about replacing Zaha, covering for Doucoure and the wing back position. Let’s hope it bodes well going forward and he can turn out similar displays.

COYP

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

Back home from the game now. Huge relief to win and massive effort from the team.

I thought Lerma was excellent today but haven't seen others mention him. Eze was out of sorts despite a good goal, and he, Mateta and Ayew ran out of steam, which is why Roy should have made his substitutions at least 10 minutes earlier.

I don't actually think we look as if we have any strategies for attack, other than give the ball to Olise or Eze and hope they can do something. In contrast Brentford did have some clear plans on how to attack Palace and threatened us despite not having players of particularly high quality (Toney, Mbeumo, Henry and Mee are big misses for them).

So I certainly didn't think the win was a managerial masterclass by Roy, though we know our squad is desperately thin in terms of quality. Other thoughts were that SJ is more solid than Henderson, Guehi / Andersen are consistently excellent at centre-back, Clyne is a better option than Wardy at right back. And who was that great big new bloke playing centre forward and doing a great job of it ?

That’s why I couldn’t stand Benteke, I can take a striker not scoring goals if they put themselves about, give their all and contribute in other ways. Benteke was lazy and for a so called ‘big Ben’ he was lightweight and not up for a scrap. Mateta at least fights for the shirt

Edited by monkey (30 Dec 2023 8.59pm)

An essential three points today, but we have a lot of work to do.

It's going to be a hard road to survival this time.

As crazy a notion as it sounds, I just don’t think Benteke particularly relished being a footballer. He never looked as though he was even moderately pleased to be out on the pitch.

Was such a waste; he was towering in the air, not abysmally slow, had good ball control, understood the game (when he wanted to) and could certainly finish. C’est la vie.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!