What’s really giving me the s***s at the moment is the impunity with which the “pressing” teams foul as the other team tries to come out from defence. Refs need to give each foul equal weighting, at the moment fouling a defender as they pass out is not the same sin as fouling an attacker bearing down on goal. Those stats show just how often Chelsea halted our momentum by foul means.
I also think rule changes are necessary to give more advantage to the fouled team. Why on earth are players allowed to stop a kick being taken, get out of the way or get booked.

We played well - we always seem to when we are given space by the better teams - but we had no shots on target.
I am not sure why we had no recognised centre forward on the field - their centre half's had a breeze yesterday - no one really hassling them - no bruises this morning.
I am seriously worried now and the next seven days are crucial.
At worst we must get two draws but we should be looking for four points minimum, otherwise we are deep in the mire.
Our fate is in our hands now - playing well doesn't guarantee results and PV now needs to change tack and grind out some points - suddenly Roy Ball has a certain attraction!

Wasn't PVA another master at letting players get a cross in?

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

Felt that Butland should have come for the cross - it was floated to the back post so he had time to come and claim this (or at least get a pinch on the ball).

All this suggests to me is that we are way too soft. Vieira's Arsenal had some highly skilled players but they also had a touch of steel about them. Also, our captain really needs to go to the ref and say "Ref, that's the third cynical foul on Olise in the last 5 minutes. Looks like they have decided to do whatever to stop him. If it carries on like this it could become a free for all".
This puts the ref in no doubt that he needs to act or the game will spill over.

Our attack looks completely disjointed at the moment with it being Wilf and a shuffle of cards. If it remains as unsettled as this we could well be struggling for many more games, if not for the rest of the season. Cannot see where the goals are coming from beyond Wilf at the moment.

Edited by Booted Eagle (20 Feb 2022 12.16pm)

“ [T]here are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don't know.But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know. ”
—United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld