DUDE! BODY!!!!! Come on!!!!

I think your problem is only counting goals in matches. WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS THE TIME SPENT ON THE PITCH! You can't say that a player who is on for 80 minutes and one who came on for 10 minutes both played the same 1 match!! And there are sites specialized which can show EXACTLY how much one has played in the pas few years.

Gayle has had 15 goals and 2 assists in 2.700 minutes in the Premier League. Nevermind the Championship and the Cups, where he rocked.

IN the last 2.800 minutes in the PL Benteke has had 17 goals and 4 assists. That MAY seem better than Gayle, but 3 of his goals were penalty kicks, therefore I only leave him at 14 goals and 4 assists in 2.800 minutes, very much as Gayle.
So why does one cost 50 million and the other 5 million?
And before that he had 12 action goals and 2 assists in 2.400 minutes in the PL, not that satisfying.

Anyway, I WAS RIGHT when I told you Gayle is too good to keep on the bench. Now he's gone, he's the star of the Championship, the goalscorer, on his way up with Newcastle and he's wanted by half the Premier League clubs. Good for him! Who lost in this?

Don't even get me started on Wichkam. The guy has 10 goals and 4 assists in the last 4.000 minutes in the PL.
When will Wickham be as fast as Gayle? When will he be better in open play concerning pressing, winning balls, forcing the opposition to play long balls that can be easily recovered? When in this century will Wickham be able to do on the pitch the things Dwight Gayle is capable of?

Newcastle knew this, you don;t

In my opinion Kelly was one of our better players yesterday. He was solid in defence and put in 2 or 3 excellent crosses. Ward also looked OK down the left. I have never thought Fryers is perm class but not seen enough of him to judge. Hennessy was at fault for the goal. His position was wrong and should have come for it.

...he's no manager.

Last time I commented on this site was 6-8 months ago when I begged you guys to support Gayle and push the coach into using him. I don't know how happy you guys are about Benteke, some feel he has started well, but Gayle is a huge loss.
Well, the better for him. He's doing really well in the Championship, he's a beast, both scoring and pressing the defenders, while Palace is doing awful under Pardew.

Now please, listen to me. This guy (Pardew) is impressive at being bad. You can't win many games with Kelly and Ward as full backs. Not even Souare is match winning material, but at least he was a left footed left back. Why in God's name doesn't the team have a left footed backup for the left back position? What was the manager thinking?
And don't tell me defenders only have to defend. I'd rather have them make 10 mistakes but contribute to 15 goals in a season, than make no mistakes and contribute with nothing. 6 wins and 4 loses bring you a lot more points than 10 draws.

And keeping Townsend soo long on the bench in the Chelsea game when Puncheon was soo out of it... The man wasn't even trying to run on the pitch, he had even sustained an injury!! Townsend needs to play as LEFT WING every match. He can cross amazingly fast for the striker. Yet, Pardew kept sending him in as right wing (even in the Chelsea game). Townsend doesn't have the technical ability to play on the opposite side of his favourite foot. All he knows from that position is to cut in and shoot. And Zaha is like that too. Playing Zaha and Townsend as inverted wingers destroys the team. They're not Robben, Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar or Mahrez to be able to do that. They're fast and athletic. Use them to run past defenders and cross!!

I've read some saying that the team played well against Chelsea and that Pardew should stay. Honestly, from an impartial point of view, Palace was awful. It was one of the worst displays of a home side I've seen. You are so scared of Chelsea, but outside of having a good run, that team hasn't got much. They might not finish in the top 4. They only have 3 attacking players (Hazard, Costa and Willian/Pedro), the rest are all defenders.
Crystal Palace is not headed in a good direction and, while I can't say that there is one really good manager in the Premier League, Alan Pardew surely is a lousy one

Edited by mattteo (18 Dec 2016 2.48pm)

Gayle made little impact in 1st halves of Prem football.

I don't understand what you guys mean by all round game. "He should improve his all round game"

wtf does that mean? Does a tall immobile striker have a better all round game? Modern football is more about running than anything else. That's why we have seen in the last 10 years a trend with the disappearance of the "brute" striker and the using of the "false 9" there. Yes, it's not always good, it doesn't always work. But it worked AT TIMES, FOR SOME TEAMS. Which is astonishingly more than how teams played football in the past, 20, 30, 40 years ago. The tall striker was untouchable, it was a "must".
Now, why did the trend change? Why do teams do this to themselves? Because it brings points!! That's why!! Statically, using faster, more agile strikers has brought more points than using tall ones, who only jump to the ball and use aerial duels. They also need to close in spaces fast and/or press when the team is not in possession, which diminutive strikers do better. Teams who use them receive less goals.

So how on earth could Benteke or Wickham have an all round game better than Gayle??

I've read some really hilarious replies here. That he's only good in the Championship, that he was guaranteed 20+ goals, that he plays for the best team there. He plays for the best team because he makes it the best team!!!
Nobody guarantees you 20+ goals. If you put Benteke in the Championship he will never score that much, even if his value is 10 times than the best striker's there. Heck, if you put Charlie Austin in the Championship, HE WON'T BE TOP SCORER!
Dwight Gayle is something unseen in the Championship since a long time, his goal+assist ratio considering the minutes he played is amazing and is a continuation of his usual ratio.

If a guy like Benteke was publicly promoted, if his value has reached these heights and is a marketing asset as well, it means that he had good managers. He's managed to trick an entire country into thinking he's worth all that. I've known him since before the Aston Villa days, since he was 17. I know what Benteke can do and I'm telling you- there are 50 strikers worth less than what you paid for him who could have offered more.
Gayle may not be regarded highly by you, but it's all about a manager's eye. That's what a good manager does. He sees things before they happen. Gayle proved. If you keep saying he didn't, then you're really out of it