Excellent to watch here at 8am not some unearthly hour.

Responsibility Deficit Disorder is a medical condition. Symptoms include inability to be corrected when wrong, false sense of superiority, desire to share personal info no else cares about, general hubris. It's a medical issue rather than pure arrogance.

Kind of surprised to see Henderson and wharton in the lineup, but I guess Germany was a holiday for them.

Kamada hits the post

Pro USA & Israel

Schlupp 1-0 (That wasn't offside)

Pro USA & Israel

So far it hasn't looked quite like two PL teams playing against each other.

I was there, in the highest, farthest row from the field. Attendance was poor, perhaps 6-8k, due to absurd ticket prices. Wolves fans outnumbered Palace by about 3 to 2, but Palace fans cheered more and louder – and had more to cheer about. If anyone is interested:

First half: Wolves started more energetic than we did, but we played with more purpose. We held our shape, pinch-pressed often to create turnovers, and moved the ball more effectively up the pitch. Schlupp's goal was a 35-yarder, thanks to a goalkeeper slip and miskick well outside the area. It followed a disallowed Wolves goal (offsides) by about 45 seconds.

Player impressions...

Henderson - good positioning, quick hands, poor with his feet on routine distribution and balls to midfield. The latter create turnovers like clockwork. Still, a couple of good saves. I still have more confidence in Johnstone, whose command of the area is better than Henderson + Guaita combined.

Andersen – solid as ever, though not tested much tonight. He was never caught out of position, and he avoided the needless macho fouls that make us all nervous. Seemed to organize the defense well.

Richards – looking more confident month by month, and better at making good decisions quickly. Wolves provided few threats, though.

Riad – mountain of a player whom I haven't seen before. Good balance and movement from one so solid, but occasionally out of position either due to lack of pace or concentration. Had some good 1 v 1 wins. Overall, he looked promising though admittedly against modest competition.

Clyne – Wolves seemed determined to attack his side of the pitch, and they couldn't crack him. He simply knows himself and his teammates well, plays efficiently and effectively.

Hughes – typical WillyHughes. Nice to seem him fresher than at the end of a long season. Only two silly sharp ankle-kicking fouls, and some good interplay at midfield. Sometimes pesky in defense, sometimes not. Didn't do much of anything in the final 30 yards.

Wharton – he played like the smooth, alert, skilled player he is, making the game look easy. He doesn't move like an athlete; but if you just watch the ball when it comes to him and then departs, it looks programmed to do the right thing, crisply, every time. And defensively, too, he seems to play near-perfect football. It's a shame England are deep in midfield, 'cause he elevates the play of everyone on the pitch. Quiet Zen-master of the game. He made life miserable for Wolves in both directions, as if there was a force-field across the pitch wherever he was. (Again, Wolves looked poor all evening.)

Mitchell – looked as if his skills have improved a bit during the summer break. Several times he brought long balls under control neatly with his head, and he looked confident in deciding whether to cut inside, take the ball down the wing, or release it quickly. Like many players since Glasner arrived, TM plays one-touch passes more frequently and with more finesse than before. Tonight I thought he played as well as he did at any point last season, though it may have been due to the competition or the fact that he wasn't comparing himself to Eze, Olise, Mateta, Lerma, Munoz, Guehi...

Kamada – showed a few quick 1 v. 1 skills with the ball at his feet. Always looked a step behind his teammates' passes, as if he has plugged some data into the system and is waiting for guidance about where to run. Light on his feet, he can finish if he gets the chance – though he clanked the post on a routine chance tonight.

Edouard – held the ball better than last season, easy to do when not being defended by world beaters. He didn't touch the ball in dangerous positions, so there's nothing to say about his finishing. He ran slightly farther than usual, I'd say, likely because he knows he needs to impress while Mateta is in France.

Schlupp – tonight's 35-yard "rocket" came when the goalie slipped and scuffed the ball to him. So JS picked up another long-ranger albeit to an empty net. The rest of the evening was uneventful for him.

Of the all-new team that played the 2nd half, I will say only this: Jordan Ayew is a warrior. How I will miss him when he's gone. Ignore his resting grumpy face and all the goals he hasn't scored, and you're left with an attacker who threatens the defense every time he touches the ball, earns fouls at a mind-boggling rate, and despite the slow-twitch nature of his muscles nevertheless has more fundamental ball control skills than all but a couple of dozen players in the League. For his goal, he took a long Andersen-esque ball from Holding (very solid half, by the way) out of the air, over his shoulder, brought it to the ground and smoothly punched a sharp pass through the goalie's legs into the center of the net. For the final goal, he passed up a better than 50-50 chance from the edge of the penalty area and instead slipped it unselfishly to Agbinone for the stoppage-time score. Quiet legend, really.

Edited by CT Charlie (01 Aug 2024 4.50am)

Edited by CT Charlie (01 Aug 2024 4.51am)