November 27 2016

Alan Pardew

The Eagles scored the fewest out of nine goals in the sixth loss running at Swansea. Jamesey watched on screen while Wilf King was at the Liberty Stadium

Call me a pessimist if you must (oh, all right then) but after five defeats on the trot and an upcoming match (Nov 26) with the bottom team in the Pilesomoulah League, I feared the worst.

And I was justified in this instance after CPFC lost yet again at Swansea, a team whose record of late matched our own in awfulness .

Thinking in black-and-white terms, there are two views on the 5-4 result.

The media naturally seize on the goal tally aspect of the match and even MOTD made it their first item while the press in general went in big-time for the "thrills and spills" in a survival dogfight.

Those of us who think we know a bit about football (my own view strongly rejected by some readers of this column) might take an opposing stance, saying that the game was an example of how two indifferent teams, prone to shocking defensive errors, let in nine goals, most of which would have been prevented by sides with more class, proper coaching and tactical skill.

Think what you will, dear reader, this reporter found little consolation in a pre-match article written by a reputable and respected sports journalist, the Daily Telegraph's Jonathan Liew.

In a Friday morning press call, Mr Lieu witnessed Palace manager Alan Pardew walk in with a whistle round his neck - authoritative, schoolmasterly, in charge, in control or maybe a "whistleblower"?

His remarks implied that, he the manager, could only do so much with players who were not of the highest quality and this is why he cannot be held responsible for the current woes.

"Sometimes you want your players to just grow a little bit more. A bit more grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck," he pontificated.

Ah well, now we all know who's to blame - the team and not Pards.

He is, of course, well known as a "patchy" manager - having winning and losing runs at all the clubs he has overseen.

And to be fair, his impetus in January 2014 when he took the reins at SE25, had an immediate effect and probably kept the club in the top tier.

However 2016 has been unimpressive to put it mildly.

An FA Cup final in May (which, of course, we lost) and staying up by the skin of our teeth, presumably kept him in the job.

The current "losing" patch must be teeth-grittingly worrying for Steve Parish and the board as we sink ever nearer the dreaded "trapdoor" with the Sky TV fortune tantalisingly fading from view. And it's not a lot of fun for we fans either.

As far as the game is concerned, it was interesting to see us run out in a 4:4:2 formation so abandoning the classic big 'un and little 'un strike force in favour of two big 'uns - Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham.

It worked well enough until a golden opportunity for the Eagles to score was bungled when the duo collided with each other.

When Wickham went off injured the team formation seemed totally confused. As the Swans started to threaten more and more, Palace resorted to fouling at every opportunity and were fortunate not to be red-carded at least once.

I only watched the match on screen but my old friend Wilf King who goes to every away game he can, gives more details below.

Kamikaze football

As I crossed the Severn Bridge in Supporters Coach 2, I did not appreciate the significance of the dark clouds in the sky.

I understand that every match can be either win, draw or lose. What I could not have predicted is that in one match, Palace would be winning twice, drawing thrice and losing thrice. In 58 years supporting CPFC I have never experienced an away match where the score went 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 4-5.

Plenty has been written about the Eagles' defensive frailties but this one game brought ALL our current problems to the fore.

From the moment Modou Barrow turned Martin Kelly twice in the first few minutes it was clear this would be a nervous afternoon at the Liberty Stadium.

I am still reeling from Palace being one-up due to a superb goal taken by Zaha (assisted by Benteke) then being 3-1 down to 3-3 and then 3-4 ahead with 6 minutes left; yes surely Palace were going to end the dreadful run of results.

Oh no, let’s not have anyone on the near post and allow Fernando Llorente to win it for Swansea with 2 goals in 2 stoppage-time minutes.

Delirium at 3-4, “who are you?” so quickly turned to “Pardew out” at 5-4. Palace fans must be the most fickle in the Loadsadosh League.

As usual, I took my notebook and at 3-1 wrote “gave up”. The scribble subsequently is hardly legible; at least it amused the supporter standing next to me.

I ended with “goodbye” and am no longer sure whether this was directed at the Liberty Stadium or Alan Pardew.

Normally, it’s exciting when you witness a nine-goal "thriller" but in this case I am still hurting and wonder where our next win is coming from OR (more importantly) when Palace will keep a clean sheet.

I must be a masochist as I will be at the KC Stadium to witness how many Hull City can put past us but hoping for a 6-7 to ease the pain experienced at the Liberty.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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