November 11 2018

Selhurst Park

Jamesey was unable to make the game and watched on screen while Wilf King observed the 1-0 home defeat against Tottenham from his perch in Block E.

The old adage about London buses seems highly applicable to Selhurst at present, writes Jamesey. Nightmares have been quite rare for years but then two come along in quick succession.

After last season’s disastrous start with record-breaking defeats and dearth of goals, Palace are doing their best to repeat the whole miserable episode this season with no home wins and no goals in open play as the festive sound of “Jingle Bells” is fast approaching.

Also, to hope for another miracle turn-around like last season when we started to win games we should have won and even games we shouldn’t really have won, is just not realistic.

The Tottenham match saw CPFC playing number three in a four-game “unwinnable?” run where after the Arsenal draw we are actually one point ahead of the zero predictions. But an away game at Old Trafford with a fast-improving Man U still lies ahead.

I saw no grounds for optimism during this gritty encounter, not helped by the torrential rainfall. Tottenham had the lion’s share of possession and were far more tactically astute and, for this viewer, looked like winning by a couple of goals rather than the one which Juan Foyth nodded in late in the 66th minute while the Eagles defence looked on admiringly.

Despite that, the Eagles had their chances, and in what seems to be a regular occurrence now for the team, Alexander Sorloth missed a golden opportunity to snatch a late point. Through on his own and in front of the Spurs goal, he presented the ball straight into the welcoming arms of keeper Hugo Lloris.

Amazingly CPFC are still 16th in the league. But that won’t last for much longer unless something changes, I’m afraid.

Wilf King continues below.

Simply not good enough

As I approached Selhurst Park and saw the team sheet my heart sank, writes Wilf King.

No Wilfried Zaha who was injured. OK so we won’t win but echoing my friend, Janet’s words during early morning, “I’d be delighted with 1-1” and that’s exactly what the score should have been if only Alexander Sorloth had scored on 89 minutes; he will not get a better chance in this or any other season. I keep re-watching it and it gets worse every time.

As for the rest of the match, the first half was dire and neither goalkeeper had a save to make. 0-0 at half-time boded well for the second half. The fans in Block E are still optimistic about our team’s chances and the singing was good, so much so that my friend Bill remarked “who needs a singing section?”

Mr Parish knows best and we spent half-time discussing the club’s ‘Notice to Quit’ and the open day on 20 November.

Crystal Palace came out for the second period with more purpose and looked lively.

Sadly I didn’t see the Spurs goal until MOTD and how Jordan Ayew stood static while Foyth nodded in; well SE25 always likes to give an opposing player his first Premier League goal.

It’s a shame other Premier League clubs are not so generous.

For the last 15 minutes we battered the Spurs goal and Townsend had a good chance on 83; his facial expression showed how he felt about the shot.

Wayne Hennessey made a number of excellent saves but was let down by his defenders.

The outstanding players for Palace were Cheikhou Kouyate and Mamadou Sakho.

For once I agree with Alan Shearer’s comments on MOTD that Palace did not have enough options, everyone was back and I hope Roy Hodgson takes notice.

Looking at our league position and our next fixture, the relegation zone looms large.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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