Where eagles dare

Anything yellow and blue
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Radley Rambler
Grumpy old git
Posts: 2249
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:36 pm

Where eagles dare

Post by Radley Rambler »

An entertaining game for a pre-season friendly, my thoughts on the players as follows:

Eastwood - Once again, simply magnificent - three 'worldies' and confident claiming of the ball from crosses - thank goodness we've kept him

McMahon - no nonsense right back who looks like a good addition, good crosser of the ball but his attention to marking seems lax - Palace's second goal came from Zaha literally strolling into the box unmarked from the left wing to set up their scorer.

Nelson/Dickie - excellent - very strong partnership, strong and good in the air. Dickie will score 5 or 6 from set pieces this season which is something we have sadly lacked for many years.

Garbutt - bit shaky at the start of the game, questionable first touch but grew into the game, can whip in a good cross and hit a cracking shot from 35 yards that stung their keeper's hands.

Brannagan - Solid no nonsense, did his job - a Ledson replacement at present although he has in the past played further up the pitch.

Carruthers - Looked podgy to me but that may just be his body shape. Marshalled the midfield well and has a bit of the dark arts about him - the sort of player who will 'manage a game' effectively if needed. Yellow cards aplenty for him though I reckon.

Ruffels - Same old Josh - good solid performance.

Whyte - showed signs of promise but didn't really see enough from him. We were playing Premiership opposition though and so the service to the front players was always going to be limited.

Henry - reasonable job as a number 10 albeit a bit quiet at times.

Obika - well I don't know what to make of this. His pre-season scoring record is excellent and he did in fairness take his goal well (although he nearly fell over) for me, he isn't the long term answer but given his current scoring, he'll be difficult to drop.

Selected Subs - Napa looked very energetic and his first touch/close control were superb - I think this could be a big season for him. Norman is very tall and athletic and was happy to get stuck in. Lopez has great hair - the OUFC Valderamma?

Overall - a very solid performance but we lacked an out and out winger who would get to the by-line and square it back for a tap-in. We also imho still lack a fox in the box who is going to get the tap-in. Despite the result if I was a Palace fan, I'd be worried - they looked to be very reliant on Sakho at the back and Zaha/Townsend up front. With Zaha reportedly looking for a move, they could be in trouble.
OtmoorYellow
Puberty
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Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2017 1:35 pm

Re: Where eagles dare

Post by OtmoorYellow »

I'm a big fan of Lopez. And only 16! I hope he isn't rushed in too quickly, but I think as he develops he will become a devastating player.

Obika's pre-season scoring flatters to deceive. His goal at Aldershot was more a case of the ball rebounding off him than him scoring (although at least he was brave enough to get stuck in). He had a couple of taps in at Ox City and missed a shed load of chances when one on one with keeper. In Ireland it wasn't exactly top notch opposition. And his goal against Palace - well he rounded the keeper then had about 4 goes at deciding what to do with the ball before scoring. I'm not remotely convinced he will be good enough for a team looking for promotion.

Eastwood was fab. The right handed save down low from Saha's header was truly world class and reminded me of THAT Gordon Banks save from Pele.
We must keep him at all costs as our back up options are limited. Both Jack Stevens and Manny Agboola making bad mistakes at Hungerford, and Shearer looking like a nervous old crock.

Carruther's doesn't look particularly fit, but podgy is a bit harsh. He is an excellent player, and IMHO was probably our best outfield player v Palace. I agree he will attract the ref's attention a lot though.

CamBran was very good too. He has been very good in pre-season generally and his distribution is probably the best in the team.

Ruffs isn't getting involved enough for me. I want to be able to notice him getting stuck in.

McMahon looks decent, but lacking a bit of pace for a right back/wing back. Very strong on the ball and doesn't give it away easily. Good crosser too.

Nels and Dickie are a very strong partnership, although the quick Palace forwards showed up a slight lack of pace. Combined with Easty, we should have a strong defence this year.

I'm not sure about Garbutt yet. He left his defensive zone too often for my liking.

Whyte's lack of pre-season showed.

Henry was OK as a number 10, without looking like threatening the goal.

Napa is a useful sub to have. He is so quick and enthusiastic. Does he have enough control? Is he strong enough? Would he better played as a winger?

At the end of the day, this was a very strong Palace side, and we didn't look out of our depth, albeit that Palace reclaimed and retained possession much better than us. Palace look slow at the back for Premier League and I suspect they will concede plenty. Whether they score enough will depend on whether they can keep Saha, who was head and shoulders above anyone else on the park.

In short, we still need two top class League 1 strikers in my view. The rest of the team will be OK.
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