NOT GOOD ENOUGH - CRYSTAL PALACE HOME

Last night was poor, the points made about the lack of movement are spot on. That is simply down to our 3 most mobile players, Chops, Bellamy and Drinkwater not being available. Those at Pompey will remember that Drinkwater was outstanding in that game, both defensively and, more surprisingly, breaking forward.

I also share some of the concerns over Burke, he works hard and doesn't hide but there is absolutely no end product at the moment. His crosses are all too often cut out and his shooting isn't worth mentioning.

Before the last few games many people thought Chops would struggle to get in the first XI, I don't think many would share that view now.

The positives:

1. We didn't lose.
2. Hudson suddenly looks like a centre half
3. Oli is back and that game will have done him the world of good sharpness wise.
4. We are still 2nd despite this poor run of performances/results
5. We are still averaging just almost 2 points a game, if we do that over the season we get automatic - FACT !!
6. We have, arguably, the two most feared strikers in the Championship to come back in the next two games. So if we get a result of some sort on Saturday things will be looking pretty good.
7. VT seems to be getting into the swing of things as a Bluebird

Last night was poor, the points made about the lack of movement are spot on. That is simply down to our 3 most mobile players, Chops, Bellamy and Drinkwater not being available. Those at Pompey will remember that Drinkwater was outstanding in that game, both defensively and, more surprisingly, breaking forward.

I also share some of the concerns over Burke, he works hard and doesn't hide but there is absolutely no end product at the moment. His crosses are all too often cut out and his shooting isn't worth mentioning.

Before the last few games many people thought Chops would struggle to get in the first XI, I don't think many would share that view now.

The positives:

1. We didn't lose.
2. Hudson suddenly looks like a centre half
3. Oli is back and that game will have done him the world of good sharpness wise.
4. We are still 2nd despite this poor run of performances/results
5. We are still averaging just almost 2 points a game, if we do that over the season we get automatic - FACT !!
6. We have, arguably, the two most feared strikers in the Championship to come back in the next two games. So if we get a result of some sort on Saturday things will be looking pretty good.
7. VT seems to be getting into the swing of things as a Bluebird

Well said - sums up the situation perfectly

When people say we have to expect it cos Craig and Chops were injured it pisses me off, are we to say that if they are missing we will never win and must accept that, sorry never will accept it. DJ kept nearly all the same squad from last season and has added his choice of new players so there are no excuses, he says we are not a one man team but a squad of players.

Koumas was a bad move. I thought so. I wonder if part of the reason we got him back was
to boost shirt/ticket sales. He can no longer use match fitness as an excuse, admittedly if
he's not quite there yet he will tail off towards the end of games. But he's showing us nothing.
Spent force unfortunately.

McPhail and Gavin Rae are NOT good enough to play championship football. Maybe McPhail was
once, but not any more. Spent forces.

Wildig and Blake are going to be good midfielders in my opinion. But they are not good enough
right now. But I would STILL play these lads before either of the three above. They are hungry
and will at least show a bit of bottle.

So with Either of H2o or Oli missing... we will struggle. Thats the midfield!

Defensively... Naylor scares me shitless right now. He had a barn-storming start for us and looked
solid as a rock. So its obviously consistency he lacks, thats bad bad bad for a full-back. Once you give
a winger a sniff he will be all over you. Keep a winger quiet for the first 20 minutes and its likely he
will have a bad game.

Hudson and Gypes are playing better, but are not anybody's first choice pairing in the middle of defence
and we have a injury prone player in Riggott waiting in the wings. SuperKev IS class, but is suffering
so much with injuries his performances are bound to suffer - and they are. Thats the defence.

Our attacking options are what will get us out of the shit. Once Burke, Bellamy, Chopra, Bothroyd and
Keogh are all fit, Jones will have serious firepower, and as long as we can get Oli and Danny playing
together, the rest will take care of itself.

But if we cant get these fellers fit, if we get more of the same injuries, we will definitely start to
slide down this table.

HOWEVER...... we still have a team that has been put together for next to nothing, we still have a
first eleven that scares the shit out of this division, and we still have a first eleven that can get us
promoted.

I suspect we will be 8th or 10th come January the way things are going re: injuries and missing
players.

Vincent and TG are going to have some massive decisions to make then!!

Terrible performance last night. Palace seemed to have more pace than us and no little skill. Their passing and movement was much better than ours and they had the two best chances of the game.....and yet they were missing some good players and were disrupted early in the match by two enforced substitutions. How can this be??

People keep saying that we'll be ok when we get all our players back....but let's face it we are only missings Chops, Bellers and H2O. All teams have to cope with players missing. I think that DJ needs to ask TG and VT for permission to take a 3 month loan signing of a Premiership quality target man as cover for Jay (or to even play alongside him at times) with a view to a permanent signing in the January window. Only 3 players missing last night and yet who did we have on the bench to come on and change things?? Definitely at least one more striker needed.

naylor, koumas, keogh?

what about whittingham? he was PISS poor last night, yet nothing is said about him, couldn't pass to save his life and his delivery was just embarresing.

yes he may have got ONE tackle in but who cares?

HUDSON or HEATON mom.

IMHO Mr Jones and Mr Burton are not up to it, neither could motivate Mr Motivator.

naylor, koumas, keogh?

what about whittingham? he was PISS poor last night, yet nothing is said about him, couldn't pass to save his life and his delivery was just embarresing.

yes he may have got ONE tackle in but who cares?

HUDSON or HEATON mom.

Woody you are right Whitts was poor last night.

Perhaps they're all tired, bless em.

Perhaps they're all tired, bless em.

The lamest excuse I have ever heard by a manager, I hate hearing it

Could it be that Jones is busy trying to revamp Matthews as a right sided midfield player in training. I am sure I read somewhere that he has decided Matthews is far more suited to being a right sided midfielder than full back and maybe has to learn a lot more about the role in training before unleashing him.

Totally disjointed. There was movement up front but the wrong sort, and consequently a total absence of 'killer' balls. I often think, if I were the midfielder on the ball, what would all my options be to make a decent pass. Who's looking for space ? All too often in that game they were zilch. Really bad performance. Mind, I was right behind Heaton on the header and that ball had goal written on it from when the cross was made - truly outstanding save.

Another great Debate