Crystal Palace vs WHUFC -- February 9th, 2019

we're in that white strip with the pale blue shorts...

Arnie is on the bench... Chicharito starts up front

Tomkins and KAyoute are injured and can't come back to haunt us

with our injuries it's like there's a whole different team out there that we cold play at some point in the future...

To be honest, I'd forgotten Yarmolenko was even a West Ham player... but then I'd forgotten about Nasri as well...

I'd also forgotten bout Lanzini... so maybe it's all a sign of my diminishing brain power...



We had a couple of corners/attacks early on and now Palace are on the up, winning their first corner kick.

the Palace spell of pressure lasted until about the 13th minute before we manage to mount any kind of response...

Fredericks gets a shot in but it goes straight to the keeper.

As you'd expect with a local derby, the crowd has a sizable and noisy West Ham contingent

Now THAT was a great ball through from Anderson to Snodgrass... but again it goes straight at the keeper and he's able to save.

as usual this is the kind of game we really do need to win.

there's a little bit of a cushion in the table so we can't drop any lower than where we are this week... but we're the bottom of the congested mid-table group and none of u really wants us to be thee whether that's a realistic reflection of our current team or not...

and as seems to be the case every week recently, we could end up around 7th/8th if results go our way (starting with our own)

it's become an end to end affair...

Fabianski (Hammer of the Year) makes a good save then Anderson goes all the way up t'other end

Gets an almost impossible ball through the defense to Chicharito but the ball ends up behind him, he spins and his eventual shot is deflected just wide...

Chicharito is down clutching his ankle.

Liverpool are a goal up in their game

free kick doesn't do much - Antonio is bundled to the ground by the keeper and up steps my favorite player to take the resulting penalty...

Noble scores and we have the lead... on 27 minutes...

calm down... calm down... he's not really my favorite...

I'd gladly replace him with anyone half decent...

but he scored the penalty which is what we wanted him to do, so that's good.

Palace aren't taking this lightly... still having a go as 'bubbles' rings out around the ground...

Fabianski makes a great save

Palace have a corner...

wold be nice to see us dominating a bit more - especially after taking the lead... but we're playing well... about as well as against Liverpool... in other words way better than the three previous games...

Acknowledging it's a local derby... just would be nice to see us able to kinda get ahead of these mid table teams...

we seems stuck in the two steps forwards, two steps back these days...

free kick to us right on the edge of the Palace box...

eventually Antonio and the keeper clash again but this time the Keeper gets the decision...

it's good frenetic stuff... we look good charging forward but need a little more end product

with us winning and Bournemouth now two down at Liverpool... we're up to 9th in the table, sandwiched between Everton and Wolves... who are currently at nil all...

half time whistle is almost upon us...

Anderson skips through the Palace defense after Chicharito is clattered to the ground for the second time in a few minutes...

1 minute of additional.

job pretty well done as the half ends.

Palace fans boo their team which is a bit unfair... although they're probably booing the ref and us... which is kinda unfair but not unexpected...

We have the lead... now we just got to add to it, see the game out and bob's your...

getting dark down in surf lundun as we near the end of the half time break...

2nd half starts with a bit of a delay as a Palace player pulls up injured... bit scrappy now it's restarted...

ball skids across our goal but there's no Palace player to deflect it into the open net...

and now West Ham stand with their arms in the air waiting for the Ref to save them as Palace skip through one on one with the keeper....

three yards out and the player manages to miss the goal completely...

couple of huge let offs for us... we could lose everything we've gained if this don't stop.

now it's aPalace free kick but the head over the bar...

someone needs to get a grip on this game and it needs to be someone from West Ham...

eventually we get a free kick thanks to Antonio being bundled over...

and the resulting free kick results in....

a charging Palace attack...

a volley flies over the bar... but we really aren't at the races so far...

and Antonio goes down in exactly the same spot again...

no freekick this time...

Palace make a substitution...

they're on the attack again...

fair play to them, they're making a better go at it than we are...

Antonio is down injured... but the replay shows he just got hit in the face with the ball... somehow that gets us a free kick... which we manage to do nothing with...

half the half has already gone... fortunately the pace is so frenetic that this game will be over before Palace figure out how to score...

but we're not at the races

Palace go wide of the post and once again, Chicharito is the man made to pay for our lack of ability...

he comes off and Arnie comes on...

succession of Palace corners...

they're gonna score eventually... there's no point thinking the clock will save us... got to do that bit ourselves...

Obiang replaces antonio...

gets injured... is hobbling but will continue...

74 minutes gone... this game - which was kinda entertaining in the first half - can't end soon enough

I was just about to type Palace have had 15 shots... but only 2 on target...

then the fuckers go and loft the ball into the back of the net form the tightest of tight angles

it actually took a deflection off Diop's foot to put it past Fabianski..

but you can't say it's not been coming...

the big test now is whether that will be the kick up the Arsenal we need to get back into this game or whether Palace will continue to totally dominate and go onto win a game that was not theirs at all...

noble struggles to figure out how to defend and Palace get a shot on target but Fabianski is down to save... how far down the table would we be this season without Fabianski?

we're currently 10th...

Palace have another corner...

Palace almost score again but the flag goes up for offside...

at least the officials are on their game - which is more than can be said of us this half.


Fredericks makes way for Zabaleta...

bit unfair... Freddie has ben okay, certainly not our weakest link...


7 minutes to go... this 2nd half has been dismal... straight back to where we are three games ago... hopeless... clueless...

where is Anderson this half?

if he's not going to play... why not sub him for someone who will?

Palace pressure is almost non-stop.

they now have a free kick just outside the D...

appalling wasted free kick (thankfully)

but they get a corner - from which they can't score...


we're playing every man back in the box... but Palace still manage to find three of their players unmarked in the area...

fortunately the shot goes straight into Fabianski's arms.


4 minutes to hang on as the 90 is up...

it's painful...

embarrassing...

it's men against boys...

2 minutes to cling to a semblance of a result that really will never tell the tale of what happened here today...



we went from pretty okay to completely clueless amateurs in the space of a 15 minutes tea break at half time...