Crystal Palace vs WHUFC -- December 26th, 2019

and a very Merry Boxing Day to all you lovely people... what better place to be on this rain soaked thursday morning than sitting on the couch plying fetch wit the cat....


that's the cat being willingly involved (and indeed having started)a game of him fetching his little ball thing, not a game of fetching the cat...

thanks to Liverpool's sojourn in the 'nobody outside of the Liverpool management or supports club goes a fupp about it' cup, we've had so much time off you could almost forget how terrible we've been of late... although with two wins and two losses in our last 4 games and our away form technically putting us in 12th place in the league - if that was all it was based on...

Players are walking out onto the pitch...

nice to see Tom[kins out there... along with Kouyyate...

We have the outstanding news that...

Roberto is in goal....

Zabaleta is back in defense...

holy spitballs... we could go home now... no point in even looking at how bad Palace's recent form has been... we're gifting this to them of the team sheet.

Balbuena
Ogbonna
Cresswell

fill out the sieve we call defense...

Noble
Rice

are the non-existent midfield

Snoddy
formals look to link up with the forwards in a 4-4-2 formation

up front are Antonio and Haller - so perhaps Pellegrini hasn't been completely sleepwalking through the team selection.

We kick offf playing right to left...

oh, and we're playing in an all white strip so we even look like we've decided to surrender this game.

we go all the way from attacking up the right wing, to losing the ball in our own half on the left wing for a throw-in to us.. then giving away possession form the throw in.

5 minutes gone.. corner to Palace

Roberto goes for it, punches it off the head of his own player... into the ground but the resulting shot is well wide.

Fortunately he doesn't injure himself taking the goal kick, so he didn't copy any of the other keepers...

Tis obviously the season of goodwill and Palace are being nice and charitable by not attacking too much... which given the combination of Zabaleta and Roberto is mighty nice of them.

Not sure how long they can stay away from our end of the park but every little helps.

12 minutes have elapsed since kick-off - the last time we really looked threatening.

Now we give away a free kick outside the area... Palace take it before I can even blink but outpace themselves and the ball is shepherded out of play by the wise men at the back...

from the resulting goal kick... Roberto gets possession (I was typing so didn't see how that happened)

Kouyate gets taken down...

we're waiting a long time for the throw from Palace... but it comes in and Palace give us the ball back...

even Antonio sems a little subdued today...

nothing really happening form either side...

the Zaha against Zabaleta battle hasn't materialized

no one's taking any potshots to highlight Roberto's deft control of his area...

and we are...

honestly not doing anything.

we had a little bit of foot magic in defense a few minutes or so ago but the resulting possession just saw Antonio play a ball through that rolled harmlessly out of play...

we win a corner... although it was Palace who put it out of play while being under no pressure at all.

the ball comes out to Noble who tries an acrobatic overhead kick that almost goes out of play for a throw in (although fair play to him, the ball did actually move forwards of his position)

almost half way to half time...

Palace on the attack

Oggy puts it out for a corner.

the corner goes straight to Roberto...

so he punches it out

the ball comes back in with one Palace player challenging Roberto for it...

so Roberto puncheon's the ball into the ground and we escape the 'danger'

the 'danger' being almost entirely Roberto as Palace don't seem interested in scoring so far.

and now we are at halfway to half time...

Stat-wise the 1st quarter of the game has Palace on 62% possession and one shot on goal...

it's been all Palace for the past few minutes... fortunately they've decided not to try to turn possession into shots and so still just have the one off target effort to show for their dominant possession.

the cat still isn't bored of his game of fetch and even at only 9 months old is showing better ball control and passion than anyone ins a West Ham shirt...

Haller is bundled off the ball by Tompkins who manages to win a free kick out of it...

we get the ball all the way into the Palace half when the penny drops and Zaha realizes he's only got Zabaleta to beat in defense and decides to run at us...

the ball is played across the goal, Roberto nowhere to be seen but fortunately no Palace players are following up and our usual tactic of leaving a player unmarked in the middle of the 6 yard box comes to nothing.

the ball is then played back form the right and an outstretched Palace foot can only turn it agonizingly wide of Roberto's far post...

defy a bit of a let off there...

32 minutes gone.

ooh... first shot on goal for the Hammers...

Antonio effort from outside the area but the curler is 'straight' into the arms of the Palace keeper.

we're currently sitting on the line separating relegation from... remain... a kind of Prexit/Remain struggle that we're all too familiar with.

this is thanks to Southampton taking the lead in their game...

Bournemouth are leading Arsenal and Watford are leading away at the Blades

and there's still plenty of time for us to lose this and villa to win against Watford which would see us out of the Prexit zone by only a point or two.

of course... if we turn this lack of threat or possession into three points...

4 minutes to half time... a welcome offside flag gives us a respite form Palace pressure.

tompkins does the right thing and concedes a corner...

oooh... another corner to us.

Snoddy takes.

and... another... goal kick.

30 seconds to half time.

wait... that's it?

everyone just trudges off...

to call this lackluster would be the understatement of the season.

our extended lay off certainly didn't result in anything ridiculous like extra fitness passion or enthusiasm for the game.



hopefully they'll slip something into the half time oranges to boost the second half.

all the anger on twitter is directed at Snodgrass

I'm not going to say he's done anything worth writing home about but he's hardly the only one out there not putting in any effort.

At least he walks to the corners to take corner kicks...

the calls for Anderson to replace him and that this is a clear example of why 'Anderson should start' ably demonstrates how little attention anyone pays to the actual games we play.

Anderson has been chuffing useless all season and the idea that he's suddenly going to come on an 'link up with the forwards' is literally insane given that he's failed to that at all in any game he's payed so far.

the Blades pull back a late equalizer (their game was a delayed start) and so as things stand during the tea break, we're still on that precarious dividing line but with a "healthy" 4 point cushion...

"If this game was a Christmas present then you'd seriously consider exchanging it," says MOTD commentator John Roder.

That just about sums it up.

62% of Palace's attacks have come down against Zac's side of the defense

2nd half is under way...

no changes seem to have been made which I guess means the person on Twitter who stated that if Snoddy walks out for the 2nd half, Pellgrini should be shot... kinda has a big decision to make with their life...