Crystal Palace 3-2 Utterly inept Aston Villa

[Doughboy21]

Agreed
If the owners want to make the next step and invest again, i don't think Smith is the guy. We need a name that can attract quality and someone more flexible in game management
His game management currently leaves a lot to be desired but I still think (hope) he will come good.

Yep that’s it for me. He’s done well overall and deserves an opportunity next year, but he really really needs to show development with his game management/tactical awareness.

[brontebilly]

What was the point of bringing Wesley on for the last few minutes, the guy looks totally lost i can't remember him touching the ball on his cameo appearances.

I thought the timing of that sub was odd. Would surely have been better off bringing both Wes and Davis on at the same time. Wouldn't have taken AEG off either when chasing a goal. McGinn or Luis were offering nothing by then so either could have been hooked and Jack dropped in there. We ended up with very little width for a finish.

[Drummond]

Ramsay is getting a lot of experience. He's young and in a very busy and intense role. I've not seen the stats but I reckon he covers an awful lot of ground.

As for not influencing the game enough, there really aren't that many players that have ever done that at his age. Give him the time and he'll learn and get better.

Grealish needs game time and I'm sure that Smith is hoping it helps him get a Euros spot. He's clearly not fit yet and not completely confident he's healed.

[ROBBO]

Watching Ramsay i would say he has good foot skills and usually finds his man, he is finding his place in a very competative game. Think he will come good but needs to be more assertive.

[brontebilly]

Watching Ramsay i would say he has good foot skills and usually finds his man, he is finding his place in a very competative game. Think he will come good but needs to be more assertive.

He's quick too. Don't think 10 is his position though. He certainly presses well, and that stands out in comparison to Barkley, but you need a bit more guile to play in that role at this level. In a three man midfield I think he can have a bright future and maybe on right side at times in front of Cash. Seems to me as if he needs a bit more direction on what's expected of him in his role when he starts. All young players do.

Bit harsh to pick him out for particular criticism yesterday anyway. The other two in midfield are a lot more experienced but offered nothing without the ball in the second half. They should be able at this stage to react to what's happening on the pitch and not require direction from the sideline. McGinn might aswell have not been on the pitch after he got booked.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The game pretty much summed up this season; beautiful to watch first half, generally crap second half.

Other than a strong, defensive midfielder, more than anything we need to be looking to bring in some creativity in the summer.

[SoccerHQ]

Heard an interview with Dean after the game saying that Palace changed the way the were playing in 2nd half - sorry Dean it is your responsibility to change the way we are playing to match them and then impose our game on them!

Another disappointing loss, hopefully we can win at Spurs

Can't say we weren't warned either, Benteke and Eze hit crossbar at 1-2 and they Zaha had some dangerous crosses cleared. Not like their first which pretty much came against run of play.

Sometimes think DS just accepts opposition having 10 minute spell of sustained pressure and just hopes the team can get through it. Sometimes we do like at Southampton and Brighton when we were generally battered in both second halves but got away with it, others like yesterday and Burnley we don't.

Arsenal away last season when we were 2-1 up and playing v 10 men but did nothing to counter Arsenal changing things in midfield.

I could accept yesterday's defeat more if say Nakamba had come on with Grealish and maybe we'd gone to a midfield 4 (with Jack just playing off Ollie) and maybe got Ramsey to track Zaha more, that might've been reasonably effective.

[Ian.]

Watching Ramsay i would say he has good foot skills and usually finds his man, he is finding his place in a very competative game. Think he will come good but needs to be more assertive.

I like him and this is great experience for him. It amazes me how many want us to throw in the youth but when we do some are very quick to rule them out and want to send them away on loan.

[Mister E]

There's almost a bit of naivety that we show when leading. We paly an open system with two wide players. When we are defending a lead, we should - I think - go a little narrower, with a mobile and tenacious midfield that can support both attacking and defensive situations.
We were right to take off Traore - he'd had a mare of a game, and it was the opportunity to narrow the team; we didn't.

[martyn ellis]

Regarding the midfield, I'm assuming that Sanson was signed to fill that kind of holding role, but he seems to have a fairly longish-term injury which will presumably keep him out of the next two games. maybe a full pre-season and more game time will allow us to see what he's about.

[martyn ellis]

Agree that Traore had a fairly anonymous game, but even then he showed flashes of what he can do. It's coaxing him to be more consistent in these flashes of brilliance that's the key. he's obviously very talented but sometimes struggles to get into games.

[Skerra]

Biggest problems with Traore, as a winger, are he can’t defend and can’t go past a player on the outside. Always turns back onto his left foot and loses the momentum of our attacks. At best he is a bench player and is one we could do with an upgrade on. I know he gets the odd goal but, like El Ghazi, goes missing for long periods of the game.

[Steve67]

Biggest problems with Traore, as a winger, are he can’t defend and can’t go past a player on the outside. Always turns back onto his left foot and loses the momentum of our attacks. At best he is a bench player and is one we could do with an upgrade on. I know he gets the odd goal but, like El Ghazi, goes missing for long periods of the game.

To a degree, this posts sums up Dean Smith too.  Great when it's all going well, but we go missing for large chunks of the season. 4 wins in 24?

[The Edge]

Heard an interview with Dean after the game saying that Palace changed the way the were playing in 2nd half - sorry Dean it is your responsibility to change the way we are playing to match them and then impose our game on them!

Another disappointing loss, hopefully we can win at Spurs

Can't say we weren't warned either, Benteke and Eze hit crossbar at 1-2 and they Zaha had some dangerous crosses cleared. Not like their first which pretty much came against run of play.

Sometimes think DS just accepts opposition having 10 minute spell of sustained pressure and just hopes the team can get through it. Sometimes we do like at Southampton and Brighton when we were generally battered in both second halves but got away with it, others like yesterday and Burnley we don't.

Arsenal away last season when we were 2-1 up and playing v 10 men but did nothing to counter Arsenal changing things in midfield.

I could accept yesterday's defeat more if say Nakamba had come on with Grealish and maybe we'd gone to a midfield 4 (with Jack just playing off Ollie) and maybe got Ramsey to track Zaha more, that might've been reasonably effective.

I don't think it's a case of Dean Smith "accepting" a 10 minute spell of pressure. We are playing in an elite league and every single team in it will inevitably put pressure on their opponents at some point. We have coped by and large as our defensive record proves. 15 clean sheets in the Premier league is no mean feat. We lost 50% of our regular defence for the Palace game and that obviously made us more vulnerable than usual. We needed to keep them on the back foot for as long as possible which we achieved for the first 20/30 minutes but you can't expect to sustain that for 90 minutes. They hit the bar twice that's true but only Ezes effort had Martinez beaten and the two goals they did score in the second half were both very flukey. We lost a game that we could so easily have won. We're still heading in the right direction as a club so let's not lose sight of that.
And while I'm at it the title of this thread is ridiculous. Utterly inept Aston Villa? I don't think so. We lost a game and we were put on the back foot for most of the second half. There were mitigating circumstances. We were not utterly inept.

[ChicagoLion]

Heard an interview with Dean after the game saying that Palace changed the way the were playing in 2nd half - sorry Dean it is your responsibility to change the way we are playing to match them and then impose our game on them!

Another disappointing loss, hopefully we can win at Spurs

Can't say we weren't warned either, Benteke and Eze hit crossbar at 1-2 and they Zaha had some dangerous crosses cleared. Not like their first which pretty much came against run of play.

Sometimes think DS just accepts opposition having 10 minute spell of sustained pressure and just hopes the team can get through it. Sometimes we do like at Southampton and Brighton when we were generally battered in both second halves but got away with it, others like yesterday and Burnley we don't.

Arsenal away last season when we were 2-1 up and playing v 10 men but did nothing to counter Arsenal changing things in midfield.

I could accept yesterday's defeat more if say Nakamba had come on with Grealish and maybe we'd gone to a midfield 4 (with Jack just playing off Ollie) and maybe got Ramsey to track Zaha more, that might've been reasonably effective.

that is the sort of intervention you are never going to get with Smith.
He allows our midfield to get over run and stands their scratching his head.