Long day of travelling up and down the country for me yesterday but I'm delighted that I did, great away win and I couldn't stop smiling on the walk back to the train station.
Weather was terrible, absolutely tipping it down by the time I got to South London. Made me think of the comments from last year that our Portuguese lads wouldn't be able to handle that sort of weather, thankfully didn't hear any of it this time and some of the Palace fans I talked to have been very impressed by us so far. Ground is an absolute dump, reminded me of Crewe in League One. Tiny concourses without any cover so you are in the rain, some people were dancing about in it and throwing cabbages which the stewards had to confiscate.:icon_lol: The room hangs slightly over which means that those at the back of the stand can't see anything when the ball is in the air (thankfully I was not) and there is a stupid pole blocking people's views dotted about every 20 seats or so. Rubbish, League One-esque ground and I heard literally nothing from their supposed hardcore in black over in the Holmesdale End, the place was completely silent apart from the Wolves fans. I would have rather seen Cav come in for Jota but to stick with the same XI wasn't unexpected - was surprised Palace had dropped Meyer who did well on Monday and was glad to see Ayew playing as he is shit.
Onto the game and I thought Palace edged the first half. Jota did well to send Jiminez through on goal which he probably should have done better with but otherwise Palace were the more threatening side without really having any chances save for one dangerous Zaha cross early in the game. I thought the best players during the first half was Jonny and Coady, weakest being Doherty. Text my dad at HT "Jonny best player, you know who worst." he replied with a comment that he will score the winner now, and he did. Very good play by the two of them, Doc and Jiminez, the latter doing well to lay the ball back into his path and Doc does well at a tight angle to put it past Hennessey but the Palace fans will probably be thinking he should have done better. Hennessey was getting a lot of stick from the Wolves fans throughout, funny to see the man who refused to play for us in League One has now been overtaken by our team and we have a far, far superior 'keeper in goal than he could ever hope to be. This sort of meeting is a reminder of just how far we have come in such a short space of time.
Palace continued to dominate possession but we never came under a massive amount of pressure and we showed ourselves to be very comfortable both with and without the ball like against City. The only time Palace really threatened was when Meyer had a volley saved by Patricio and then he made a fantastic follow-up to stop Zaha. Otherwise Palace spent most of the time passing around our box but had no penetration. Coady did very well and made some important interceptions and Jonny was immense. The whole back-line did really well second-half and I was impressed by them all. Cav instead of Traore was the right decision and he looked threatening, hit the bar late on which could have sealed victory. He's the most clinical forward in our squad and a real asset off the bench even if I would rather have him start. Saiss for Helder was a weird one and I thought it invited pressure onto us similar to when we used to bring on ALF last season to protect a narrow lead, it never really worked. Traore came on very late and did mean Palace couldn't totally commit forwards but he was wasteful.
Everyone did well though in the end, Neves was a little quiet but we are now lucky to have two quality midfielders so when one does not perform we can look to the other and the team still functions well. Jota was better than last week but I would still prefer to see Cav starting against Watford. Jonny or Coady for MOTM.
Very good result and thanks to Darlo for helping me out with getting a ticket.
