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Crystal
Palace v West Bromwich Albion
Selhurst Park,
South Norwood. 23rd October 2004, 3.00pm. |
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Match
Preview |
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| Result |
Crystal Palace |
3 - 0 |
West Bromwich Albion |
| Scorers |
Fitz Hall (5)
Andrew Johnson (pen 12)
Andrew Johnson (50) |
None |
| Attendance |
22,922 |
| Teams |
4-5-1
28 - Gabor Kiraly (GK)
21 - Emmerson Boyce
3 - Danny Granville
25 - Fitz Hall
6 - Tony Popovic
17 - Michael Hughes
15 - Aki Riihilahti
14 - Ben Watson
8 - Andrew Johnson
22 - Joonas Kolkka
7 - Wayne Routledge |
4-4-2
(GK) Russell Hoult - 1
Martin Albrechtsen - 14
Thomas Gaardsoe - 4
Bernt Haas - 22
Darren Moore - 5
Paul Robinson - 3
Riccardo Scimeca - 2
Andy Johnson - 10
Robert Earnshaw - 34
Zoltan Gera - 11
Nwankwo Kanu - 25 |
| Substitutes |
1 - Julian Speroni (GK)
26 - Gonzalo Sorondo
32 - Vassilis Lakis
9 - Dougie Freedman
10 - Sandor Torghelle |
(GK) Tomasz Kuszczak
- 29
Jonathan Greening - 8
Junichi Inamoto - 33
Geoff Horsfield - 9
Rob Hulse - 17 |
| Substitutions |
V Lakis for M Hughes (69)
D Freedman for J Kolkka (80)
G Sorondo for B Watson (83) |
J Greening for M Albrechtsen
(24) |
| Yellow Cards |
Andrew Johnson (39) |
Martin Albrechtsen
(12)
Darren Moore (43)
Paul Robinson (62) |
| Red Cards |
None |
None |
| Referee |
M Messias (York) |
Utterly dreadful.
Out-battled, out-played and out-classed by a poor side. I cannot
see Crystal Palace staying up, but they were miles ahead of the
Baggies yesterday. I'm finding difficult to put into words just
how awful that performance was, and what a massive blow it could
prove to be to this club.
It may be just one result, but with three of the next five games
against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, it was a huge match.
I'd be very surprised if we are not in the bottom three at the end
of November because we will be lucky to have twelve points by then.
The first mistakes of the day were made by Gary Megson. Jonathan
Greening has been the most consistent performer in a Baggies shirt
this season, and to leave him on the bench was nothing short of
ridiculous. And to play 3-5-2 against the bottom side, who themselves
were playing one up front, a formation that has proved singularly
unsuccessful this season (Anfield and Layer Road to name two examples),
was a baffling decision.
Palace's first goal was, in my opinion, directly due to the formation.
Bernt Haas went walkabout because he thought we had cover with three
at the back, the back three were expecting him to be there, and
Fitz Hall was left wide open to score.
Had Big Dave put away the glaring opportunity he had minutes later,
the game may have been very different.
The timings of the second and third goals were crucial. I haven't
yet seen the TV replays but I felt at the time that the penalty
was harsh, but it came from a very quick break, that contrasted
so wildly with Albion's ponderous build ups, with Haas caught once
again. It gave Palace confidence and they controlled the rest of
the half.
Albion were second to every ball and seemed unable to exert any
pressure on the Palace defence. It was painful to watch. Megson
realised the error of his ways and substituted Albrechtsen and brought
on Jonathan Greening. Personally I would've taken off Paul Robinson,
but the damage had been done already anyway.
For a few minutes at the beginning of the second half, Megson seemed
to have instilled some sort of fight into the side as they looked
for a quick equaliser. The chance came to Earnie, but he hit the
bar from six yards. And another quick break from Palace a couple
of minutes later saw Andy Johnson score a quite wonderful goal and
the game was finished.
We would like to have seen some sort of fight from the Baggies,
but only Greening and Earnshaw seemed to be putting the effort in.
Megson could've brought on one of two forwards to try and get something,
but he looked to have given up.
Albion did have opportunities, mainly thanks to good work from Greening,
but Scimeca and Johnson were so far behind the forwards that Kanu
and Earnshaw were forced to try to work against six or seven Palace
players on their own. One of the few occasions when the midfield
were up in support saw the best move of the match when Greening
and Johnson exchanged passed for AJ to square to Earnie - unfortunately,
nothing is going right for the Welshman at the Baggies and he fired
the shot over the bar.
Megson's after match comments about the players having been lethargic
all week were very disturbing. Not only because it points to a lack
of professionalism on behalf of the players, but also because such
public criticism is unlikely to win any friends for Megson amongst
his playing staff. It is starting to look as if Megson has lost
the dressing room, and if that is true, there is only one option
open to Mr Peace.
This was a dark day for the Baggies, and while it's not too late
to turn things around, there is little reason for optimism at the
moment.
Marks
Russell Hoult - 6 - One or two saves, but had little to do.
Martin Albrechtsen - 6 - Didn't do much wrong.
Thomas Gaardsoe - 5 - Dreadful in the first half when he missed
header after header, but better in the second.
Bernt Haas - 3 - Utterly appalling; after a promising couple of
games he reminded us why he shouldn't be in the side.
Darren Moore - 6 - Did OK but missed two decent heading chances.
The first was a criminal miss.
Paul Robinson - 4 - Too slow in the head.
Riccardo Scimeca - 5 - He shows some great touches on occasion,
but sometimes he's just dreadful.
Andy Johnson - 5 - Typical headless chicken performance.
Robert Earnshaw - 6 - I feel sorry for Earnie. He's working really
hard and had one of his better games for Albion, but it's just not
happening for him. I'd keep playing him because it will happen.
Zoltan Gera - 5 - Not one of his better performances.
Nwankwo Kanu - 6 - Did OK with little service.
Jonathan Greening - 7 - MOM. The only man who looked like he was
really up for this game. Worked really hard on the left wing.
Gary Megson - 3 - The players may have been poor, but Megson gave
them no help what so ever.
Jon Want, 24th October 2004.
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