Week 11 - time for some socially distanced aggro

candylandriots

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Early goal for Palace (well OG for West Brom).

Palace really need 3 points today. Nice to see Zaha back.
 

Section30

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candylandriots

unkempt
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Stepped away and missed the Zaha goal, and was eating for the third. Good for Christian Benteke. You could see how happy his teammates were for him too.
 

candylandriots

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I wouldn’t predict two over the course of an entire season for him playing in the Championship at this point.
The people on the Palace podcast I listen to were, to their credit, suggesting that Benteke needed to get a start this week (especially after Roy inexplicably started Schlupp up front last week.)
 

Mighty Joe Young

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I wouldn’t predict two over the course of an entire season for him playing in the Championship at this point.
I was ecstatic when Liverpool foisted him on Palace .. and even got 20m for him IIRC. Not that I disliked him - he works hard and seems a decent enough guy. But monumentally frustrating .. and that’s gotten a lot worse at Palace.
 

SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
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Googling it shows it’s his thing. “We don’t wear them in training so in a match it feels alien.” Maybe fucking wear them in training?
 

67YAZ

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Not good - Rose Lavelle awkwardly twisted a knee during a challenge.

but this City-Everton match on NBCSN is pretty good - City dominating, but the camera is so low and close to the action it feels like a front row seat.

After a bit of treatment, Lavelle back on.
 

67YAZ

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Lavelle off at the half, tho. Hopefully precautionary. City have this match seen up and Champions League midweek.
 

Kliq

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Lloris and Alderweireld are starting for Tottenham (yay!) but Ndombele is out with an illness (boo!).
 

67YAZ

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Just to add that even on a team stacked with great players, Lucy Bronze jumps out as the best. She is so, so good.
 

coremiller

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I’m torn.

I’m desperate for a world-beating US player. I can’t stand divers and embellishers.

I’m going to justify my Pulisic fandom here by giving him a pass as a man made out of wet tissue paper and spider silk. If he needs to dissipate a foul by rolling out of the stadium, we’ll pretend we don’t hate Neymar for doing the same thing.
I think there's a big difference here between exaggerating marginal but real contact, and flat-out faking contact when there's been no contact at all. I''m fine with the former and strongly against the latter.
 

candylandriots

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I was ecstatic when Liverpool foisted him on Palace .. and even got 20m for him IIRC. Not that I disliked him - he works hard and seems a decent enough guy. But monumentally frustrating .. and that’s gotten a lot worse at Palace.
I was pretty sure it was 30 million. Ugh. I hope you’re right, it actually would make me feel a little better.

He is definitely lucky that he’s been at Palace during this time. I wouldn’t want to imagine being that big of a disappointment somewhere else. It’s remarkable the fans haven’t turned on him, though I think it does have to do with him being a likable guy who also works hard. You have always known the effort was there, which is one of the main reasons I’m happy for him today. Hope this gets him on some kind of roll.

Edit: just checked. £27 million with incentives (ha) that could have brought it to £32 million. I remember Liverpool not giving in at all in the fee (not wanting to sell at a loss), despite all evidence they should have. But Palace still paid it. This is the last year of his contract. Wonder if they could get the proverbial bag of balls for him in the January window.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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I was pretty sure it was 30 million. Ugh. I hope you’re right, it actually would make me feel a little better.

He is definitely lucky that he’s been at Palace during this time. I wouldn’t want to imagine being that big of a disappointment somewhere else. It’s remarkable the fans haven’t turned on him, though I think it does have to do with him being a likable guy who also works hard. You have always known the effort was there, which is one of the main reasons I’m happy for him today. Hope this gets him on some kind of roll.

Edit: just checked. £27 million with incentives (ha) that could have brought it to £32 million. I remember Liverpool not giving in at all in the fee (not wanting to sell at a loss), despite all evidence they should have. But Palace still paid it. This is the last year of his contract. Wonder if they could get the proverbial bag of balls for him in the January window.
Looked it up 27M£ Plus 5m in add ons

Edit: mind you they paid 32 for him
 

OCST

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I think there's a big difference here between exaggerating marginal but real contact, and flat-out faking contact when there's been no contact at all. I''m fine with the former and strongly against the latter.
We praise basketball players for "drawing fouls."

The differences are easy enough to parse if you know both sports, but the larger point stands, I think, especially since a foul in footy has considerably more impact on the game. I think even a foul in midfield is more impactful than your garden variety basketball foul, all else being equal.

In other words, I agree with you, but the structure of the game is out of whack - the disincentives for exagerrating contact (ok, flopping) are nowhere near the potential rewards.

The PL did introduce, with big fanfare, a program for a two-match ban for flopping, if such was decreed by a panel of three experts, and it was promptly forgotten about. Predictably, the only time it was ever given was to an Everton player - found-object striker Oumar Niasse. I remember the game well - a draw with Palace. It was our tenth anniversary, we were away for the weekend at a secluded hideaway, and I watched the game while my wife was still asleep. I'm all with the romance, you know.
 

coremiller

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Fantastic shot. But awful defending. Son is way too good to allow him to just walk into a shot from that range with absolutely no pressure .
 

swiftaw

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Apparently Vardy is a Wednesday fan so he must’ve loved scoring against United.
 

coremiller

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One of the things that's crazy about Peacock is that for the games on NBC or NBCSN you can still stream them though the NBC Sports App which is way better with more features than Peacock. They could have just made the Peacock games a paid tier on the NBC Sports App (like Gold used to be) and it would be a way better product. They are intentionally delivering a crappier product to boost subscription numbers for the new streaming service.
 

Kliq

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That was some near post finish by Kane. So. Many. Goal Contributions.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Son is playing out of his mind. That finish on the first goal was insane. But Arsenal's defending was malpractice.
 

Kliq

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Son is playing out of his mind. That finish on the first goal was insane. But Arsenal's defending was malpractice.
I thought Robbie Earle made a good point at halftime showing that Reguilon's run down the left forced the defender to try to stay in between Son and Reguilon and allowed Son to get space for the shot.
 

coremiller

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I thought Robbie Earle made a good point at halftime showing that Reguilon's run down the left forced the defender to try to stay in between Son and Reguilon and allowed Son to get space for the shot.
Bellerin blew the coverage. Reguilon's run forces Holding to drop off but then Bellerin needs to switch and take the ball. Instead Bellerin ALSO starts running to Reguilon before realizing his mistake, trying to turn around, and falling flat on his ass. Son walks right into the space Bellerin vacated and fires into the top corner.

It was a brilliant shot, but Son had so much space due to the poor coverage that he could have taken another touch or two to get an easier chance.

This was all after Bellerin was way out of position to track Son's run in the first place, as The Robbies pointed out. Just a horrendous sequence from him.