League Cup 3rd Round: QPR 1 Palace (17.09.24. Field 13,945)

Late to the party and likely repeating a lot of what's been said but a few take aways from me:

1. Ashby looked well out his depth last night, hopeuflly just finding his feet but wasn't the best introduction.
2. A lot better from Varane which is positive.
3. Celar looks like Conor Washington. Clearly not going to be getting no his back but he looks to be a dud so far.
4. Overall a respectable account of ourselves given we mixed the squad up & played a strong Palace side.
5. Andersen very tidy when he came on.
6. Saito is def technically decent but really lightweight (really need Chair back).
7. Eze is a fucking class above isnt he, ffs lol

Yeah that's a fair point Timmy, I can't lie. I suppose a fourth round tie at home to a top 6 club would generate excitement. But personally I'd still see it as more of a friendly than a serious game.

Fact is that we don't know how many injuries we have in the squad atm.

I think cup games divide opinion at all clubs now, and then we look at other cup results and wonder what it all means - was it reserves against reserves?
But most managers opt to keep a handful of first teamers and then utilise the squad players - until the latter stages and winning becomes a reality.
Much depends on the subsequent game. Lose it and the cry will be 'why didn't you play our best team in the cup then?'. Win it, and it all looks more sensible.
There was even some speculation that Eze may have been rested, but Palace rightly played a stronger team with genuine ambitions of a cup run. I suspect that Marti may have been surprised by how many first teamers they did select.
Eze strolled around like he owned the place - well I guess he does! A class above.
But for my opinion, we have brought in a lot of players with little experience of English / Championship football and they need time on the pitch to get up to speed and become the assets that we have invested in.
Playing them against a Premier League side where expectations are low, is a good move. Play them on Saturday lunchtime against a hostile Millwall and the consequences could be very different. Some of the players benefitted and grew into the game e.g. Varane & Madsen. We also had 3 centre backs out injured.
In terms of risks, playing Field at centre half looked risky, but has to be outweighed against Cook and/or Dunne getting injured and adding to that list for Saturday.
Most teams play their back up keeper, otherwise they never feature (see Jordan Archer!). Walsh did well but for the first goal.
Cellar struggled again, and the jury is out for many, but similarly, Frey looked pretty bad last season and now is a hero after Luton - but a hero who cannot play 3 times in a week for sure. The lob from Anderson was totally misread by Cellar, and when a striker loses confidence that happens. I will not write him off.
But I understand why Marti selected that team.

Competitive games require a competitive team. Only in modern football do you see this nonsense of not playing your best team.

Other than Wharton Palace played their best side. Arguably the only 1st teamers we started in their correct positions were Cook, Paal, Varane, Madesen (even the latter two debatable). A Palace mate I spoke to afterwards said we were crap apart form 15 mins but he didn't realise what a weakened team we put out. First half they certainly looked in a different league but second half we made it competitive. Eze the difference between the two sides.

My main disappointment is we showed them far too much respect. Haven't read the thread yet so don't know what others have been saying but we just stood off and stood off. For a brief period we put in some meaty tackles and suddenly these Prem stars were thinking "shit, I don't want to get injured". Should have been more of that from the get go.

Madame Hal who knows sfa about football accompanied me to R block last night. We might as well have been watching Mars Attacks from her POV but I found her questions interesting.

Why is the little Japanese Guy always on his own, even when he gets the ball?

Why do the yellow men look stronger and fitter?

Why does blue 22 always pass the ball backwards, even when there are blues running away from him?

Why does the green man kick the ball much further than the scarlet man can?

From my point of view, we aint going up or down this season and last night was a massive opportunity, they weren't that good. M Cif blew it.

Firstly I admire taking your missus to the game. I stopped that happening many years back when mine came a long and pulled out a book and started reading! Secondly, how did we blow it? We have spent no more thant £10milion in past 3 years on players, we didnt put out our full team, they did and they have individual players worth more than our entire club. Thought we did well and proud of the team. 

Still seriously pissed off at last night's selection. Black mark for Marti.

Well, possibly debatable.

Come the end of the season, we may very well need any points we get against Millwall.

It remains to be seen whether they’ll be needed to try and clinch a play-off spot - or steer clear of relegation.

And it also remains to be seen whether we get any points off of Millwall...

Seen loads moaning about the starting XI and I really don't get it.

I think MC managed it perfectly. You can't praise players for good performances in the cup and then ditch them. What message does that send to the players? They'll lose faith and effort levels drop as they'll think what's the fucking point.

He rewarded players who helped get us through and introduced others to mix it up. At the end of the day, two preventable goals put us out. On another day, Paal stays awake, Walsh doesn't get megged and a massive deflection doesn't happen. Fine margins.

No moans from me re line up at all. If I had any moan it's I would have rather he threw big Michi on for the last 15 and go direct just to trouble their CB's but that's Marti's shout not mine.