Post by marshbowles10 on Dec 29, 2014 7:55:53 GMT
My first thoughts must be for those on the Air Asia flight.
It does put football into perspective when a tragedy like this happens.
Our Club is in effect a brand spokesperson for Air Asia and therefore to me it is so much closer to home. The ads for the airline, the photos in the programme, the hospitality girls that have shown up and of course the face of Air Asia and the face of QPR, Tony Fernandez.
Our previous sponsor, Malaysian Airlines also suffered from terrible loss of life plane losses.
Respect and thoughts go to all involved.
But this is a Messageboard about our football club and given the time of year, reflective moods and so on……here's my ramblings;
The team still is a collection of individuals.
They may have come together during that wonderful day at Wembley but from what I see in the South Africa stand there appears little in way of spirit.
Perhaps it comes down to us the supporters too?
The Palace supporters yesterday really made their 12th man count. Despite what management say about us the supporters and how brilliant we are, I thought we were decidedly average yesterday. Just like the team. Too much Christmas pudding? Thought the Palace fans were great.
Looking at the team, we have invested again heavily in players (OK may not as heavily in other seasons) Ferdinand, Fer, Mutch, Caulker, Sandros and the loans of Isla and Vargas.
Have they made the team any better?
Ferdinand can't get a game as he isn't up to the standard. We STILL have Clint (and we all love him) playing. That probably says more than anything for the development of the defence. Caulker has probably been as we expected although like Clint, expect to see Dunne playing in quite so many games. Would any other side in the Division have Hill and Dunne playing?
Isla looks to be OK although I'm not sure of his best position.
Yun was looking like the player the fans thought he was but Harry didn't until his injury.
But
Is the defence really any better than 12 months ago?
Sandros as we always knew would be injury prone and yet we shelled out £10million on him and followed in the 'never learn from our mistakes' tradition of employing injury prone 'names to add to the wage bill of players paid for being in the treatment room.
Whilst on this subject the curse of poor Ale Faurlin cannot be ignored in reviewing the year. That boy had real potential. Can he come back from 3 cruciate injuries? I very much doubt it.
Midfield with Barton who thinks he can take free kicks but cannot and wants to pass to the other side more often than his own is looking decidedly weak.
Fer looks to be a strong player but have we really seen the value in the transfer yet? He too seemed to have joined Palace yesterday with his passing
.Mutch when he has played has been poor. Vargas is being played out of position and doesn't seem to track. Where is the player that lit up the Chilean team in the World Cup?
Perhaps our two brightest stars have been Bobby and Charlie.
Take Bobby first. He has shown many of us that the decision to keep him was the right one and not just sentimental reasons for the Wembley goal. His hold up play is unbelievable.
Charlie Austin still isn't the finished article but has shown he can score in this Division. A hat-trick doesn't make him an England player but we haven't seen a goalscorer like him for a fair few seasons.
The fringe players also don't seem to have progressed as we all would have expected. Where is the £5million value in Phillips? Why cannot Hoillet cross a ball? Why if Adel wasn't fit 6 weeks ago isn't he fit now? Where are our youngsters?
As we look back on the year we got into the Prem by the skin of our teeth. We all expected to struggle and that we have.
Perhaps the manner of the struggle is the element that has surprised me with capitulation at away games.
Given all the money spent by the Club, 2015 must see the same lame old excuses from Harry come to an end.
I go into 2015 with trepidation about our future. The continuing dept, the imbalance of our finances and the poor quality of the team given all the investment do not give me hope for a particularly 'happy' New Year on the field.
I truly hope I am wrong.
Warm wishes to all the people on this board for 2015, I'm not sure I have met any of you, but we all share the same love of this football club despite our difference of opinion.
It does put football into perspective when a tragedy like this happens.
Our Club is in effect a brand spokesperson for Air Asia and therefore to me it is so much closer to home. The ads for the airline, the photos in the programme, the hospitality girls that have shown up and of course the face of Air Asia and the face of QPR, Tony Fernandez.
Our previous sponsor, Malaysian Airlines also suffered from terrible loss of life plane losses.
Respect and thoughts go to all involved.
But this is a Messageboard about our football club and given the time of year, reflective moods and so on……here's my ramblings;
The team still is a collection of individuals.
They may have come together during that wonderful day at Wembley but from what I see in the South Africa stand there appears little in way of spirit.
Perhaps it comes down to us the supporters too?
The Palace supporters yesterday really made their 12th man count. Despite what management say about us the supporters and how brilliant we are, I thought we were decidedly average yesterday. Just like the team. Too much Christmas pudding? Thought the Palace fans were great.
Looking at the team, we have invested again heavily in players (OK may not as heavily in other seasons) Ferdinand, Fer, Mutch, Caulker, Sandros and the loans of Isla and Vargas.
Have they made the team any better?
Ferdinand can't get a game as he isn't up to the standard. We STILL have Clint (and we all love him) playing. That probably says more than anything for the development of the defence. Caulker has probably been as we expected although like Clint, expect to see Dunne playing in quite so many games. Would any other side in the Division have Hill and Dunne playing?
Isla looks to be OK although I'm not sure of his best position.
Yun was looking like the player the fans thought he was but Harry didn't until his injury.
But
Is the defence really any better than 12 months ago?
Sandros as we always knew would be injury prone and yet we shelled out £10million on him and followed in the 'never learn from our mistakes' tradition of employing injury prone 'names to add to the wage bill of players paid for being in the treatment room.
Whilst on this subject the curse of poor Ale Faurlin cannot be ignored in reviewing the year. That boy had real potential. Can he come back from 3 cruciate injuries? I very much doubt it.
Midfield with Barton who thinks he can take free kicks but cannot and wants to pass to the other side more often than his own is looking decidedly weak.
Fer looks to be a strong player but have we really seen the value in the transfer yet? He too seemed to have joined Palace yesterday with his passing
.Mutch when he has played has been poor. Vargas is being played out of position and doesn't seem to track. Where is the player that lit up the Chilean team in the World Cup?
Perhaps our two brightest stars have been Bobby and Charlie.
Take Bobby first. He has shown many of us that the decision to keep him was the right one and not just sentimental reasons for the Wembley goal. His hold up play is unbelievable.
Charlie Austin still isn't the finished article but has shown he can score in this Division. A hat-trick doesn't make him an England player but we haven't seen a goalscorer like him for a fair few seasons.
The fringe players also don't seem to have progressed as we all would have expected. Where is the £5million value in Phillips? Why cannot Hoillet cross a ball? Why if Adel wasn't fit 6 weeks ago isn't he fit now? Where are our youngsters?
As we look back on the year we got into the Prem by the skin of our teeth. We all expected to struggle and that we have.
Perhaps the manner of the struggle is the element that has surprised me with capitulation at away games.
Given all the money spent by the Club, 2015 must see the same lame old excuses from Harry come to an end.
I go into 2015 with trepidation about our future. The continuing dept, the imbalance of our finances and the poor quality of the team given all the investment do not give me hope for a particularly 'happy' New Year on the field.
I truly hope I am wrong.
Warm wishes to all the people on this board for 2015, I'm not sure I have met any of you, but we all share the same love of this football club despite our difference of opinion.