1 year ago
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Jeff Sachs suggest a busy week of sackings: “Lampard, Moyes, Conte”
Patrick Vieira: “Hopefully we learn a lot from last year. We are always looking for the consistency in our performance. We are always aiming to move higher in the league.
“We come off a really performance away from home and it is important to carry it on tonight.
“The last couple of games Spurs have played they have conceded the first goal but in some they have won the game. They have the quality to do this.”
“Certain Spurs fans might want Conte gone, but you have to ask what more he could be doing with the team and squad at his disposal?” ponders Julian Menz.
“They had a great start to the season, but gravity has caught up with them, and they are 5th, which is probably par for Spurs.
“There is a myth about Conte that he demands ”galactico” signings, but that certainly wasn’t the case when he led Chelsea to the PL Title (Victor Moses was RWB for the love of….). And just for the record, Conte’s Chelsea were hardly dour. The team was scoring goals.
“Conte and Levy were never going to be a match made in heaven, but Conte did get Levy to splash a bit of cash.
“It was never going to be enough though, given the hyper-inflated transfer market.
“Spurs are more-or-less where you’d have expected them to be at this stage of the season.”
The football lacks entertainment. I think that is the fans’ issue.
“Are you actually darn sarf this evening, or checking this on your telly somewhere safely north of the river?” asks Jeremy Boyce. I cannot answer that for legal reasons.
“I managed to find my way to Selhurst Park many years ago, to watch Allan Durban period Shrewsbury Town scratch a 1 - 1 draw when we were up in the 2nd Division/Championship for a few seasons. We went up when Thatcher was elected, we went down when she resigned. Make of that what you will.
“I am more wondering about the relegation 6-pointer oop at t’Elland Road tonight, and the fates of the respective managers. Depending on the W/D/L possibilities of the +7 minutes additional time result tonight, if it’s an L for either of them, which is Moyest likely to get their Marsching orders ? They could probably both do with lots of W D and 40 points. I’ll get my coat...”
You and Moyes to get coats.
“Will, I agree, the soup discussions went out of control,” says Mary Waltz. “I have steeled my self for the possibility that Everton could drop into the relegation zone. It could be worse, I could be Kevin McCarthy’s mom. PS, is traditional beef stew it’s own category or is it too close to soup.”
Stew is not a soup, surely.
“I turned on Southampton-Forest only to see a marching band play what sounded like a funeral dirge version of ‘When the Saints Come Marching In’,” says Kári Tulinius. “I realize that Southampton are having a tough time of it lately, but that was a bit much. Mind you, the home crowd are in good voice now the match has started.”
That sounds like real entertainment.
Antonio Conte: “Our expectation is to do a good reaction after the result against Villa. When you lose a game, everything positive in the situation becomes negative.
“Our target is to start well, to go into the game and play football, to create chances and not concede a goal.
“Last game we didn’t have a slow start, we started very well. We have to play the whole game and stay in the game for 90 minutes. There are many games in one game. We have to be better than the last game.”
“No soup content today! Palace v Spurs is on the TV, but I’ve got Southampton v Forest going on the computer,” emails Joe Pearson. “Never too early for a relegation six-pointer!”
My in-laws have departed so Romanian food is off the menu. Chicken salad with French dressing roday.
“A clear dearth of attacking options on the Spurs bench,” emails Mike Nagle. “What about Troy Parrott or Dane Scarlett? How about Conte giving them a chance and some encouragement or doesn’t he trust youngsters?”
They are both out on loan. Conte, however, rarely bloods youngsters.
Some pre-match Conte …
Palace are unchanged, meaning Tomkins is on the bench after returning from suspension. There is no Jack Butland in the squad either because he is, supposedly, on his way to Manchester United.
Oh Spurs.
Dier and Skipp come into the team for Spurs. Gil keeps his place following his first-ever Premier League start for the club against Villa.
Starting lineups
Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Guaita; Ward, Guehi, Andersen, Clyne; Schlupp, Doucoure; Olise, Eze, Zaha; Ayew.
Subs: Johnstone, Milivojevic, Tomkins, Mateta, Hughes, Edouard, Ebiowei, Richards, Riedewald.
Tottenham (3-4-3): Lloris; Dier, Romero, Lenglet; Doherty, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Son, Kane, Gil
Subs: Forster, Sanchez, Royal, Sessegnon, Spence, Tanganga, Sarr, Davies, White.
Preamble
It is fair to say that Tottenham were ruddy awful in their defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend. They lacked any form of creativity and were easily broken down by Unai Emery’s men. Since then Antonio Conte has hinted he might leave the club, not for the first time, and bemoaned most things about the team.
Crystal Palace bounced back from their Boxing Day defeat at home to Fulham, which saw them finish with nine players, by downing Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve. Patrick Vieira’s side sit 11th in the table but the manager wants more and the way of getting that is by making some January signings. They could make themselves a more attractive prospect to potential signings by down Spurs tonight.
If Palace do win, who knows what will happen to Conte? The fans generally agree that the football is pretty awful, lacking anything in the way of threat. They have suffered injury problems in recent times but they should be really better than a side that has conceded the first goal in their past six matches.
It should be fun.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT
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