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Crystal Palace 0-1 Watford
Watford parked the bus and came here to frustrate us and it certainly worked. We struggled to break them down and they stopped Babacar from making any impact on the game at all. They got a goal on the break and it will be a game to forget for us. We need to learn how to win these types of games if we are to progress this season.

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Southampton 2-5 Crystal Palace
We responded in the best possible way after the disappointing result against Watford and were 3-0 up at half time. Ben Arfa is proving to be a great addition, his injury was not serious and it was great to see Bolasie come on and perform well too.

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Crystal Palace 1-2 Stoke
So frustrated to have lost this game. We were behind for a long time and after pulling level we continued to push forward to get the winner and Arnautovic scores a screamer to get a dramatic winner for Stoke. Similarly to last season we were struggling to get shots on target and being wasteful in the final third.

LEAGUE TABLE
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A very indifferent start to the season. However we will focus on the positives and big away wins against Arsenal & Southampton were a particular highlight.

OCTOBER FIXTURES

Fulham (Away)
Man City (Home)
Burnley (Away)
​QPR (Home)

 
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Fulham 2-1 Crystal Palace
We should of got 3 points here. Fulham have just been promoted back to the Premier League and with our top 10 ambitions this season this is a game we should of been more competitive in.

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Crystal Palace 1-2 Man City
Things started well with Babacar continuing his scoring run putting us in the lead. Sadly he went off injured and will be out for 3 weeks. Sanogo came on and struggled to hold the ball up like Babacar does and we let them back in the game. We have now lost 3 games in a row and need to try and find some form before we end up near the bottom of the table.

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Burnley 0-3 Crystal Palace
With Babacar out for a few weeks and Sanogo not impressing so far that mean't Aluko would get his chance to lead the line. His dangerous run into the box got us the pentalty for the second goal. He did everything but score, which is what Abel Hernandez managed to do coming off the bench making his debut and comeback from serious injury.

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Crystal Palace 1-0 QPR
Babacar was back in the starting lineup after injury but wasn't looking very sharp. He made way for Abel Hernandez who is still not quite match fit but made a huge impact. His counter attacking run and neat ball to Salah cut the QPR defence to pieces making it easy for him to find Aluko on the left who put the ball in for Hernandez who was beaten to it by Sivok who put it into his own goal.

LEAGUE TABLE
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Although we have had some poor results our position in the league is OK. We have started to hit good form with important wins against Burnley + QPR. New signing Abel Hernandez will be looking to get into the starting XI and hopefully stay fit adding much needed competition for Babacar.

November Fixtures
West Brom (Away)
Tottenham (Away)
Liverpool (home)

 
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West Brom 1-1 Crystal Palace
This was a tough evenly fought game and a draw was fair in the end. I was pleased we managed to break them down eventually.

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Tottenham 0-1 Crystal Palace
Great result. Tottenham have been flying high and I believe were 4th at the point of this game. Harry Kane has scored 9 goals in the league this season and we stopped him from doing anything the entire game. Babacar scored early on and that proved to be enough as we defended our lead very well. Hennessey was brilliant in goal.

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Crystal Palace 3-3 Liverpool
Undefeated Liverpool were top of the league and looking very impressive under new manager Mark Hughes. We took an early lead and were 2-0 up at half time but expected Liverpool to throw the kitchen sink at us in the second half and they certainly did. Lallana scored an absolute screamer from 35 yards before Sterling put them 3-2 up with only injury time remaining... But Yannick Bolasie dribbled past 4 players on his way to ensuring that the points were shared.

LEAGUE TABLE
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A very good month. We have proved that we can compete with top teams and now it's just a case of making sure we win the games against teams lower down the table. December is going to be a busy month...

DECEMBER FIXTURES
Newcastle (Home)
West Ham (Home)
Man Utd (Home)
Swansea (Away)
Blackburn (Away)
Chelsea (Home)
Everton (Away)


 
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Steve Parish announces Selhurst Park Expansion
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Due to a high Premier League finish in 14-15 and an improvements to the clubs financial position mainly due to the sale of Lucas Romero to Chelsea for £27.5m 1 year after he signed for £7m Steve Parish has announced plans to increase the stadiums capacity. The new capacity will be just under 30,000 - and there is potential for further expansion in the coming years provided the team can bring European Football to Selhurst Park.

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It is believed that the main stand will see the increase in capacity in what are exciting times at Crystal Palace.


 
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Due to the high number of games in December I have just attached the above screenshot of the scores - if anyone wants to see anything from any particular game please let me know.

Crystal Palace 2-0 Newcastle
Crystal Palace 3-0 West Ham
Crystal Palace 2-1 Man Utd
Swansea 1-1 Crystal Palace
Blackburn 2-0 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 0-0 Chelsea
Everton 3-2 Crystal Palace

We started December perfectly with 3 massive victories, but again slipped up on newly promoted Blackburn. We have lost to all 3 promoted sides so far this season. We've got serious injuries to Oviedo, Sviatchenko & Crisetig which contributed to some of the poor form but the squad was strengthened for this very reason and we should be doing better against weaker teams. If we had beaten all 3 of the newly promoted teams we'd be in contention for European Qualification next season.

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We've not got any money to spend in January as the window is about to start, however we have over £20m in the bank and I am wondering if the board may give me some of that to invest in the squad.

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I believe the above to be our strongest XI when everyone is fit. We've had injuries in recent weeks but when everyone is fit we are beating teams like Man Utd, Arsenal & Tottenham. I don't believe we will need to strengthen in January but if someone wants to leave then they will have to be replaced.

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I am really struggling to find consistency this season. I am torn between direct & short passing and am really interested in hearing what other people have to say about what systems/players they do and do not suit. I felt with a strong target man in Babacar and quick wingers in Bolasie/Salah/Ben Arfa that it would be best to use direct but have struggled implementing it this season.

LEAGUE TABLE

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January Fixtures
Blackpool (away) FA Cup 3rd Round
Aston Villa (Home)
Arsenal (Home)
Watford (Away)
Southampton (Home)

 
I'd use a more direct approach if I were you, get the ball forward faster, maybe try to exploit the wings too with the pace you have.
 
I don't use an instruction for short or direct passing, I just put it on the player instructions. if you have a good CB with good passing stats more direct passes works well if you have a big man up top with good pacey wingers as you do with Ben Arfa/Salah/Bolasie
 
I'd use a more direct approach if I were you, get the ball forward faster, maybe try to exploit the wings too with the pace you have.

Not a bad shout - I am getting sick of seeing Bolasie come in from the left and shoot terribly. I may change him from Inside Forward to Winger and hope that he stops.

Cheers though - I will give it a try and hope it works.
 
Not a bad shout - I am getting sick of seeing Bolasie come in from the left and shoot terribly. I may change him from Inside Forward to Winger and hope that he stops.

Cheers though - I will give it a try and hope it works.
Yeah I know the feeling, had the same with Willian AND Salah at Chelsea so I just changed them to wingers on support. Loving the story though, amazing turn around last season and hoping you can sneak into the Europa League this year
 
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Blackpool 0-1 Crystal Palace (FA Cup)
We had need been playing well of late and needed a victory from somewhere. A trip to Blackpool was most welcome and although we only managed a 1-0 win we were tight at the back and had a few chances to score more. We will certainly be looking at making the most of a FA Cup run with the board wanting us to reach the 5th round.

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Crystal Palace 5-2 Aston Villa
After a much needed win we entertained bottom of the league Aston Villa. Babacar will be going home with the match ball after scoring a fantastic hat trick. Villa got 2 late consolation goal which was disappointing but a convincing home win was most welcome.

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Crystal Palace 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal never looked like bothering us today - Babacar was back with the goal scoring touch and with Sviatchenko now back to full fitness we look much more organised at the back. Brilliant performance - the supporters can't be blamed for harboring hopes of european football next season.

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Watford 1-1 Crystal Palace
Watford beat us us earlier in the season and it started to look like it would happen all over again before Abel Hernandez came off the bench and got a well worked equalizer after great link up play with Babacar.

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Crystal Palace 3-0 Leicester (FA Cup)
FA Cup 4th round against Leicester who are 4th in the Championship after suffering relegation last year. We were alot stronger than the away side and the board will be happy that we have reached the 5th round.

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Crystal Palace 3-1 Southampton
Southampton took the lead early on and it looked like being a frustrating afternoon until Okazaki got sent off. Southampton seemed to play without a striker after that and we had lots of chances and we took them to ensure or brilliant form continues.

LEAGUE TABLE
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We are exactly where we want to be. If we can continue our impressive form against the big teams and start to bring that into games against smaller teams we will be in the chase for the Europa League. Babacar has been brilliant and the team is starting to really come together. Sviatchenko has been a real leader at the back and has captained the side when Jedinak & Ledley have not made the starting XI.

February Fixtures
Stoke (Away)
Fulham (Home)
Man City (Away)
Chelsea (Away) FA Cup 5th round
Burnley (Home)
West Brom (Home)

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Martin Kelly £3m to Swansea
Martin Kelly left to get first team football at Swansea. With Joel Ward being first choice RB Kelly got limited game time and wasn't happy. I don't think a replacement is going to be required as McShane can fill in on the right along with Tomkins.

We've got £4m to spend and about £50k on wages. I feel that I will only sign someone who would improve the first XI and feel that I am better off waiting to see what the summer brings.

 
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TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY

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Deadline day in the first window of the season saw a dramatic swoop for Abel Hernandez for £7m from Hull City. This year proved to be even more dramatic with a player going OUT and another coming IN to Crystal Palace...

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Mile Jedinak £3m to Watford
No longer an automatic pick since the arrival of Sergi Roberto & Oriol Romeu in the summer. Jedinak has struggled with injuries and therefor started to decline as a footballer and being 31 I was going to look to move him on in the summer. Watford look like staying in the Premier League and I imagine they will feel by securing the signature of Jedinak that they will have strengthened their chances at doing so.

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Gaston Gill Romero £6.5m from Estudiantes (LP)
After what happened with Lucas Romero leaving in the summer, Gaston Gill Romero had been on my radar as a replacement. Whilst Romeu filled that space in the summer I will now look to adding GGM to our midfield trio. He is a very similar play to Jedinak and perhaps already a better player than the Australian International. At the age of 22 I will be looking to build a team around GGM that can compete for European Competition.


To sum up... I wanted to add GGM to the squad and when I had an offer accepted it was the case that I had to raise funds to be able to complete it on deadline day. I wasn't prepared to wait until the summer and I knew that if I had him in the squad Jedinak would go further down the pecking order. I believe it to be a great piece of business, although some of the fans are questioning my decision making ability.

Erik Sviatchenko has been named the new captain of Crystal Palace and both he and his team mates are all delighted. We now go in to February knowing that we have the ability to qualify for Europe this season. If we do so then I am sure we will be able to hold on to our best players in the summer and hopefully make further additions.

It would be great to hear peoples thoughts on what has really been a dramatic deadline day for me.

 
Please may I ask what team orders r u using for your tactic?
 
Nice signing there mate! just dont take Palace to European football please lol
 
It is very tight,only 6pts off 4th,come on bud big push for a top 6 finish or even top 4.what r ur fixtures for the rest of the season?do u have many of the top 6 still to play??
 
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Stoke City 0-2 Crystal Palace
Stoke had just sold Arnautovic to Liverpool for £15m which I was delighted about as he kept scoring winners against me. Otherwise we were solid and tough to break down. Babacar took a knock and substitute Hernandez scored for us to take the lead. Gaston Gill Romero scored a header late in injury time to secure 3 points in a big away win.

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Crystal Palace 2-0 Fulham
A strong home performance which would of delighted the fans. These are the games that we were losing at the start of the season and it's great to see us taking our chances to win games and remaining organised at the back. Fulham didn't really get a look in.

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Man City 1-3 Crystal Palace
Babacar & Hernandez were both out injured. Rather than playing Sanogo or Aluko I put Ben Arfa as an AMC and played without a striker. This made for a compact and organised shape and frustrated City who never got much time on the ball. Oviedo scored a brilliant free kick to give us the breathing space we needed to see out a great win.

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Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace (FA Cup)
Again we played wihout a striker due to injuries for Babacar and Hernandez. This time it didn't pay off for us despite going close a couple of times. Chelsea are very strong and I wouldn't be surprised to see them win the trophy this season!

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Crystal Palace 1-1 Burnley
After some big wins in the Premier League against Stoke and Man City it was a shame to see us slip up against Burnley. We have dropped points against smaller teams all season and should of created more clear cut chances here.

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Crystal Palace 2-0 West Brom
We left it late but we broke the deadlock and managed stop West Brom from creating much all game. Hernandez was not at his best - we have not seen the kind of form we were hoping when we signed him at the start of the season and I am really looking forward to Babacar coming back from injury.

LEAGUE TABLE
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Things are really starting to hot up now towards the business end of the season. We are close to securing a place in the Europa League. Gaston Gill Romero has fitted in perfectly and really added to our organised nature in defence.

March Fixtures
QPR (Away)
Liverpool (Away)
Tottenham (Home)


 
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