***Champions v Palace Official Match Thread***

[RodneyRodney]

Today we learned that baldie is hampering foden's career and holding gomez back.

Thank God for haaland!

Seriously, what a player

and we learned that we should have sold Mahrez and kept Jesus

[nottsblue]

3 points

Haaland with his first hat trick

Top of the league, albeit temporarily unless Arsenal flunk it

Defence a worry however, hopefully Laporte returns soon

But that will do. Showed our steel once again and we never know when we are beat these days which is a great sign

[Outcast]

For me, that's better than winning 5:0 as absurd it might sound for many reasons. We obviously need to sort the defence out, we'll get there eventually one way or another, just need to keep picking up points until we hit form.

[stevefromdonny]

How’s panic central hahaha

ok now LOL

[Harry Dowd scored]

3 points

Haaland with his first hat trick

Top of the league, albeit temporarily unless Arsenal flunk it

Defence a worry however, hopefully Laporte returns soon

But that will do. Showed our steel once again and we never know when we are beat these days which is a great sign

Pretty good evaluation is that

[Mase]

Haaland must be stronger than Andy Morrison and Dunnie put together

[s1ty m]

Worst game for Cancelo by a mile.

And that's saying something

He's crap. Sorry.

[john@staustell]

Haaland must be stronger than Andy Morrison and Dunnie put together

No one in football, ever, is stronger than Andy Morrison and as mad Frankie Fraser proved, it's all in the head.

Morrison had that too!

[City64]

We played like Stoke City first half .
We played like champions second half after Alvarez and Gundo came on .

[john@staustell]

Alvarez reminds me of a Paul Dickov upgraded

[City64]

Today we learned that baldie is hampering foden's career and holding gomez back.

Thank God for haaland!

Seriously, what a player

and we learned that we should have sold Mahrez and kept Jesus

Alvarez is playing in Jesus,s position but is more technical and mobile . The space he created upfront when he came on with his quick passing and movement was unreal creating space for Haaland to move into . Haaland and Alvarez are going to be a formidable partnership in certain games where we need to unlock a packed deep defence.

[Mase]

[Original Dub]

Totally agree 64

Alvarez and haaland should start together for games against the lesser opposition

[stupot]

We seem to always look better when Gundo is on the pitch as well. Alvarez looks special, Haaland is an absolute superstar, 6 in 4 games and would have been 8 but for Phil. Brilliant, brilliant hat trick. Bernardo was awesome 2nd half. Walker, Stones and Eddie very poor for their goals.

[blues2win]

A lot of players were poor first half. Stones and Walker were much better second half. Won second balls everywhere and denied Palace any footing. Further up interesting to see Alvarez pushed ahead of Foden and Bernardo interchanging with Kevin on the Right to great effect. There are days when Mahrez’s instant control and jink inside is all too predictable. As for Erling feed the beast and he’ll score.

[zuricity]

The discussion tends to be around getting things working in the attack. However, it must be said, defending has been horrible. How Stones can not be ready when a free kick comes in is worrying. How Dias ducks out of a header is quite frankly, unforgivable.

When you train youngsters , you try to teach them that the ball is always going to you. so always be prepared to head it , or stop it or do something with it. Dias was a shambles for their second goal. I hope it was a blip, he's been questionable since the start of the season. Let's hope he returns to the form of the last two seasons.

[KinkyKinkladze]

People seem to forget that Stones needs a run of 3-5 games to get up to speed. Not ideal, but when he's "match fit" he's rolls royce. A better partner for Ruben than Eric. Cancelo is a slow burner too. The main thing is the mistakes are happening now when we've had a decent run of games to iron them out.

Walker seemingly losing a yard of pace is the only thing that concerns me. Hopefully again a case of not being fully "match fit"

[City64]

The discussion tends to be around getting things working in the attack. However, it must be said, defending has been horrible. How Stones can not be ready when a free kick comes in is worrying. How Dias ducks out of a header is quite frankly, unforgivable.

When you train youngsters , you try to teach them that the ball is always going to you. so always be prepared to head it , or stop it or do something with it. Dias was a shambles for their second goal. I hope it was a blip, he's been questionable since the start of the season. Let's hope he returns to the form of the last two seasons.

We are at our best when playing offensive football in the opposition half . Today first half we were static and just lobbed rubbish balls into the box , it was like Stoke City under Pulis . Last 35 mins of the 2nd half was beautiful and full of technical energy.
Pretty sure Pep is tinkering with 2 or 3 systems this early in the season like an experiment now we have new dynamics with the new players and a beast of a center forward.
Something not mentioned previously in this thread is the fact Gomez is absolutely rapid …… Cancelo has competition !

[Outcast]

I'll say it again. Alvarez is an upgrade on Jesus. Is pressing and movement, he'll add goals soon.
Should start ahead of Mahrez.

[carl_feedthegoat]

.I feel he played the wrong team to begin with and we only ever made the comeback when he did eventually change it around - Alvarez was KEY in this game.
Alvarez , for me , is a perfect partner for Haaland and Foden in certain games - this being one of them.