[Archived] Crystal Palace Preview

[Steve Moss]

_{most fa\ns will not want to hear this, howeve I think it will take at least7-9 games for things to change}

I agree. I think it will take at least two months to sort out fitness and motivation issues.

Which is why I begrudge Shebby his 5 week process to employ a decent manager. I think he got the right guy but the time wasted is incredible.

Particularly interested in how Henley and Vukcevic got on as we haven't seen enough of them recently.

Read the last few pages and seen about CKR's bad attitude. That has struck me in recent games. Thinks he is a lot better player than he actually is and he is too lazy. Surely Vukcevic (who has a supposed attitude problem) cannot be worse than him!

Can anyone who was there or saw the game update the rest of us on with player performances?

[keyzer80]

New Rovers boss unhappy after Crystal Palace defeat.

Henning Berg admitted that Crystal Palace were by far the better side as Rovers lost on the road for the first time this season.

The Norwegian's first game in charge ended in a 2-0 defeat at Selhurst Park, Glenn Murray grabbing both goals for the Eagles.

Speaking after the match Berg admitted that he was far from happy with the performance of his side and knows that they have plenty of work to do if their are to achieve the ambition of promotion back to the Premier League.

"It was not the best of games, we are not happy with the performance and certainly not the result," said Berg after the game.

"So we have things to work on. Defensively we gave them too much space between our back four and midfield, they had good wingers, we know that, but they were getting way to many crosses.

"I think our full backs handled it quite reasonably but we didn't get as tight as we would have liked so we have a lot of things to do defensively.

"Going forward we didn't use the ball as we should have done, we should have taken more care with the ball, we were losing it too easily.

"We had too few attacks in the first half, it got a little bit better in the second when Ruben came on but overall we did not use the ball as we would have liked.

"I think Palace deserved to win there is no doubt about that."

Rovers are back in action this Tuesday night when they travel to take on Huddersfield Town.

[Commondore]

Berg will need to A: shore up the midfield and B: find a way to effectively accomodate Rochina in the starting lineup. It's abundantly clear that our midfield today was to weak defensively in both numbers and quality, and while Rochina can be a frustrating player he also has the potential to tear this league apart. There has to be a more effective way to use him than as an impact sub!

[neophox]

Henning Berg is honest! Plenty of work to do and

"I think Palace deserved to win there is no doubt about that.".

Sums it up....miles better than Kean who would been pathetic and lying.

Let Henning work and let him get his coaches in and release Black Brumskill etc...

Henning also adressed that we have midfeld problems with the gap too big between defenders and midfelders....good

Palace is high flying at the moment. Injury to Zaha and Murray and they'll drop.

[Oklahoma]

The problem is that there are too many portuguese players in the team. Even when they don't play, they are responsible for everything that goes wrong after Kean left.

[Kelbo]

Henning Berg is honest! Plenty of work to do and

"I think Palace deserved to win there is no doubt about that.".

Sums it up....miles better than Kean who would been pathetic and lying.

Let Henning work and let him get his coaches in and release Black Brumskill etc...

Henning also adressed that we have midfeld problems with the gap too big between defenders and midfelders....good

Palace is high flying at the moment. Injury to Zaha and Murray and they'll drop.

Dont want to be big headed here, this is exactly what I have been saying all along, shape, a team moves together, forwards, backwards, sideways, move as a unit!!

[booth]

A really scary thing is that we're going to go into a huge Derby game in a months time with this team.

More than points at stake but will some of our players recognize that?

[Mike E]

Dont want to be big headed here, this is exactly what I have been saying all along, shape, a team moves together, forwards, backwards, sideways, move as a unit!!

I'll blow the smoke up your arse for you, then. You HAVE been saying this for ages

[Stonesrick]

_{most fa\ns will not want to hear this, howeve I think it will take at least7-9 games for things to change}

I think it will take at least 7-9 YEARS for things to change if these owners stick around.

[PAFELL]

Never like to see or hear rovers have lost. But this defeat will show berg the squad needs a complete overhaul and not just a tweek here and there. The attitude of some players is clearly not right. Long and a hard job ahead for Henning Berg.

[Stuart]

The problem is that there are too many portuguese players in the team. Even when they don't play, they are responsible for everything that goes wrong after Kean left.

Don't be so touchy. We bought, what, 6 (six!) Portuguese players in one transfer window and only one gets any game time? These people take up places in our squad and salaries from our budget. Stinks.

[rovers11]

Woeful today. Players didn't close down palace, their wingers murdered us and until Rochina came we just lumped the ball forward which just gave possession back to palace.

Some players like Martin Olsson are really not interested in playing for us anymore. Rochina and Vuckevic made a huge difference, they held the ball up, got us going forward, and spread the ball out wide to Henley and olsson. Henley looked really good.

Need a physical presence up front, Rhodes doesn't get a sniff. Need a midfielder with legs and a winger who can beat a player.

Palace have 2 or 3 outstanding individuals and are a solid outfit defensively. 1 or 2 injuries to key players and they will drop like a stone. They'll struggle to keep hold of Zaha in Jan. They'll finish mid table imo.

[watford-rover]

just got back from the game, and it was kean! dont get me started on murphy, game just passed him by, did nothing, didnt win a challenge or a header and gave the ball away. when ber bought on formica i would have personally put peds in the middle and dragged off murphy. Kazim-richards' attitude stinks, all he did was mope about and wave his arms like a teenager. Needs to be dropped, Rochina was 5 times better when he came on, i was also impressed with vuckevic when he came on, seemed pretty decent, first time ive seen him live.

We need a new central midfielder. What i wouldnt do for jermaine jones to be back.

[martonrover]

Just got back from the match. What was on view was the rotting carcass of Kean's abomination. Soundly beaten by a better side. Makes me wonder would why Freedman would want to leave.

Cracking atmosphere in the home stands, no doubt buoyed by a popular managerial appointment.

I agree that Berg needs time to turn it round and think we are in an artificially high position in the table.

I think Shebby is in la la land demanding promotion this season.

The loan market needs to be utilised immediately to inject pace and a decent foil for Rhodes.

[aletheia]

Some simple observations

Blaming Berg is pointless. He has to be judged in March. And even then, only if he has had funds to do as he wishes in January. We may argue about whether or not he should have been appointed as opposed to more experienced options but in terms of what he can do on the pitch, given the players and background situation, he has to have time.

Those who felt the sacking of Kean and appointment of Berg would solve all are deluded. The club is far more rotten than that. Yes, we should give Berg all our support - great player, nice bloke, dead straight-but let’s not underestimate the mountain that needs to be climbed.

Those who think that this team are way beyond the rest of this league and just need a manager (other than Kean) to sort them out are also deluded. Certainly, an experienced manager can get a rag bag to perform beyond their individual abilities but the performances early on in the season and against Palace clearly show the scale of the task. Pace, youth, hunger, desire? A blend that works? Hmmm.

In terms of getting fans back - some serious long-time fans seriously fell out of love with football because of the shenanigans at Rovers over the last 2 years. The derisory offers on season tickets will not change that. There may be a certain amount of air freshener slowly seeping around but the stench of greed, incompetence and in-fighting still hangs heavily in the air.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Some simple observations.

Blaming Berg is pointless. He has to be judged in March. And even then, only if he has had funds to do as he wishes in January. We may argue about whether or not he should have been appointed as opposed to more experienced options but in terms of what he can do on the pitch, given the players and background situation, he has to have time.

Those who felt the sacking of Kean and appointment of Berg would solve all are deluded. The club is far more rotten than that. Yes, we should give Berg all our support –great player, nice bloke, dead straight-but let’s not underestimate the mountain that needs to be climbed.

Those who think that this team are way beyond the rest of this league and just need a manager (other than Kean) to sort them out are also deluded. Certainly, an experienced manager can get a rag bag to perform beyond their individual abilities but the performances early on in the season and against Palace clearly show the scale of the task. Pace, youth, hunger, desire? A blend that works? Hmmm.

In terms of getting fans back –some serious long-time fans seriously fell out of love with football because of the shenanigans at Rovers over the last 2 years. The derisory offers on season tickets will not change that. There may be a certain amount of air freshener slowly seeping around but the stench of greed, incompetence and in-fighting still hangs heavily in the air.

This can't be right ! People keep telling me we've got the best squad in the division. Come on guys, where are you. . Tell me again.

[watford-rover]

and why the hell cant we play goodwillie? if his loan spell gets cut short then hes our player again, would have been better than kaz

[Salgado Is A Hero]

This can't be right ! People keep telling me we've got the best squad in the division. Come on guys, where are you. . Tell me again.

Who does have the best squad in the division?

[Torgeir]

Blaming Berg is pointless. He has to be judged in March. And even then, only if he has had funds to do as he wishes in January. We may argue about whether or not he should have been appointed as opposed to more experienced options but in terms of what he can do on the pitch, given the players and background situation, he has to have time.

He can't be blamed now, but now way will he have until March to be judged. We need results from day one, simple as. It's promotion or doomsday for Rovers, and Berg knows it. Support him in January, of course, but even though our squad is far from complete it is not a weak side compared to some of the other dross in the Championship.

And I'll repeat what I've said since Venky's took over - we have not spent much under them. They are still way in the plus when it comes to player transfers, and I'm getting a little tired of hearing that we have so much money and that Kean was given substantial financial backing from the owners. It's BS.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Who does have the best squad in the division?

Look at the league table, that's all you need to know.

[Torgeir]

sky pundits just nominated Bolton as best squad potentially

In answer to guy who asked why Freedman left - he was turned down by Chairman for funds to sign a couple of players on Loan to bolster a stretched squad - which still managed to cuff us today, cost of assembling and paying running into millions

We're still struggling from the Kean effect. Away from home too, let's give Berg a couple of games before giving up hope in this squad.

[LeChuck]

Look at the league table, that's all you need to know.

So you're happy with the statement that we've got the sixth best squad in the league?

That's not bad is it...plenty for Berg to work with there.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

So you're happy with the statement that we've got the sixth best squad in the league?

That's not bad is it...plenty for Berg to work with there.

So you're happy with the statement that we've got the sixth best squad in the league?

That's not bad is it...plenty for Berg to work with there.

You think so ? I don't.

[LeChuck]

You think so ? I don't.

I was a making a point. You said the league table tells you al......

Oh nevermind.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

I have a minds picture of Bergy sat on the Coach/Plane home with his hand to furrowed brow....how the hell do I fix this mess!