HanoiVillan

We could definitely still go down.

The best that can be said is we're not behind, which isn't really all that. Can't see us scoring at all, unless one of their defenders does a chipped back pass over Speroni's head. No matter what else happens, we need Albrighton on the pitch. Maybe it messes up the midfield, but nobody else creates anything.

Uh-oh, no substitute right back . . .

We're truly going to be lucky to get in at half time 0-0.

We haven't been terrible, but we need to stop passing it long. It would actually be a valid tactic, but we aren't particularly good at it.

Looks like Olbiyun may survive yet. They'll probably finish above us.

For me, I'm completely in agreement with Kwan. Lambert needs to pull something out of the hat here. I won't judge anything until the game is over - maybe it's a tactical masterstroke - but that team looks well set up to grind out a 0-0 draw in a boring and frustrating meat grinder. I'd be disappointed with that formation and teamsheet at the Etihad, but to be selecting it at Selhurst Park, against the team with the lowest number of goals scored at home, is mortifying. Where is a goal going to come from?

Hahaha what? So we're playing Holt, who is good at heading it, and no Albrighton. And is there a particular reason Bacuna isn't even on the bench? We've set up to grind out a 0-0 draw. McLeish would be proud.

As a counter-attacking team, we probably shouldn't be signing players crafted out of granite.

'Too much Cattermole' has been a real feature of their season. For the avoidance of any doubt, any Cattermole is too much Cattermole.

We’ll probably lose, intact we will. But our defence is not that comedy these days, we haven’t been properly hammered in a while (as in by 4 or 5 clear goals) and usually lose by the odd one. We've conceded 10 goals in the last 3 games, and only lost one of those by the odd goal. I see no real reason to be positive about this game. 3-0 Palace for me.

We won't be signing any of the players mentioned on the last few pages. They don't remotely fit with our transfer policy.

This season has been disappointing but **** me, we've beaten Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal. He got a shit club like Norwich promoted from League 1. So what do you get more points for beating them rather than Fulham? No! Didn't think so. I think the point being made was that you don't get the results we've got against the better teams in the league by being a crap tactician. The players carry more blame for the Fulham defeat than PL does IMO. Its not like he's sending them up the tunnel with the instructions "Remember lads, defend like you've only just been introduced." or (vs. Man Utd) "Its a fine of a weeks wages for every goal you score Christian" There is some recieved wisdom in football "By Championship players and that is where you will end up" - half our squad are just that, and that isn't solely Lambert's fault either. I don't think that win had anything to do with Lambert. Our players just seem more up for it against the bigger teams. Or you could say that the other way...maybe they thought they had to turn up against Fulham. You can't take away the good results to argue your point, it doesn't help with a balanced argument...unless you're Michael Moore. Everybody party like it's 2004.

Yes, sometimes they bullshit to the media. And sometimes they sit down in a boardroom and set targets. In Lambert's case, we often hear reference to a 'three year plan'. I don't believe that that three-year plan consisted of: 1) scrape survival for 2 seasons 2) ??????????????? 3) top half of the table in the third season! When you set a three-year plan, you generally set targets for two positive step-improvements. That hasn't happened, and doesn't look like it's going to. Maybe Lambert was bullshitting when he gave that press conference, but equally as likely, he actually believed it, and he's been as surprised and disappointed by our failure to improve as everyone else. I just don't accept that the plan - either from the manager or from the same fans we hear it from today - was always that 'the first two years is just about surviving'. It's being said now to retrospectively justify his continued employment after a poor season.

That's my expectation next season, for me this season and last were always going to be about surviving, sadly. Well, you were a lot more pessimistic than Lambert himself then. After beating Liverpool in 2012, he said he'd have us in Europe in 3 years. We're 1 and a half years into that, and we're barely out of the relegation zone. There's a lot of retrospective claiming around these parts that this season was 'always going to be about surviving', but I don't believe Lambert himself thought that, and I don't recall it being a theme widely expounded upon before this season started.

Dale Stephens?

We won't win. Big John made a good point a while back. He pointed out that the pattern under Lambert is to lose repeatedly until genuine crisis is setting in, and then somehow fish a win from somewhere. Then repeat. We've done it loads this season - the wins against Cardiff, Sunderland and Norwich were all at moments of real crisis. Don't think we've reached that point yet, ergo 3-0 Palace, Bannan to score a screamer from outside the area.

Again, that is not an argument for keeping Lambert. No, you're right, not really. It was more intended as a reality check for those who seem to think the club hierarchy are going to accidentally stumble over the next Alex Ferguson when their last three appointments were Houllier, McLeish and Lambert. Face it, whoever comes in next will be in exactly the same league. We're not attracting big talent with the constraints we're operating under. That's not to say he can't be sacked - even if nothing changes, it would at least freshen up the conversation round here!

Isn't it a bit hopeful thinking that Faulkner's going to turn up some tactical mastermind with the ability to get this parade of rubbish into the top half of the table? It's not like our recent track record fills you with confidence.

To be fair, that exact argument was the main one advanced in Soccernomics - that over a long enough run, wages are a far better predictor of league placings than anything else, including the history of the manager concerned.

Yes, I think next season is our year. There's no way the bottom half of the table will be so uniformly dismal next season. We, meanwhile, have gone backwards. I would put a large sum of money on us not reaching 41 points. One more year of going backwards will be enough to put us out of our misery once and for all.

Disagree. Several of them were excellent, including the one for Weimann's free header which he crossed with his left foot. The corner assist was also superb.

He's hopeless, a real risk in every game he plays. Honestly think Luna is marginally better, I'd rather keep him for next season. At least he's shown promise at some points. Bennett needs to re-learn his technique from scratch, ideally at some other club.

Excellent point. We've been particularly profligate in that department lately.

Certainly at this point, finishing 15th would be a triumph and anything above 18th a relief. Remarkable to be saying that when we were 10th 3 games ago. Hard to see where we're going to get too many points though.