Squad Numbers

Three outlandish ways in which England can fix their tactical problems and win the Euros

With Euro 2024 just around the corner, with England’s 33 man provisional squad having been announced by Gareth Southgate, optimism is high that this year will be the one that football comes home (don’t we hear that every tournament?). England have one of, arguably the most talented squad of any of the nations in the…
Dougie Freedman staying at Palace is so important

Dougie Freedman is staying at Palace after rejecting a move to Newcastle. This is a seismic moment for the club, Whilst it could be argued that this could be down to him being offered a significant pay rise to stay at Palace, Newcastle would have certainly offered a similar pay rise. Newcastle also offers something…
Forest VS Palace
An assortment of football squad numbers

Academy Players who have kept their original number: Trent Alexander-Arnold: 66- It feels right that Trent has kept 66 since breaking into the first team at Liverpool, it’s a number which has been seen in other sports (see Joe Root wearing 66 for England cricket), and too be honest, it is an aesthetically pleasing number.…
Don’t try and replace Jurgen Klopp, it’s not possible.

That night at Anfield, what was seemingly impossible, became the reality. It was inconceivable to even fathom the prospect of Liverpool overcoming a first leg 3-0 loss to Barcelona to reach the champions league final, yet they did. From the first minute that night, until the very last, they were onto them, pressing with the full…
Low expectations, frustration and uncontrolled jubilation: Manchester City 2-2 Crystal Palace, from the away end

No pre-planning, no research, this blog is just a spill of the many, many emotions that I and every single other Crystal Palace fan experienced yesterday after *that* game. Pre-game, as the Palace fans filtered into the away end at the Etihad stadium, there was a sense of understanding, we were not going to get…
Football clubs and projects: An Illusion or a patience game?

It is important to preface that this was originally written in April 2023, so some of the references are slightly dated and are accurate as of the 2022/23 season-see my praise of Nottingham Forest for sticking with Steve Cooper (ouch), but the points that I’m making remain relevant today in January of 2024. Ah yes,…
The notion that Luton only have spirit is a disservice to everything they have achieved, and are achieving

Watching Luton Towns 2-3 defeat to Chelsea yesterday, the commentators continually mentioned the fact that despite the hatters being 0-3 down , they continued to show fight and spirit. This felt awfully patronising as Luton actually had the better of the game, having 51% possession of the ball, taking 15 shots to Chelsea’s 12 and…
20 goal a season number 9’s-myth or momentous?

Time and time again, pundits when questioned about the struggles of any given team seem to come back to the same conclusion about why said struggles are occurring, they don’t have a 15-20 goal a season striker to put the ball in the back of the net. Whether its Arsenal at this current moment in…
Palace’s performance against Fulham was more than worrying, here’s why

On paper, a 0-0 draw against a decent Fulham side isn’t a terrible result, but in reality, Palace’s performance on Saturday was a worrying indictment of their issues at the moment. Whilst Palace were strong defensively and Will Hughes alongside Cheick Doucoure provided stability in the middle of the pitch, the team were hopeless going…