Tonight's game

Made the short trip over to glorious Croydon for the game tonight and, albeit a friendly, was the first time I have enjoyed a City match in a while!

Here are my thoughts and ratings on the players that featured tonight... many of whom I had never seen before or heard of a couple of months ago:

Theo - 6
Thought he looked reasonable, seemed to like a punch which was worrying at times, kicking a bit hit and miss but pulled off a decent save from one of palace's rare efforts and did seem to command his box quite well.

Spillane - 7.5
Had a good, solid game at right back, looks big and strong and more like a centre half. Made a good last ditch tackle in a dangerous position and got some good blocks in. Would prob prefer him to Semi this season.

Doc - 7
Same as ever, solid enough but you never completely trust him do you... in fairness didn't look troubled at any point really, even quite silkily dispossessed their forward and came away nicely with possession midway through second half.

Nelson - 7
Could be a while before we see him in yellow again, was pretty seriously injured on about 75 mins. Prompting Gunny to bolt on to the pitch to see if he was ok. Not pretty, left in a neck brace. Up to that point look ok alongside the doc.

Drury - 6
Same as ever, reliable but didn't do anything of note to my recollection. Never looked to troubled though.

Whaley - 7.5
I wasn't overly impressed first half, he was a little frustrating and seemed to give the ball a way a little. However was much stronger in the second half, attacked the full back, was willing to put a cross in (more accuracy than first half too) and took his goal with composure... looks a decent signing.

Gill - 6.5
Look a like for Sammy Clingan, decent game pulling the strings in midfield, will be interesting to see who gets the nod, would have liked to see Hughes too to compare.

Tudor-Jones 7
Big lad! Got stuck in and seemed decent enough on the ball. as with gill centre mid selection should be interesting.

Hoolahan - 9 (MOTM)
A constant menace to Palace who seemed pretty incapable of getting the ball off of him once in possession. Great touch, made space and dictated the flowing game we played.

Holt - 8
Looks like the real centre forward we have been waiting for. Won a lot in the air, but i was most impressed with his touch for a "big man". Looks good with his feet. Made our goal, initially looked like he had been out paced by their centre half but dispossessed him, sliped it through his legs, cut inside and layed it on a plate for Whaley... think it surprised a few people! scuffed his only really decent opportunity of the night though but think he looks a very good signing for league 1.

Martin - 6.5
For me he didn't quite get stuck in enough and was a little shot shy... although he wasn't the only one... still thought he looked alright on the ball... think he may have a big part to play this season.

Subs: semi - actually looked reasonable in defence, Bright - not a lot of opportunities to shine, had one good chance which he put over the bar from close range at the end, mc veigh - almost as wide as he is tall - didn't do much of note.

All in all, I came away feeling very positive for the league one campaign ahead. Palace did look pretty poor, especially second half when the took off a couple of their pacier players who looked like the only ones that could do any damage, but we played some very decent stuff really. One critiscm would be that we do not appear to have irradicated the norwich disease of passing sideways when there could be a shot on! We may have won 1-0 but it should have been a wider margin. On the face of it I would say that we will have competition for every position (esp if the serb and dane agree to join this week) and quality to boot. On tonight's showing I would be very disappointed not to finish in the top 3 or 4 next season.

The crowd was pitiful from a Palace perspective a few thousand at best I would say. It almost felt as though our fans out numbered them - they clearly did not - but the few hundred norwich fans made a fair amount of noise in the second half and I think you could tell from their reactions that I was not the only one who was sensing that there are some (yellow and) green shoots starting to show with our team!!

All that's left to say is bring on league 1... you never know we might actually enjoy our (hopefully short) stay in League One if we're not careful!

OTBC

Posted By: Wimbledon_Will on July 28th 2009 at 23:18:02

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