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| Wade Elliott should have been awarded a penalty |
A point against Watford and a Carling Cup win against Burton Albion appeared to have set us up nicely for our trip to Crystal Palace, but then the week went wrong as Danny Fox was sold whilst ending in a awful 2-0 defeat in South London.
It really couldn't have been much worse. This was a performance devoid of every ingredient necessary. We defended poorly, offered virtually nothing in midfield, gave the Palace defence an easy afternoon and we showed no urgency in a game where our play was so pedestrian it was almost at walking pace.
If we thought we were going to come out of a bad couple of days with an inspiring performance we were very much disappointed and this is the sort of horror show we need to get out of the system very quickly indeed.
Up to 3 o'clock the day hadn't been too bad. Anyone who has ever been to, or attempted to get to, Selhurst Park will know that it is not the easiest place in the world to get to, but our journey down was just about trouble free, one steward with his own set of bollards apart, and we were outside the ground more than an hour ahead of kick off.
The team news, when it came through, was a little surprising. Brian Easton was in for the departed Fox. That was no surprise. However, I'd expected Charlie Austin to replace Martin Paterson and potentially Marvin Bartley to come in for Dean Marney. Instead it was Keith Treacy, for his first start in Burnley colours, and David Edgar who came in.
That meant a change in formation to what was very much a 4-5-1 with Edgar in a defensive midfield role alongside Chris McCann and Wade Elliott. Ross Wallace was on the right with Treacy on the left and Jay Rodriguez up to on his own.
The start was, frankly, awful and it was a surprise it took Palace as long as nine minutes to go in front. They were into their game right from the kick off and we seemed to have no answer to them.
When the goal came, they moved the ball down the middle of the pitch before getting it out wide left to Ryan McGivern, another young Manchester City player out on loan. His early cross was met by Jonathan Parr coming in late to head home powerfully. Quite why no one tracked him is anyone's guess but he was allowed a free header that left Lee Grant helpless.
We were second best by some distance at this stage and it didn't get any better for a while. We kept it to that 1-0 scoreline and eventually did start to get our fair share of the play. But there was no conviction to it. It was laboured and we constantly gave the ball away under no pressure at all.
Even so we came close to equalising when Jay Rodriguez got in a superb header from a right wing cross, only to see Julian Speroni get down to his left and save. It was an excellent save for the Argentinean who had precious little else to do over the ninety minutes.
He did face a couple of Wallace free kicks in the latter stages of the first half. He saw one go wide and then tipped the second over the bar, and that was the sum total of our first half performance.
Another free header in the box right at the end of the half was put over and it left us, quite fortunately, just a goal down at half time.
We needed to step it up in the second half but sadly that never happened. Even so, we should have been given a golden opportunity to equalise early in the second half when Elliott went down in a challenge in the box.
The assistant referee, close to the incident, have the best of views. Sadly here was an assistant who hadn't shown any inclination towards giving a decision all afternoon and incredibly he stood, flag down, failing to react to what looked the clearest of penalties.
However badly we might have been playing, had that been awarded and we'd scored it would have been a completely different game.
The game hardly changed and Palace always looked the more dangerous and it was no surprise when they did get their second. McCann gave the ball away and that led to a run on goal that Ben Mee stopped with a trip. Like Elliott's before it, this was the clearest of penalties, and referee Malone wasn't going to miss this one. Owen Garvan sent Grant the wrong way, 2-0, and game over.
We'd just introduce Austin and he did make a difference. He got into some good positions, twice came close, and was desperately unlucky to see one header go just wide after it had beaten Speroni.
There was worse to come for us. In the fourth and last minute of stoppage time, Marvin Bartley elbowed Parr as Wallace was moving away with the ball. In what was his first league appearance since Nottingham Forest last season when he was, somewhat unfortunately in my view, red carded.
And it was two in two as Malone's red card unhesitatingly appeared leaving him facing a three match ban that will mean he misses the games against Cardiff, Barnet and Derby.
The whole performance was dispirited. It seems the whole club has been on a real downer in the last couple of days and the players weren't able to do anything at all to lift things. Manager Howe did all he could to defend them afterwards but he's been suffering too as yet another player was allowed to slip from his grasp.
Howe needs backing now and he needs backing quickly. We all know now to 'expect' three or four signings this week. We know one is likely to be Danny Ings and a second could, despite interest from elsewhere, be Ryan Shotton.
We need players who will lift the manager, the players and the supporters. The whole place really does need a desperate lift. And let's just hope the official line that Jay Rodriguez is NOT for sale is watertight.
Lousy day did I say? And just to make matters worse, a collision on the M6 just north of Stafford closed the north bound and delayed us 45 minutes on the way home.
The teams yesterday were;
Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni, Peter Ramage, Aleksander Tunchev, Patrick McCarthy, Ryan McGivern, Darren Ambrose (Kagisho Dikgacoi 49), David Wright, Owen Garvan, Jonathan Parr, Sean Scannell (Calvin Andrew 83), Jermaine Easter (Wilfried Zaha 71). Subs not used: Lewis Price, Mile Jedinak.
Yellow Card: Owen Garvan.
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Andre Amougou, Ben Mee, Brian Easton, David Edgar (Charlie Austin 63), Wade Elliott, Chris McCann, Ross Wallace, Keith Treacy (Marvin Bartley 72). Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Dean Marney.
Yellow Card: Ross Wallace.
Red Card: Marvin Bartley.
Referee: Brendan Malone (Wiltshire).
Attendance: 13,167 (including 767 Clarets).