Are Palace better than us?

[Dubai Mark]

It is difficult to say, Palarse have certainly progressed very quickly, have a very good Manager in my opinion and have some exciting players.

We know they will come at us, so I expect an open game that could go either way, although I have gone for the draw.

So, in answer to the question, YES I would say they are better than us right now, but things can change very quickly. 

 

[kirku]

Hopefully Tetts will halve Cabaye early and he'll go into his shell.

Cabaye's injured, I believe. 

 

[dj161]

I've read that Cabaye took a knock last weekend but should be fine for tomorrow, also Sako is unlikely to start due to basically having no pre-season with anyone

 

[Brian Fantana]

I think they are, they look like a really well balanced squad with plenty of battling players but lots of flair and pace!

We cannot afford to start slowly like we have a tendency to do, we need to come out an really get amongst them or we could be in for a difficult afternoon.

Also, it pains me to say it, but Pardew does seem able to get his teams performing....he's still a smug git though.

 

[Yellow Fever]

This makes interesting reading after the match. I still think we outplayed them and should have had at least a draw if not a win, but for the ref. Smug or not, Pardew was at least honest enough to say that Palace 'rode their luck' and 'were flattered by the result'. About right, IMO.

 

[hogesar]

I think we out played them for parts of the game, but it's only fair to credit their quality in coming forward, where they were more incisive and took the chances they needed to.

Again, different ref, different day and I reckon we'd have got a point at least.

It's also worth noting I thought Palace kind of helped make us look good by putting very little pressure on the ball, we were able to pass it around quite nicely. Don't think they thought we could cut them open with passing, but we did (like Grabbans chance via Whittakers cross).