[Football] The Zaha Factor

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

With the Palace game upcoming it appears that the biggest variable affecting the quality of the opposition is down to one player. A couple of stats

- Palace have lost 17 of their last 19 games without him, and in15 of those they have failed to score

- since signing him in 2014/5 they have lost 89.4% of the games played without him

Of course this proves nothing but is very suggestive.

It prompts the question, have the Albion is your time of watching them had one player who was anywhere near this influential? No stats, just opinion: the name that was missing from the team sheet and filled you with gloom. Related question, who in the current set-up is the first name inked in for your starting team?

 

[maltaseagull]

With the Palace game upcoming it appears that the biggest variable affecting the quality of the opposition is down to one player. A couple of stats

- Palace have lost 17 of their last 19 games without him, and in15 of those they have failed to score

- since signing him in 2014/5 they have lost 89.4% of the games played with him

Of course this proves nothing but is very suggestive.

It prompts the question, have the Albion is your time of watching them had one player who was anywhere near this influential? No stats, just opinion: the name that was missing from the team sheet and filled you with gloom. Related question, who in the current set-up is the first name inked in for your starting team?

Are you sure that's correct?

Wouldn't they be in L2 by now ?

Would be nice though

 

[Icy Gull]

With the Palace game upcoming it appears that the biggest variable affecting the quality of the opposition is down to one player. A couple of stats

- Palace have lost 17 of their last 19 games without him, and in15 of those they have failed to score

- since signing him in 2014/5 they have lost 89.4% of the games played with him

Of course this proves nothing but is very suggestive.

It prompts the question, have the Albion is your time of watching them had one player who was anywhere near this influential? No stats, just opinion: the name that was missing from the team sheet and filled you with gloom. Related question, who in the current set-up is the first name inked in for your starting team?

I think that you might want to correct your stats line, the sods would have been long gone if it was true

Re the Albion, the player I was always wanting to play when we were in the Championship was Knocky

Currently, the player who would be first on my team sheet is Biss, closely followed by Webster and Dunk, coming up on the outside and closing fast is Mac, Sanchez and Trossard. Great thing is we can replace any player without weakening the team too much

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Well, there is one very obvious answer and we were certainly accused of being a one man team at the time

 

[Guinness Boy]

With the Palace game upcoming it appears that the biggest variable affecting the quality of the opposition is down to one player. A couple of stats

- Palace have lost 17 of their last 19 games without him, and in15 of those they have failed to score

- since signing him in 2014/5 they have lost 89.4% of the games played with him

Of course this proves nothing but is very suggestive.

It prompts the question, have the Albion is your time of watching them had one player who was anywhere near this influential? No stats, just opinion: the name that was missing from the team sheet and filled you with gloom. Related question, who in the current set-up is the first name inked in for your starting team?

You've definitely got a typo there

To answer the question, in recent times no one in the Championship could live with Vicente on his day, he just didn't appear regularly enough. Our real one men teams have been more defensive midfielders. Statistically we hardly ever won without Dale Stephens until his legs started to go while Bridcutt was key to Poyet's early success.

And, guess what? Biss is my first name down today!

 

[Gabbafella]

It's no secret that Palace are a one trick pony, it's been the same story for years. They are however crippled with injuries this season too which is exposing their lack of squad depth.
I don't think we have that one influential player, we have quality all over the pitch and we have decent cover too, something which palace don't have.

 

[Icy Gull]

I think there is a pretty reasonable chance that Zaha will attempt a Lazarus style recovery given that he feels the hate (sorry, “gets” the rivalry)

 

[sparkie]

I think there is a pretty reasonable chance that Zaha will attempt a Lazarus style recovery given that he feels the hate

There's a big risk that he will - and aggravate his injury, putting him out for the rest of the season and sending Palace down...

 

[zeemeeuw]

Whether he plays or not, if we take some of the inevitable chances that we will create then we'll win at a canter.

 

[Swansman]

Its weird how they've managed to keep him for all these years. Not saying he would be a superstar or even a starter wherever he went but he would be useful in any PL squad.

Maybe if he didnt look so sad all the time. Even the few times he is smiling it looks like someone is pointing a gun to him forcing him to it.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

You've definitely got a typo there

To answer the question, in recent times no one in the Championship could live with Vicente on his day, he just didn't appear regularly enough. Our real one men teams have been more defensive midfielders. Statistically we hardly ever won without Dale Stephens until his legs started to go while Bridcutt was key to Poyet's early success.

And, guess what? Biss is my first name down today!

Apologies for initial typo, now corrected after laptop froze. So to confirm it was that Palace lost 89.4% of games WITHOUT Zahar.

PS I agree with the choice of Biss

 

[bhafc99]

The obvious parallel for us in terms of “first name you want to see on the sheet” was Zamora in his prime.

Always remember when he was out injured for a bit, and then unexpectedly came back earlier than planned for an away game at Peterborough. The buzz among the fans as word spread that day was awesome.

Even the Peterborough stadium announcer made a huge ZAMORRRRAAA!!! when reading out the line-ups.

If memory serves me right, he then missed a penalty after about 5 minutes, but still scored the winner of course!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[super-seagulls]

Its weird how they've managed to keep him for all these years. Not saying he would be a superstar or even a starter wherever he went but he would be useful in any PL squad.

Maybe if he didnt look so sad all the time. Even the few times he is smiling it looks like someone is pointing a gun to him forcing him to it.

View attachment 133936

He did leave though. Manchester Utd signed him, and he failed to be a useful so was loaned to Cardiff. ManU then sold him back to Palace and I stalled a massive sell on fee, leaving them unable to sell him on easily.

He also failed to be useful for England, so fortunately decided to dive for The Ivory Coast instead.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Yep. I've seen usb since 1976, but Zamora was the only player that we that much better (and played most games, hence I can't pick Vicente).

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Well, there is one very obvious answer and we were certainly accused of being a one man team at the time

We used to chant 1-0 to the one man team as a change from When the ball hits the goal.....

 

[Springal]

Wilf is a talented player no doubt, but mentally he is not strong enough / has the right mindset to cut it at the highest level.

Rio Ferdinand talks about him on Jake Humphreys podcast

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Then, Zamora

Now, nobody. The squad isn't reliant on one single player.

 

[Arrid]

Well, there is one very obvious answer and we were certainly accused of being a one man team at the time

Mark Farrington?

 

[blue-shifted]

The obvious parallel for us in terms of “first name you want to see on the sheet” was Zamora in his prime.

Always remember when he was out injured for a bit, and then unexpectedly came back earlier than planned for an away game at Peterborough. The buzz among the fans as word spread that day was awesome.

Even the Peterborough stadium announcer made a huge ZAMORRRRAAA!!! when reading out the line-ups.

If memory serves me right, he then missed a penalty after about 5 minutes, but still scored the winner of course!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeh mate. What a day, what a time

The Albion fans celebrated the announcement he was in the side like it was a last minute winning goal. He wasn't supposed to be back for another month or something

Pre mobile phone of course so although i'd heard a whisper or two, I had no idea he was playing until 5 mins before kick off (presumably those that got the stadium earlier than 5 mins before kick off rather than leave the pub at 2:45 would have seen him warm up and had some idea).

Zaha will probably start on Monday in a similar way

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

He did leave though. Manchester Utd signed him, and he failed to be a useful so was loaned to Cardiff. ManU then sold him back to Palace and I stalled a massive sell on fee, leaving them unable to sell him on easily.

He also failed to be useful for England, so fortunately decided to dive for The Ivory Coast instead.

Is that right? If so I feel a bit sorry for him. No wonder he always looks so sad. He's stuck there forever, now. Like a reluctant Matt Le Tissier.

He has only scored 66 goals in all his time at Palace, though. However, twenty of those were probably against us.

Funny old game.