Will our system cope with Wilfried Zaha?

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Woodwardfan

Woodwardfan

Woodwardfan
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The Premier League brings fresh challenges to our team and we fans get to see outstanding players and teams.

Crystal Palace visit S2 this weekend and they are one of the teams generally expected to be involved in the fight to avoid relegation and therefore an opportunity for us to win three vital points.

Many believe that Palace's fortunes depend on the form of Zaha and that Palace are an ordinary team without him. Townsend is a quality player and probably their second to top key influencer ,but he is not 'unstoppable' very often.

Zaha can be unplayable and on his best days he makes it all count. If he portrayed more composure with his final ball he would be world class and may well get there in a better taem.

Will our system cope with him? Do we do anything different? Free flowing attacking football with 'overloads' or play deeper using our new found pace and quality up front? Do we 'play our own game' and trust the system?

A lot depends on the referee's attitude to him as he goes down very easily, there will be fouls and there will be dives

Lundstram or Luke Freeman? Besic or Lundstram?

As I see it, the three points rest right there with him but I am looking forward to watching the lad perform. I'd prefer him to take 'garden leave' mind you!

Whatever happens it will be a privilege to watch the lad and the rest of their team who are all seasoned P.L. players and not there to hand us a great day out and a celebration on the S2 return to the Premier League. They will be targeting the points against the favourites to be relegated. Bring it on!
 



Woodwardfan said:
The Premier League brings fresh challenges to our team and we fans get to see outstanding players and teams.

Crystal Palace visit S2 this weekend and they are one of the teams generally expected to be involved in the fight to avoid relegation and therefore an opportunity for us to win three vital points.

Many believe that Palace's fortunes depend on the form of Zaha and that Palace are an ordinary team without him. Townsend is a quality player and probably their second to top key influencer ,but he is not 'unstoppable' very often.

Zaha can be unplayable and on his best days he makes it all count. If he portrayed more composure with his final ball he would be world class and may well get there in a better taem.

Will our system cope with him? Do we do anything different? Free flowing attacking football with 'overloads' or play deeper using our new found pace and quality up front?

A lot depends on the referee's attitude to him as he goes down very easily, there will be fouls and there will be dives

Lundstram or Luke Freeman? Besic or Lundstram?

Do we 'play our own game' and trust the system?

As I see it, the three points rest right there with him but I am looking forward to watching the lad perform. I'd prefer him to take 'garden leave' mind you!

Whatever happens it will be a privilege to watch the lad and the rest of their team who are all seasoned P.L. players and not there to hand us a great day out and a celebration on the S2 return to the Premier League. They will be targeting the points against the favourites to be relegated. Bring it on!
Click to expand...

Nice write up. I think if we can play our attacking brand and high press it could go a long way to nullifying Zaha.

That being said it only takes one lapse for him to seize on an opportunity and make it count.
 
This league seems to separated by teams who make errors and teams who make less errors.

It's all about fine margins, where you could get away with the odd lapse or miss placed pass in League One/Championship you get punished more often than not at the top level, Zaha is one of those players who can exploit any mistake, no matter how slight. If he plays (and I really hope he does not) we will have to be on our A game with concentration levels at their highest for the full 90. I'd like to see Enda up against him for the majority of the game rather than Bash but Zaha will switch position sometimes on the left, then the right and the middle. He's a defenders nightmare.

Also Meyer seems to be getting praise from Eagles fans, he'll be worth keeping a close eye on, not a man marking job at home but certainly he'll be one to find space and if we do go with a flat 3 they'll need to track the Palace midfielders runs. Their midfield really is their strongest area.
 
This is a home game against a side we will most likely be battling with against relegation. Yes we have to think about their potential attacking prowess, and the majority of this comes from Zaha, but IMO, as it is a home game, we have to make them worry about us. We should be aiming for 3 points, and as much as restricting Palace to as little as we can, we should also be looking to score goals.

I thought Lundstram was very good against Bournemouth and will definitely be in with a shout for a start on Sunday, but I'm not sure that the inclusion of him would be ideal as our style of play changes too much with him in the side. It would be a good barometer to test Freeman / Morrison and to go after them this weekend. Robinson is an automatic starter for me, the question is, should he be starting with Sharp, McBurnie or McGoldrick?

UTB
 
Bournemouth were the best counter-attacking team in the PL last season (most goals from counters - also the most goals scored outside the top six) and we coped with them very well.

Not saying Zaha won't be a threat because he's very very good, but I think we're about as well set-up to cope as we could be.
 
Just lock Baldock in a darkened room 24/7 and force him to watch videos of Carl Bradshaw in his heyday and how he dealt with tricky wingers. Sorted
 
Get stuck into Zaha right from the go and he won’t be rushing back. Palace will be tough as they do have some good attacking players and a strong midfield but there defence can be got at. If we set up like we know we can and take it to them from the off I think we will get a result.
 
Beans said:
Bournemouth were the best counter-attacking team in the PL last season (most goals from counters - also the most goals scored outside the top six) and we coped with them very well.

Not saying Zaha won't be a threat because he's very very good, but I think we're about as well set-up to cope as we could be.
Click to expand...


This is a Home game though and points at Home are key to our season, so there are different dynamics.
 
Wilder was quite right to start off cautious against Bournemouth. He realised we were coping better than he might have hoped, and changed the focus.

Have to have a little respect for a Hodgson team too, but I think Wilder probably knows more about his teams ability to step up now. He also believes in fortress Bramall Lane and the fans being able to lift the players. He will go for it I think. Just trust his excellent defensive players to wrap up Zaha. The lad put in a transfer request last week so he might be a bit miffed he's still at Palace?
 



We need to play to our strengths. Play 3-4-1-2 Tuftyball and Palace will be worrying about where our Wing backs overlapping centre backs and number 10 are. If we start changing our best formation at Home against the likes of Palace then we may as well declare now and get the return ticket back to the Championship.
 
Beans said:
Bournemouth were the best counter-attacking team in the PL last season (most goals from counters - also the most goals scored outside the top six) and we coped with them very well.

Not saying Zaha won't be a threat because he's very very good, but I think we're about as well set-up to cope as we could be.
Click to expand...

Fair point but that’s the problem.

Our tactics were cautious/ negative on Saturday which is understandable.
It was only the last 15 minutes that we started pushing players forward playing our normal attacking game.

Away from home I can understand us being cagey, playing Lundstrum stopping the opposition
But against Palace surely we’ll start Freeman and attack them pushing numbers up.
It’s this attacking tactic that makes us weaker against quick counter attacks.

Think we need to be positive......yes we’re in danger of conceding.....but think we can surprise them at how good we are going forward.
 
Sheffsteel said:
Fair point but that’s the problem.

Our tactics were cautious/ negative on Saturday which is understandable.
It was only the last 15 minutes that we started pushing players forward playing our normal attacking game.

Away from home I can understand us being cagey, playing Lundstrum stopping the opposition
But against Palace surely we’ll start Freeman and attack them pushing numbers up.
It’s this attacking tactic that makes us weaker against quick counter attacks.

Think we need to be positive......yes we’re in danger of conceding.....but think we can surprise them at how good we are going forward.
Click to expand...

Might be wrong on this, but last season we didn't concede a single goal from a counter attack due to our attacking ways. He addressed it last year. We were more conservative than 17/18.
 
Okay I see the OP's argument but, we are at home let Palace worry about our style Palace are a 1 man team we're not let's use that fact.
 
I can't say I've ever seen anyone threaten our system much from the bench.
If him and Woy don't sort their differences before Sunday, that's where he'll find himself again. :)
 
Zaha is good, but he's not God. There are maybe 10 or 20 players better than him in the Premier league. If we are on our A-game, Palace should worry about us.
 
Is Zaha head in the right mind after the collapsed transfer. Will his heart be in helping palace .If not we have a fantastic chance to take all 3 points but will take a draw now till we come up to speed of the league
 
I'm looking forward to see him play, one of the few I'd pay to see. But his style of play opens up the chance to make the overload count. 5 - 1 would be a good result....
 
Wilder doesn't cap doff. He will have a plan with and without Zaha on the pitch. We will be far more 'on the front foot' than at Bournemouth, playing football the Sheff United way!
 
Palace had one of the best away records in the Prem last season (have a look at where they won),very fast counter attacking players.

I reckon the best way to beat them is not be too adverturous,gung ho,just sit back and counter attack them,it probably wont happen with it being our first home,it will be the charge of the light brigade from the off just like Villa at home last season.
 
Charlieblade said:
Wilder was quite right to start off cautious against Bournemouth. He realised we were coping better than he might have hoped, and changed the focus.

Have to have a little respect for a Hodgson team too, but I think Wilder probably knows more about his teams ability to step up now. He also believes in fortress Bramall Lane and the fans being able to lift the players. He will go for it I think. Just trust his excellent defensive players to wrap up Zaha. The lad put in a transfer request last week so he might be a bit miffed he's still at Palace?
Click to expand...
was only sub on saturday i think?
 



yeah bash will have him no bother. if i was palace i'd be worried about his lack of tracking back because bash and george will overload that side ;)
 
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