When the draw for the last round was made and a trip to Selhurst came out, that was almost a worst case scenario for us. Arsenal away would have been marginally less desirable but other than that this was as tough as it could get for us given our track record at that dump.
Then there’s the "ghosts of cup defeats past" element of it. As if it wasn’t bad enough that in previous rounds we’d had Lawrie fucking Sanchez, Dave the scarecrow Beasant, John McGinlay and David Lee rammed down our throats, now we had to suffer endless replays of slimeball Pardew getting the winner at Villa Park back in the day. We’re nailed on to get the Mancs or Arsenal next aren't we, and it’ll be Cantona or Charlie George on a fucking loop.
Bring it on though, let’s slay all our cup demons in one year. This was a great win as it felt like so many things were going against us. It was clear from the first couple of minutes that they’d sabotaged the pitch. None of our lads could stand up, they were slipping all over the place due to the amount of water Palace had put on the field. The sprinklers were on more or less right up to kick off, and it sure as hell wasn’t to aid Palace’s slick passing football.
So there was that. Then there was the ref. Who the hell was this fool? I’d never seen him before and hopefully never will again, as he was hopeless. His name was Bobby. BOBBY!! What kind of name is that for a ref? Seriously, what kind of ref is called Bobby? A shit one, that’s what kind. He was awful, but in fairness his job was made more difficult by the rampant diving from Palace players.
In particular, Dwight fucking Gayle. That weird looking jabroni has been a real thorn in our side ever since Palace came up to the Premier League, but until this game I didn’t have a problem with him other than his annoying habit of turning into Pippo Inzaghi every time he faces us. He can’t actually be any good as he’s not even a regular starter for Palace, yet any time he lines up against us he becomes the arch poacher. Highly annoying.
So I wasn’t surprised with the part he played in their goal, but what was with the diving? Henderson was booked despite making zero contact with him and then he almost got Sturridge booked too just before half time, when again there was no contact. Sturridge lost his rag over it and that never happens, he’s probably the most mild mannered lad in our squad. Gayle was just hurling himself to the ground and “Bobby” the ref was blowing for free-kicks.
The left back was just as bad too, running past people and then just throwing himself to the floor claiming a foul. It took the ref around 88 minutes to finally cotton on to it and not give the free-kick, at which point Pardew kicked off about it. The balls on this guy.
That left back got away with murder really, not just with the dives either. How he didn’t concede a pen for the foul on Sturridge is a complete mystery. It was as clear a foul as any in the game and the ref had a decent view of it. It was beginning to have a feel of “not our day” about it at that point, as we were playing quite well but couldn’t catch a break.
We dominated the first half and didn’t deserve to be behind, but the goal we gave away was a bad one. Can didn’t track the run of Gayle and Skrtel wasn’t aggressive enough with his header. Mignolet did well to keep out Gayle’s initial effort but could do nothing about Campbell lashing in the rebound.
It was such a sucker punch too, they’d barely ventured out of their own half and it was just a hopeful straight ball into the box that 99 times out of 100 we deal with easily. There’s something about this ground though, any bad things that can happen usually do when we go there. It almost got worse too as Gayle went clean through and it needed a great stop from the rejuvenated Mignolet to keep him out. That was a pivotal moment in the game and Mignolet was arguably our best player. He punched when he needed to and caught when he was able to. His improvement has come at the perfect time.
We had chances to score and we played some nice stuff, especially Henderson and Lallana who were involved in most good things, but it just wasn’t going our way. Markovic got into some decent positions and Can was almost playing as an attacking right back as Palace were so deep. The one thing that was irritating me a little was Coutinho’s flat out refusal to ever pass the ball to Moreno, no matter how much space the Spaniard was in. What’s his problem, does he have something against bad dancers?
I was a little concerned at half time, not because of how we’d played but because the ref had been shocking and because.. well y’know, Selhurst Park.
Rodgers didn’t waste any time changing things, sending on Balotelli for Markovic and going from 3-4-2-1 to 3-4-1-2. Lallana went to the right which puzzled me a little, as Markovic is a more natural fit and I didn’t think he’d done badly. He’d done more than Moreno (and at least people pass to Markovic), but maybe the Spaniard was kept on to deal with the pace of Bolosie? He did that well, even if the ref didn’t always agree. One free kick given against him after some great defending was just shocking. In fact, did we actually get any decisions at all? Fucking hell, Bobby.
Fair play to Brendan though, Mario did make a difference. In fact, I’d go as far as to say he did exactly what we needed him to do. It was a mature, responsible performance from Balotelli. He held the ball up, he used it sensibly and just generally did the right things. His presence also freed Sturridge up from being marked by four players and that paid quick dividends when Sturridge volleyed home a pinpoint ball from Henderson.
Scoring so early in the half was great, you don’t want them having something to hold onto when the game goes into it’s closing stages as they’ve got pace to burn on the break. That goal put us in control of the game and we were always going to win it from that point I felt.
The winning goal was a work of art. Initially it didn’t look anything special but you can see it was carefully planned and Rodgers said afterwards they’d noticed how Palace defend free-kicks and worked on having players follow them in. It was definitely a set move because Mario made sure he kept his shot down and skidding off the turf. Lallana timed his run perfectly and adjusted his body well to finish.
After that we kept possession and took the sting out of the game. Palace couldn’t apply any pressure and it was just a really disciplined, mature performance. Brendan said the defence hadn’t been aggressive enough in the first half and needed to attack the ball more. They did, and that may explain the daft free-kick Skrtel conceded in stoppage time.
Usually when we’re defending a set-piece late on my heart is in my mouth, but this was different. I felt calm and relaxed for the entire second half. It’s a strange feeling!
I thought Can was a bit ruffled with Palace’s route one stuff, even his hair wasn’t as unflappable as it usually is, but Skrtel and Sakho stood up to it well. Henderson was excellent and so too was Allen, he needed a performance like this and hopefully he can kick on now. He’s got his critics but I really like him, always have.
Things are really looking up now as we can even put Balotelli and Lovren on and they make a contribution. There was one moment when Lovren hit a perfect ball down the line for Balotelli who was running the channel. Not only that, he didn’t try and beat two players and hit a speculative shot from an impossible angle. He held it up, waited for support and delivered a perfect pass to Lambert. Yes, all that actually happened.
Since losing at Old Trafford we’ve played 16 games in all competitions and lost only one, and that was after extra time. Something is definitely stirring and I’m now looking forward to each game rather than dreading them like I was a couple of months ago. It’s been a huge turnaround and Rodgers deserves great credit for figuring out how to fix us.
I’m so much more up for the FA Cup this year than usual too, I want to win this one badly now. I don’t care who we get next as long as it’s at home, and if we have to play then I’ll take anyone other than Arsenal. Bring it on.
Team: Mignolet; Can, Skrtel, Sakho; Markovic (Balotelli), Henderson, Allen, Moreno; Lallana, Coutinho (Lovren); Sturridge (Lambert):
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