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We'll talk about that, but we're first of all going to introduce our sponsors, which is Vector Printing, or your printing embroidery need, go to vector.co.uk and that's Vector Wheeler. Okay. Correct. And don't forget, we have got the FYP t-shirt and Vector of the K t-shirt are available. Go to FYPfansing.uk right now, and you can order one, and they look very nice. Indeed, we're also sponsored. Not right now. Not? Well, you can sue. You can sue. They can multitask. We can do it. Well, I can't. There's no reason to believe the rest of them can. All right. Well, I believe they can. I believe in your listeners. Did you notice that K was a bit more boisterous as well when we said it? Yes, it was. It really was. I think, you know, that win really made a difference to us. Yes, it did. We're also sponsored by JCIS at Global Research and Brandt Constancey from South London. Visit JC-IS.com. I will. Because of my dad's. I'm not taking it over. He's said to me he was pissed off about Andy doing it the other week. Oh, really? Very strongly annoyed because he said, "Oh, he's just taken over. I was the first one to say it last week, and I was the first one to say it last week." Your dad gets annoyed about everything. He's like me. He's an old man thing. Well, yes. But if he's not here, who's going to... Someone's got to do. I wasn't... Well, it's not that long-standing, it's only a four-week old tradition. So we could go. Yeah, it can be changed. It can go as well. It's got it. It's less traditional than the FA Cup anyway. Very good. Very good. Right. It's not a victim of decay. It's not a victim of decay. No. But it is going to get there. No, I was going to get... No, I will teach you. It's not a lot of decay. No, they might do it in the future. Who knows? I could see it being a thing. Travis Endicott is back. Hello. For his second appearance on the pod, how are you? I'm feeling mighty fine. Good, Matt. More fine after the win, of course. Good. I was dreading it. I finally got my ticket last minute. I was heading up there and I was just going... I'm just going to end today. The only thing that I thought before the game that would help us was with all being in goal and not the race. Because he seems to screw us every time we play. Through the saves that he makes. And probably every other team that he plays. But that was the only hope I could see going into the game. That's true. Turned out to be a lot better than just him being in goal. Very true. Very true indeed. A lot more positive. He wasn't fought with the goal arguably. No, no. It's good finish. I thought it was a very good finish. It was pretty finish. But I think if Fandy Street had been here and that had been Hennessy, he'd be getting away with it. Maybe it's for the race that had been loved by Walker. He might not have got back on to the line. That's true. Very, very true. Well, let's introduce our other voices. Because of course, Kevin Day is here. Hello. How are you? I'm still slightly hungover from taking a long time to get back from N17 to SW16 on Sunday night. Mm-hmm. And then doing a gig last night with a lot of palace men's. But I'm fine. I'm encouraged. Good. Happy. Good man. It's the worst possible draw. We needed another Premier League club. Well, we needed a team with an S. Ideally. Saints. Spurs. Stoke. And we didn't get that. Talk themselves and just do, yeah, yeah. We didn't. Well, both teams are available. Shrew. Shrew. Well, no, there wasn't. Shrew is the same. Yeah. So my theory is how the windows fit. And what about Sutherland? Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm good. Yeah. I've not had anything to drink since the first of January. But after that Spurs game, I felt like I should. But I didn't. Do you know what? That's what I knew. I was cross when I saw you in the pub before. Yeah. That was all it was. It was packed in that pub. And you were taking up the drink of space. That's why you turned it down and off. To get you on. Yeah, it all makes sense. I don't know why I'm doing it. But I just, yeah, it feels good. Do you? You don't want to pay me. Yum. That's absolutely fine. So, the Palace is, it beats Spurs. We've got Reading Away. Is Palace's name on a cup? Potentially this year? Even if we were called the FA Cup FC. Our name wouldn't be on the cup. I can't tell you how close I am that people thought about us being one game away from Wembley. It's another indication of how the FA managed to gnaw us up their own competition. But it's less about, as we talked about the FA Cup and its priority last week, it's less about the win and the tournament it was in than the man out of the win. Be perfectly honest, which I was really encouraged by. I know we've had a couple of four storms recently, but that for me seemed like a proper old fashioned defensively solid. Hit them on a break. Last 15 minutes I thought we looked more likely to score. Then, especially when Yannick came on, we were getting to their box more than they were getting to ours. And I thought, it can't be as simple as this, but I just thought we looked better. We just looked better. We've Kelly Wright back and Ward left back. I thought we just looked, we looked like defence was our main priority, basically. We looked a lot more stable, didn't we? We do. The shape looked better. The midfield players looked more confident in front of that. And to be fair to Hennessy as well, I think we should say this because we have criticised what Hennessy made the saves he had to make. But also came off his line a lot more. He looked more confident somehow. I don't think anybody had a bad game. I think Zaha was on a very quiet way, was outstanding. I thought Jordan Munch actually is. Someone else is coming. I thought Jordan Munch was really good. Kebai played five or six yards further forward and was breaking up the play a bit further. It just looked recognizably palace again, which hasn't done for a while. Really encouraged by it, isn't it? That second, normally, you're biting your nails off to five minutes. I thought it was, if you watched, if you didn't go to the game and you didn't have a way of watching the full match and then you watched the match of the day highlights, you've got a completely different impression of the match. I thought that Palace were a lot more, there was a greater deal of tenacity. We seemed more intent on winning the ball, there were a couple of really solid tackles in midfield where I think in other, in previous cases we might have shut them a little bit. I think defensively we were a lot more resolute and then just in attack as well, there was just a bit more potency. It was helped by Balassie coming on, but I thought Wickham did really well, especially in the later stages of the game where he really kind of took the ball down. Not only would he take the ball down and look for a pass, he'd actually turn and try and run at them. He made a big difference to the way that we played. Your point about the match of the day coverage was really good because they tried to implied in the first half, I think the breeze was our best home going forward. In fact, Ward and Kelly both got forward quite a lot, but in a discipline where when they could go forward. We had set pieces that they just didn't pay attention to. There was one where Ward got through and put a ball in that led to the only just missed. There's a run from, we had chances in the first half, more so in a second half, there wasn't a bounce to the wall defensively. And Tottenham are a really good side as well. We've got to bear that. And Danny Rose has got to stop diving. People talk about it as a hard diving, Danny Rose has got to stop that. But they're a good side, physically strong as well. I think they're a bit taken aback. I think that was a much harder game than they expected. So, Travis, do you think that Kelly has earned a spot, obviously coming because of Suarez not playing? Should we stick in there with Kelly and Ward at left? 'Cause even more looked a bit more comfortable. Let's be my fault for the last month or so. Because in the past two seasons, we haven't had left-footed, left-back in the starting lineup. It's always been Kelly and Ward. And Suarez is one of those left-backs that is attacking. And in the Watford game the other week, there was a few times where he's run forward. And you see him turn around and just jog back. And it's like we said, Kelly and Ward are only pushing forward and they know they're safe to push forward. When the flow of the game is in their half, then they push forward and join up in the attack instead of just trying to create it. From being in our third and the first place. And that's given us a lot more stability, which is the way we've won games in the past two seasons by being defensively sound and going on the counter sack, scoring a goal, and then just generally looking comfortable and holding on to a one-wheel lead. Which foot we've struggled to the points as well. Well, Troy, I did a benefit last night for the Lilly Foundation. You can donate via the website, and Palace Charity, of course. And Keith Miller, Missouri, because he's a big supporter. And he was saying that without being gung-ho and saying Palace about it, he said there was definitely a different feeling about them. And it said at half time he thought that they were going to be really nervous in the second half, given what's happened recently. They just weren't at all, they just went out there and it's like the old Palace, and they defended. So what's changed then? Well, I don't. It's hard to say. I mean, he doesn't. I mean, he said the triple ways really help them. I think the big thing is to see him velocity around him at the place as well. You could see how much he lifted the fans, how much it lifted the other players. I mean, I think we need to let Eddie by all know we weren't cheering the fact that he was going off, but cheering the fact that velocity was coming on. And you can see straight away, I don't think he's ready for a full 90 minutes for a while yet, but right from the start, first touch was always trying to get into the box, and Wilf was emulating him. And they really struggled to cope with that. I have a nice quote to Martin Richardson from the quote number, so I was just saying, Mark said, "Are you going to play this day?" He said, "No, now I'll be blown up my ass if I start." I think in some ways it was a sign of us going kind of back to basics a little bit, and I felt that when Swari got that red card, I felt that that might happen, that we end up playing in a slightly more kind of resolute defensive way, where in Kelly you've got, the irony is, in Kelly you've got someone who is probably a bit more of a specialist right back or defender, and yet he was the one that got forward and ended up scoring that goal. This is first in five years, I'm going to do it as well. He was really, really good on that side, not just because he would get forward a little bit, but he would also do all the defensive work that he needed to do. And right from the start, I thought there were a couple of, I think I said it before, but there were a couple of strong challenges that we didn't shirk, and that made a massive difference to how we performed. Also, whenever Son got the ball, for example, it was almost like a safety net formed around him to stop him from getting through. And that is partly, we've talked about this being a pureless kind of approach, but that kind of defensive mindset, it definitely made a difference. I thought Son was their best player, I was pleased when he was taken off, it's interesting, it wasn't just the challenges, it was like for the first time in a while, we were defending properly with shape, and we weren't going to ground all the time. It's like you say, we were cutting channels off surrounding people, blocking passes, rather than sort of desperate last-itch challenges, and we had to put the challenges in, they were doing it properly, but it was discipline and organisation, like the like of which we haven't seen before. I thought, I don't know if it's my imagination, but I thought Cabaya was a lot more vocal than he has been, and you could see them talking to each other all the way through, and I thought Ledley could buy much, I thought they all threw him play well, but I think much definitely, and also Wilfred didn't get nearly enough credit for his role in the goal. Everyone said it was a layoff from Zahar, he held the ball for about 35-40 seconds, made space, came back again, taking defenders towards him, leaving Kelly on his own, and it was a brilliant layoff and a brilliant finish. And I thought Wilfred had another really good game. Yeah, he is one of those players that is just growing in strength this season, I think. He had, I think last season was more of an education for him than anything, but this season he just looks a completely more, like a more rounded player. He did everything, you know, I was interested on Twitter that just looking at what people thought of Wilf, and a lot of people said that it wasn't as good a performance as he's had in the last couple of games, but actually I would say that in terms of maturity, it was probably his best performance for us, but just because of the amount of defensive work he had to do, against Danny Rose, who is, as Kevin said, he's quite, he tends to hit the ground quite a bit. Yeah, he was a cheat, essentially. But he, in Danny Rose, you've got a player who's got pace and who is essentially like Swari was for us, where he's very much an attacking player, and Wilf tracked him every single time. And the fact that he ended up getting, getting, getting Rose booked right towards the end, is only, was it, was the right thing to happen really, because it showed just how dominant Wilf had been. Well, I think also to be fair to Wilf, because we have highlighted a sort of sulky tendency recently, but there was a couple of moments when he sat on his back, so I look at the round, but for the most part he did get up and get on with it. It was interesting, as I said to Keith Reynolds last night, how come Wilf hasn't bolt up, like, he said, he might not have done other, but he said, look next time he said, look at his legs. His legs are massive, he's really worked on his thighs, his quads and all that sort of stuff. So he's getting physically much stronger than he was. I think there's only bodies much stronger than he has been in the last two seats. Totally, isn't there? He just was generally bigger here. Was it the ballman player that bounced off him the other week when he just kind of stood there? He has a lot more about his game. I think Balassie, finally being out for two seasons as well, is almost like he hasn't had to prove himself as being the winger of the club, he's had another one. He's kind of outshined him a little bit every time and he's just been in the shadows in the shadows. Balassie's injured for two and a half weeks and it shows how much he offers to our club that we kind of don't necessarily appreciate when Balassie's in the team and taking the glory as it is until he's been the show-biting player. It's interesting what he said about what Balassie said about his fitness air, because he also, I think, is in the standard that he actually thinks the injury might have been a good thing. He just sells knackered, I needed a rest, played so much. They've played so much football, travelled so much. But also we've said that about the other Palace players, isn't it? That's kind of a theme, maybe, that you get to that part of the season. Players at Orange National as well and players do look a bit legier. It is incredible, though. Kevin was saying that, you know, if you look at the players that we then, that you look at Balassie, you look at Gay or you look at Sacco potentially coming back, these are three players that if we'd have signed them in the transfer window, we'd have been delighted, wouldn't we? And so now they're at the point where they're coming back. It's also easy to forget that we missed Balassie for two and a half months. That's a huge part of the season. So you end up losing that balance, and in that time as well, we didn't have Sacco. So we basically missed out on a winger. And we probably should have replaced him in the window, but then these things... So, ledly and much were struggling with injuries as well. I think it is fair, in the doom and gloom, the European people said, "Well, we haven't had this full squad available for it," which is probably fair. And there were more hopeful signs when you look at the players we had on Sunday night. Actually, maybe the squad is a bit better than we thought it was. And I thought Eddie Boyle, without doing anything spectacular. I thought in the first half he nearly always drew two defenders towards him every time he had the ball. He nearly always made space for somebody else. Didn't really give anything to feed on in front of goal, but I thought he showed a lot of strength from the ability. And what was really good about him was seeing him at the end coming back out on the pitch and congratulating every Palace player and celebrating. And I don't think that was just because he was at Tottenham. I think that's because he's happy in the game. But every photo you see about it by all, he's always smiling. It seems like he's enjoying something. Do we think Rob's done? Probably because he's counting the money. It's probably because he's getting paid by two people at the same time. By all accounts, everyone says he's been a really, really positive influence in the dressing room as well. And so, I keep going to say, he played for Real Madrid. He's a big name. And the younger players were really excited by him being there. I think at the moment he seems to be enjoying that sort of senior player role. And I thought of him, you know, Zahar, Blassie and Eddie Boyle. It's a front free. Most clubs wouldn't really want to play against. Once Eddie Boyle was properly fit. And then he got Wickham floating about. You've got Jacko floating about. He got Lee floating about. There's still other options here. Do we think, Rob, or do we see on Sunday indications that Adebai and Wickham could be something that works in the future? I thought they played reasonably well against Spurs. I thought Wickham was probably better later on in the match when Spurs looked tired a bit. I wrote about this actually on the site. And I think that with the two of them playing together, there's potential. You've got to, when you look at the way that they both played on Sunday, you've got to take into account the way that Spurs play as well. And they're under Pochettino. You did the same at Southampton. They're very much a kind of intense, you know, harrying pressure kind of side. That whenever the ball is in their own half, they have two or three players at one time just putting whoever is under possession under pressure. So whenever Adebai or got the ball, he'd have two players, three players around him, you know, one behind him, two in front or vice versa. And they'd all be, you know, it's not easy to play against that. I thought Wickham and Adebai or both did a decent enough job in terms of actually taking the ball down, laying it off, bringing others into play. And then, I mean, Wickham's case, had he just checked his run a little bit, he might have scored. You know, or, and then equally, he could have set, he could have set Yannick Balassie up with the chance as well later. I'd be, I'd be interested to hear what Travis thinks about this, because he's the only one of us that has played at a level where everyone's got the same colour, socks, proper football. But I thought, I thought the first half, I thought it was a couple of times when Wickham and Adebai were kind of replicating the same role, going for the same ball, weren't quite sure. Well, Wickham's role was a bit vague. First half, he wasn't quite sure what, what to do. And I agree, he was, I thought he was better when Adebai went off and he was the, the focus in. So, well, we agreed it was a 4-4-2 in the first half. It was a 4-4-2 in the first half. It was a 4-4-2, then he went to kind of 4-4-3, 4-3-3. I think, I think at one point, Wickham moved down to the left a bit and the whole moved down to the right and they were kind of, it was almost a 4-3-3. It was almost a 4-3-3. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Well, the other two teams that play 4-4-2 in the league are Les, Start and Watford. And they're two strikes, Dini and Agarlo, a big guy and a quicker, a small guy. And then you've got Vardu's the quicker, small guy and Eva, Ajoa or Okazaki, who's the whole doc player. I think it's either going to be Adebai or Wickham and someone like Gail when he comes in. I think we need, because they're both going for those balls. They're both going for the knock-ons. And I think if they even need to work out who's going to receive the knock-ons and be running in behind, or bringing Gail for one of them instead. So are they a bit too similar in times? I don't know because I don't know. I don't know if he wants to play 4-4-2. I don't think he'll be. I think he'll be. I think he'll be. I think he'll be. I think he'll be. I think he'll be. I think he'll be. I think he'll be. I think I'll start and just suspect, because again we keep forgetting about Gail coming back. I'm starting to suspect that Gail just isn't going to get a look at whatever happens. Although I think Travis is quite right. If you're going to play a 4-4-2, and we've said that when Murray was at Palace, give Gail the chance in a 4-4-2. But I think he'll be blessed. He'll be a 4-5-1-4-3-3, whatever way you want to play. I thought the opportunities where Wickham actually did get the ball down and run. He actually has. Oh, he has the pace. He has the pace. We're ready for it. He's massive. He does. What was the point in the second half where he's kind of picked up the ball turns? He looks a bit, even though he's got the pace. He almost looks slow, but you're thinking, wait, no, he's not actually that slow. He's still a guy. He's still a guy. And he's run managed to run past the play. It's almost the same with Adebayor sometimes when he runs past the play. It just seems a bit lanky. It's like a giraffe trying to play football sometimes. It's like Peter Crouch back in the day, a little bit every now and again, even though he didn't really have the greatest footwork at any point in his career, to be fair. But I think Wickham, he's got a lot more to offer than we give him credit for. But whether he's going to play up front with Adebayor and it will work. Well, that was the one we do last night. Adebayor, and you know what a good player is. His first touch is just magnificent. And he doesn't care how many players he's got around him. He doesn't care how many players he's got around him. He'll want the ball in his first touch. He's really, really good. That really defines a class. Yeah, so I think it's just that little up-in-class. Don't mind the Wickham thing though. That was cited as the reason he left Sunderland. He wasn't playing up front. He wasn't playing up front. So, do we not think that that might get frustrated again if he's not the main man again up front? No, because I don't think, I generally don't think we'll sign Adebayor permanently. Permanently. And I think from what I can gather, Pargi really, really likes Wickham. And I think one of the thinking behind getting Adebayor in was that Wickham can learn from a really good... Adebayor doesn't like the players who love striker, but he can learn from Adebayor's experience. He can learn the dark arts of playing up front. And I think Wickham will definitely start next season. And I actually genuinely think, in a way that I never thought about Cameron Jerome for example, that once Wickham does get a couple of goals, because if you get ten goals out of Wickham, he'll bring 20 goals out of the other two. Oh yeah, I'll do that. He's only 22. And he's only 22. And I think if he's got that, and I think from what Pargi really rates him, I think if he gets just that bit of experience, learns from Adebayor and then becomes a regular starter up front. Because clearly, he has got a much better touch than I thought. I think it's a Newcastle game that really stood out. And Southampton is running. He really stood out how good his touch was and his work was. I think in some ways, after that's about Sumlin, he kind of needs to relearn to be a striker. I think he lost that kind of shooting instinct, you know, that kind of ability. You look at Harry Kane, when ever he gets the ball in whatever position he's in, he'll either run at the defence or he'll have a proper goal. And most of the time it actually does work. The Wayne Hennessy save. Was it the second half I think it was. That's the kind of shot that you want a striker to take because the goalkeeper doesn't always expect it. Hennessy made a really, really good save. I hadn't noticed before, just watching Tottenham and telling you how deep Kane comes together. Ball sometimes. Really deep. And again, that's something probably Wickham could love also. In fact, if you've dubbed him as the judge, he says he wants him to be at that level. And the thing is, when Wickham has had his chances in the team, which has not been fairly few and far between him because of the injuries, but he hasn't had the chance to get the conference because it's not like Cross has been running in the box with him to get onto. But I think he could become a player like Kane who can get on the end of Cross's, but he also can come deep and create and allow midfield players to get ahead of him, which again was encouraging because there were times when Kabai was getting ahead of the front two. And March especially was trying to get there. And again, ledly, I thought ledly was a real anchor at the base of the floor. It made him, you know, one other player that I think we really, we are missing and we have missed is Mark. Oh my God. And having ledly back in the side, you know, Zeddenak is a solid defensive player, but ledly is the kind of defensive player that can also pass. And it has a kind of a greater awareness of where other players are. And I think that that showed against Spurs where we found that, you know, we'd have the ball in the centre midfield and rather than just try and chip it up front or try and kind of, you know, knock it back to the defence for them to throw the ball up front. There was a little bit more inventiveness in the midfield then. Well, in which case, it makes a question, I'll be interested to see what happens when punches fit. Because I don't think, you know, it functions on the bench. You wouldn't have been calling for him to come on on Sunday. And I think the more, I think the three we had were more disciplined in terms of positional stuff. So again, maybe that's another hint that the squad is better than we thought. Well, punch was there on Sunday, wasn't it? It was there in the thing as well. If you think we've got punch in the McArthur, to add that, because perhaps we have been a bit over down on the squads. And this is all we lose at West Brom on the same Saturday, we decide we've got a worse squad in the world. Well, that's a good point, because we've had three wins in 2016. They've all been cup games, and I think with each of those wins, we thought, here we go. Right, this is it, the season's kicking in. So how to pass now actually really kick on from this and actually turn this into a decent league form? I would say that you take this once a game into account where we kind of drag ourselves into a draw. Watford, we weren't actually as awful as people as was perceived. We made a defensive error at the end really cost us. But I thought that for much of that second half, we were trying to win the game. And then with that Tottenham game, you could argue that we have gradually tried to turn that corner. I think that as long as we do the things that we did positive, the positive things that we did against Watford, the positive that we can take from the Swansea game, the defensiveness, and the way that we played against Spurs in terms of defensively. We've got a chance now to really get that next league win. And then it's a case of getting one more league win, and that's it. That would be it really. The more important thing is that players are coming back. The more important thing. But also I think in terms of taking confidence, it does feel different somewhere, because it felt, for me, it had the intensity of a league game in the way that the Stoke game didn't quite, and we thought we played well against Stoke. But Stoke were just hitting a bit of a dip in four themselves. It didn't feel like it had the same sort of 100%. But this have really felt at the end of that, that felt like a different parley. It felt like a proper win. It did feel like a proper win. It felt like a win. It meant something for us. It felt like a league win. It did feel right, because it had the intensity of a league win. And I think the crowd, I thought the atmosphere was brilliant. I think that was a game top them wanting to win. I don't care what anybody's saying about their fixture pilot. They wanted to win that game. That was a really strong top them team. You could see how physically committed they were. And we beat them, and we rode our luck a little bit. I don't think you could say we didn't deserve to win. I think they would certainly take more confidence out of that performance, and they would argue out of the Stoke or Southampton one. But, you know, if it then turns out that we don't beat West Brom, it's a dilemma of how can we beat Premier League teams. But, you know, Stoke didn't play their strongest teams. Southampton didn't play their strongest. But Tottenham pretty close to their strongest teams. It does feel like there's a slight difference to this one. And I think we might be playing West Brom at a good time, because there's a certainly disarray, peerlessness in talks with pizza about his future. The atmosphere is going to be weird, I think, for West Brom fans. And the players on Saturday nothing. We have to take advantage of that. It'd be interesting to see whether Pargi decides to start with Balassie, or using again as an impact player. I suspect it'll be the second, but it might kind of blindside West Brom a little bit, just to start with him, give him the first half, and do some damage, and then sit back and defend the two-nil lead. If you guys are off food right now, cup final. I think I'll ask you the last part as well. Cup final, but 15th, 16th. Or guaranteed top 8, 8, 7, 8, but out of the cup next round. What do you do, Travis? What do you take? Cup final. It's staying up. Cup final. That's just different. No, no, no. But 15th would be staying up. Oh, if 15th would be staying up. 15th would be staying up. Oh, no, no, no, no. I wouldn't sacrifice the preface. No, no, no, no. It's great. That's scraping to survival. I thought that if you can guarantee it. If you're guaranteed it, are you guaranteed it? I'm guaranteed it. I'm not having the conversation unless you're guaranteed it. I'm guaranteed it, but it's going to be a limp end of the season in the league. No, if you're winning a fake cup, it wouldn't be. Cut final. I'm not going to cut final. Oh, you know, I'm disappointed in the cup final now. Well, that's the gap. That's the gap, man. No, I can't guarantee that. Oh, well, I'm going to stop the conversation. It's pointless. You've got to be in the finals to win it. No, of course. I'd love to win the FA Cup, but not if it was at the expense. I don't think any Wiggan fan would say that in a good season when they won the FA Cup and got... No, but they got to go with the FA Cup and win the Cup. But the worst thing for Wiggan was they played the Cup final and then ended up playing their last league fixture. That's true. At least you would know this season what your fate was. But it doesn't feel a little bit like Palace have Cup be under business to be done. I thought I hadn't realised that we've not been in the quarterfinal for so long. Well, we've not been in the quarterfinal since one of the grandpa members was alive. You know the final, really? Yeah, since Travis. Travis has never seen us. Welcome to the quarterfinal. Welcome to the quarterfinal. The quarterfinal. Quite emotional. Right, a passage. It's like a graduate. Exactly. Dad will tell you about that. Well, no, no. But it's interesting to hear part of you saying that this could still be... We've finished 10th and get to the FA Cup final. This could be the best season. Well, I think it would be. But it's interesting that there hasn't been that sort of positivity around the club recently. Because part of you has stopped being bullish. His body language in the last few weeks has been poor. And his attitude and interviews has been quite low-key. So I thought it was very interesting to see him so upbeat after that. And we have talked about, perhaps, when the sun's shining again at the end of the season. We'll be saying, well, what happened there in January and February. But, yeah, it'd be wonderful. But the 10th bit is more exciting to me than the FA Cup. So that's what I'll be with. So we've seen... I don't know. I've seen loads of quarterfinals. I've seen two. I've seen many. I've seen many. I've seen two in 40 years. Quarterfinals in that thing. But if you end up getting to end up getting to the final of the FA Cup, then that, I mean, to me, that is a huge... What I thought is really interesting, the response in the Beehive Pub, a lot of Palace fans, celebrating that draw. Everyone went absolutely potty, which is kind of indication that I mean... It matters to us. It does, yeah, it does. Is it the best draw the Palace could have got? I would have been really crossed that we'd got to have a Premier League club, to be perfectly honest. I think what's happened is the FA listened to the podcast. Yeah, they did. And they listened to me publicly calling them cheats for fix in the FA Cup draw. Arsenal still got to have one at home, but they obviously thought they couldn't... They couldn't brazen it out and give us another, so... It was completely... We played better away from my menuate at the moment, so... I'm happy with having ready to wear it. Yeah, and I think as well, if we've won a couple of... We've got everybody back fit then, so... And also, it's one of those... There'll be 8,000 Palace fans here. It's a good day out. Will we get that big in that big allocation, will we? I would have thought so. Because we'll sell more. Wow, they will. They've got 32... They'll have, what, 32,000? Is it 29,000? You get 20% for a couple. 50, 50, 50, 50. But they're apparently because of the way that their way section is. It's likely to be segregated in a way that they have to give us like 4,500 tickets. So, it would still be a month. Yeah, it won't be as an excuse. Yeah, it would be plenty. Be enough to make a noise. Which Palace fans will do? And a good out. They were very good on some brilliant Palace fans. Pungent loved it. Yes, and Balassie Sophie was... He came and interviewed and talked about that afterwards. Yeah, and he goes, "Oh, I don't really want to sing." Imagine, I've been playing for five years, and I'm just singing the Conan's a bit nervous. No, it's very good to see him there. Good, and it's very good to end that part right there. That was good in part two. We've got questions from our listeners, so join us in a bit. So, join us in a bit. Welcome back listeners to the five-year plan podcast. Hey! Pod 170, sponsored by Vector Printing for all your printing embroidery needs. Go to vector.co.uk, and that's Vector Wither. Hey! Correct. And JCIS, the Global Research and Brand Consultancy from South London. Visit JC-IS.com. I will! Oh, good. Wow, again. Harmony is right there. Now, join us next time. We will three of us. Okay. You do it in your dad's action. Well, I don't really know. It's my dad's action. Everyone always mentions this to me. He sounds really love it. I don't know. I don't know. It's all dad. I don't just sit with my uncle, my dad's brother, but they lived in London for roughly the same amount of time, and they've only got two years. What? The difference between them. My mum said when we went up North just recently for a couple of days that it came out. Yeah, of course. But I didn't even notice that then, to be honest. I suppose I'm surrounded by a proper... A lot of West York's people are really thick. Yeah. We're not a thick accent, why it's not. No, no, no. You were pretty right the first time, yeah, yeah. Okay. You can't go back there again, obviously. No, you said that, but you're right there. You've got family in Bradford, I know. At least Halifax is on it. Here's a breeze. Moving on. Moving on. Before we alienate our Northern listeners. The first question is from Al. Hey, Al. Hello. Hello. Hello. He says... Not the Yale. Not the Yale. I don't think so. No. Al. Al. Al. Al. Al. Al. Al. Al. He says without saying Jerry Murphy, which player, current or former, would you most want to sit next to in the crowd? Well, I cannot say the one that I would really want to sit next to in the crowd. You can, if you want. I'd like to see somebody nervous who doesn't speak in English. Lombardo, that'd be great. We wouldn't have to talk to him. I don't like to. I'd sit there really worried all the way through every game. I don't want to talk to somebody. But the answer would be... Oh, that's a good question. That's a good question. That's a good question actually. I think you've got to tell him it's funny, apparently. He used to do his impressions as normal. He used to drive you out the wall, so... No, I don't know. I'd want someone chatty. I'd want... Well, I met... I met Mason recently, didn't I? Of course. Speaking of my heroes. I met him and he was the nicest guy you've ever met. Oh. Oh. It'd be great to be nice. Yeah. It was a half-time living. And Julie would play for the hot dogs and bring you everything. Oh, it would, yeah. In fact, you'd go out to a Chinese taker and bring that in for... No, go back off to Spironi. You'd buy a ticket. Yeah. Yeah. What, your turn? I couldn't. I don't know. You should go for somebody young where you could both talk about how you've never seen a quarterfinal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Who's young enough? Maybe Alan Pargy. He's having a party. Bring you a vodka. Possibly. I don't know. I don't know. That's a really, really tough party. A party balloons is a euphemism. Right. Oh, it's just balloons. It is balloons. But it's interesting the puncture was in though. It's nice. It's the first time he's done it. It's a nice... It was a nice... If you can listen to his interview on talk sports, it's good. It's only about five minutes. It's only about five minutes. I don't know. I don't know. That's a really tough one. Who would you sit next to, Jeddie? Yeah. Oh, I might answer. Is that the way you've had your hair cut like I might answer? No. I was kind of mentioning before, I think. Where's he managing now, mate? Surely. Oh, he's in the non-league somewhere. BBS user name used to be the next mate, Anton. I had a high valuation of myself. His mate, Anton. That's just all good. Turned out to be true. Right. The next question is from Andrew Harris. Hi, Andrew. He says, "Do you feel Martin Kelly is underrated and underplayed in the palace defence? The goal was the icing on the cake." I think we've kind of discussed this from different angles for a while. The answer is probably, "Yes and yes." Odd thing with Kelly is that everyone always says straight away. You mentioned Martin Kelly's name. Everyone goes, "Yeah, he's going to be sent back and he'll be sent back." Increasingly. I'm not. I just think... That's because he said he wants to be sent back. Well, that's true. But I think there was a time earlier in the season when Kelly was in. When he got a bit of stick, and we hinted about this earlier, because he wasn't getting beyond Wilfry like Joey was. Kelly was in for about three or four games at right back, because Kelly hasn't, because he has some pace, but he's more defensively minded. I think as a defender, I think we've hit on the best. That's the best back four for me. I think, Kelly, maybe whether or not he's going to be a sent back, I think he's a really, really good right back. And I think he's played on that back. I think he's a quality. I think he's quality, and I think he proved that against... I think you need to look at it from a bit of a holistic way of just because... So my reasoning is, Kelly would have been ideal to have been brought into the squad, I think, when the minute that Yannick Balassie got injured. And the reason for that is that I think that Yannick Balassie is one of those players that does a lot of defensive work that I think people don't quite see when he plays. And he also, he's an outlet that we just did not have. And so then when he got injured, you end up with a papay suare who is a very attacking kind of fallback, attacking that wing, but not having the cover. And having someone like Kelly in that place would have meant that you'd have ended up with a defender whose main focus is defending. And I think that's the thing that made the difference. That's the problem. Having suare in the side is fine if you've got someone like Yannick Balassie doing the work in front of him. But because we didn't have that, because we had like Chiang Yung Lee who I think two games in a row against Watford and against Annegan Swansi, he kind of meandered back whenever he had to, but didn't do enough defensively. When you've got that kind of player in front of suare, he doesn't have the cover, he doesn't have the support. Whereas Kelly is someone who can actually do the defensive work without having to rely on a wing of swing. And suare looks like a proper wingback. Yeah, sure it is. As you can play referee set them back. In fairness, I think suare needed a break, too, to be honest. Possibly, but I think suare will come back in the team. I think, to be fair, him and Balassie together didn't have an understanding. Not only defensively, Balassie was instinctively wood-dropping, but going forward, they linked up really well. He did overlap. He did overlap. And I suspect that but the suare will come straight back in the team. But I'm hoping that two more good results with Kelly there will make him think twice. I think suare is a really good player. Definitely without a doubt. I really believe he's in the squad. But I think if you need to get a point where you need to load, then suare is perfect. If you're fifth and you're playing, the team has already been relegated, I think. But defensively, he's not as good defensively as he is going forward, basically. And the two right backs we have on Sunday. I mean, as I say, it has to be defensive. Because the Premier League is sold on this idea. It's the most exciting league in the world. And everyone's got a bomb forward. And I think the art of defending has kind of disappeared a little bit. And I think your dad would agree with me here, Travis. But the art of defending. Because the first part of a defender should be defending. That's not just about tackling. As we talked before, it's about positioning. It's about discipline. And so often, people say now all defenders have got full backs, especially got me box-to-box players. They're like, no, not. Initially, they got me really good defenders. It's what they've got to be. And then once you've got, fine. If you're two, you're not fine. Ball four as much as you want. It was ironic, though, as well, when the fact that we've had Sware playing as an attacking kind of fallback that entire time. And I don't think he hasn't scored a single goal. And Martin Kelly is who is a predominantly defensive defender. We've been lucky really well. There was a slight error at disbelief. It was a great finish. It was a loose mistake. I thought he was like, didn't he? It was just a good day. Because we were looking at the, it was a loose second and a half or everyone went, that's gone in, isn't it? He's suddenly saw the top of the player's walk. It's a good finish. It was a great finish. We'll be proud of. And also, I think we've been lucky. We've had a lot of fallbacks in the last couple of years who have been good defensively and going forward. When Ward was at his peak, he was very good defensively and going forward. Yeah, he was twice a seasoner. It's called twice a night. And your climb was a good defensively and going forward. I think we've been treated, actually, to some very good fallbacks. Well, he would have been good in Gordon. Exactly. One thing we didn't mention, actually, about Sunday was how well Ward actually played on the left. No, I agree. That's a good point. I thought he did a really good job. He looks really comfortable, actually, yeah. He does. He's done these best games for a long time. Yeah, I agree. This is a couple times where he went at a few or three players. And it's almost like I said about Wickham earlier. He looks a bit slow when he's on the ball sometimes, but suddenly he's two, three, two guys. And he's thinking, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're on to something here. We've had a question about Balazzi from Stuart Norris. If it's, oh, hi, Stuart. If it's the same Stuart Norris that was my coach at youth football, which I think it is, then he can confirm, just how underrated I was as a footballer. And here's, I think it is. And here's a question. It won't be the same Stuart Norris. He'll be lying in the dark and run somewhere. I imagine. Well, I got, if it is the same Stuart, I got awarded most versatile player in my first year with the team. For playing football. For playing football, most versatile. Yeah. It's nice to meet you. Versatile means that you were just played in whatever position they didn't have someone in. Yeah. Yeah, it's a... Your versatile name. That's what you are. I'm a striker. No, you're not. You're full back today. It's a skill. Multius. Your dad is full back today. Right. Stuart's question says, has Balazzi become so important to both the effectiveness of Balazzi's attack and the balance of the side? There's now beyond price and may even be deserved to be paid as much as goodbye if we were to retain in the next transfer window. That's... That's an interesting question. I mean, will it just be a coincidence that he comes back and we start... If we start winning again, will that be to do with how good a player is or confidence or the fact that we were getting back in the formula? I would be just the fact that he got injured at the same time that Saco did as well, because we didn't have a natural winger on the other side. Yeah, we had to change the shape. We had to change the shape. Very much. I think that's a good question. But, I mean, Balazzi's been made to look a better player by a recent form. It's been a problem with it as well. It's been a problem with it as well. I mean, it has been a problem with... And it's not just him that's been injured. There's been other players that have affected it as much as he has. I think we should remember as well that as well as he was playing early in the season, we all said if Tottenham were to come in with a 20 million bid, we should take it in the transfer window. I think it shows how reliant we are or were on that kind of approach of play, though, that the 4-3-3 with the two wingers either side or beforeward, the minute you lose one of those. Yeah, completely. We really struggled to replace him. We really didn't. And as you say, Travis, with the fact that Saco was out as well, you just lose all kind of potential for having a winger. We didn't even have Gail at that time. And potentially the Tottenham game has almost proved our other style of play that we can play. Another formation, another way of approaching a football game, which is almost like what we've been missing in the past few weeks. Players have been getting injured, coming back, getting injured, coming back. The team hasn't been the same every week, which was the case for the majority of the first half of the season. The team was staying the same. We got used to a style of play. The Spaniard has been throwing the works and we kind of just got a bit lost. It seems like we've found another way to play for a certain part of the game. Switch it up and then we can play a counter-attacking game. I think that until he comes back, we should stick with how we played against Tottenham or until he's fully fit and we can work the team around again. I think it was brilliant. His positivity and his energy was great. The minute he came on it was like watching the horse being released into the field. You know, bucking around and jumping. If you wanted to play devil's advocate, I think that's a really good question. If you wanted to play devil's advocate, you could say, "How many goals has he scored? How many goals has he created?" So I think his impact is sort of less tangible than a $20 season striker, but I couldn't have been more pleased to see him back on the pick. I felt my spirit's lifting when he saw him back and preached. I also saw him not at all hesitant, not at all reluctant, straight into it. First touch was a positive one. Just seeing him warming up is why he's buzzing around in players. He doesn't smile in his face. And I think that he does, which no other player in our team really has, apart from Will, when he's on the ball, he draws players towards him the whole time. When we've had people covering him in his position, they're not, you know, Balassie is known as the player in the Premier League that has all these fantasy tricks and skills, and we just pull something out of the bag that's completely unexpected by everyone. The amount of skills he does on against Erickson last season, there was that one that he did against Liverpool, which led to the one of the goals. Oh wait. Yeah, three, one, he's knee, and then it's gone back out. And he does these things, and it's, you know, a left-back or a right-back will come to play by this and they go right. We've got Will from Balassie here. And that draws them out of the game, and it's that that he adds to the team as well, just the nerves that he will add to the opposition, which has been missing since he's been out. Well, also I think what he does as well, because when you see him, our players, when you see him bounce straight back up, when you see him lose a ball and then go to get it back again, it just lifts everybody up again. Yeah. But it's a good question as to how good a player is, and how vital it is. It's hard to explain what he brings, but he brings something, and it lifted everyone. And I thought it was the timing of bringing them on, because you could kind of see Tottenham players looking around and going, "Oh, I like it." Because that's been quite old up to now as it is. Yeah. And then it releases hard a little bit as well, gives him a bit more space to play him, because as Travis says, they're instinctively drawing players towards Janik. As you said as well, Wickham started bombing forward. I mean, Janik could have scored early on when he came on with Wickham, where Wickham took a shot, which I think he was probably justified. Yeah. You know, after that run. And then he put that crossing as well. It shows just what difference it is. I thought it was a shot, though. Yeah. I thought we could put it in the one that Wickham scored as I saw it. Because I saw a cross, yeah, cross shot. That's why I celebrate, because I thought he had already gone in and that Wickham had sort of touched it. I don't know if he meant it as a shot, but it looked like he was... But again, that's something we haven't seen for all that Zara has been playing really, really well. That's something we haven't seen. It's just that straightforward knocking the ball down the line, beating Danny Rhodes, because he had Danny Rhodes for pace when he came on, and putting a crossing early, and Wickham getting on the end of it. And once anybody was fully fit, and he's fully fit again, hopefully we'll see a lot more of that, because that's just so effective and so hard to defend against, even at that level. It's just the power that he has to try. The next question is from Lee John Hughes. Hi, Lee. He says, "Should Dan be dropped as he didn't score?" Yeah, he's shocking. He can't afford a couple of times. He had a little run. What was that touch he made with any speed of all? Yeah. That was... Zidane. Yeah. Zidane. But yeah, he let himself and this whole team there might not score. He should be ashamed of himself. It's probably going to be... Terry got... Terry got $15 once, he's Dan's. He's on five. Yeah, but she's very good for him. Very good. Yeah. He's a joint top scorer, I believe. You've been taking it at the beginning of the season. He's pathetic. It's pretty joint top scorer. He's shocking. The other one's been filled in with the last one. He's scored three-tone penalty. He's a three-four. I don't know, wait. Okay, this isn't really a question. It's more a statement from Chris Endersby. Like Chris. Like Chris Endersby. Yeah. Yeah, unless it's your dad. Just trying to destroy him. Just trying to destroy him. Yeah. Look at the picture. No, he would have gone for a David Bowie name. He would have done it as a disguise. He's put... We're going to qualify for the Europa Cup via the FA Cup. Then the country votes to leave the EU and we miss out again. Typical cards. That's great. No, it sounds about that. Well, still round course. But then they'll let Liverpool in. Yeah, it still rankles for a lot of us of that. Is that a question or a statement? There's more a statement. Yeah, no, no, it's a good one. It does rankle for those of us of that generation. Yeah. For those who've done it, we've finished Liverpool or band for Europe. We've finished third. Well, I even know about that. Yeah. Slightly before my time. There was a stack around Twitter that, for any Spurs fans who were giving you a chip, that we've finished third more recently than the Spurs have. Really? Yeah. Really? Wow. This clearly could change this. I didn't know it was in the Premier League, so it's written out of skies. I didn't know that. That's interesting. So there you go, Palis. Just haven't got into the quarterfinals as often as... No. But we're exchanging that this season. Right. This next question comes from Jack Pierce. Hi, Jack. Hi, Jack. He says, "Was giving Alan Monterey the grief we did on Sunday at halftime, the best and most fun halftime experience you've ever had?" You know, my...I was ashamed of Palis fans for that, because it just didn't go nearly far enough. A restraint of...because I was watching it, because I was going... It's like walking out of Monterey in front of the...what? No. Surely he...and then the little part of your brain is going, "Don't throw anything at him. Don't throw anything at him." But as long as you don't throw anything at him, anything. And it just...you know, we mentioned the Premier League there, and Sky, it's... Again, it's an indication of someone at Tottenham TV not doing their research. Yeah. And not just not occurring, not even there. I've been there research and things. Oh, it was Palis. Yeah, yeah. But what's even worse is that Alan Monterey is such an arrogant twat that at no stage... He calls himself Mullers. That's how much dick he is. No stage did Alan Monterey say to him, "Ah, this might not be a good idea." No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He came out. And he clapped our fans. But the thing is, the first moment... Initially, I was stood there, and they played this...they started out, "Oh, we've got a special guest here." Just turning his eyes up towards the screen, you'll be able to see some of his classic footage. And the minute that Mullery's face turned up, even like him as a, you know, sprightly 20-year-old, people around me just boo. It was brilliant. It could have only been a big mistake. So he's brought his mate Brian Hall. The funny thing also, Peter Ward's come out as well. I wasn't around during his era, but my grandfather was there in spirit, I think. Like with a lot of us younger fans, we all know the history. You know, that's Spurs fans. "Oh, he's a 70-year-old man. You shouldn't have disrespected this guy." I'm sorry, but this is a person who had such a negative influence on Palace, and my grandfather told me about it, who my mum told me about. This is a person that, if they'd have been there, they would have wanted us to screw it. I couldn't be more depressed by that statement, because I was at Stanford Bridgman, and the Mullery ripped that five-pound note up in front of Palace fans, and they were talking about your granddad. I was very young at the time. You talk about people going, "This is a man who ripped up a five-pound note, so I wouldn't give you that for Palace fans." Walked out in front of them sticking two fingers up. It was in the marriage of Abbe's rivals for four seasons in a row. It was inexplicably made management by Rod Nodes when he took over. He was booed on for his first match, booed on for his last match, after nicking 30,000 fans off. He turned us into the worst teams we've ever been, openly displaying his contempt for us after that, refusing to shake my hand when I first met him as a Palace fan, and then we're supposed to feel sorry for him, because he might be 70. He deserves it. Old people deserve a bit of respect, not him. He's just had 35 years more to become more of a twat. Basically. I was just astonished by the fact that he didn't say his own common sense. If God forbid, I was asked to do something at Brighton by some TV or radio thing, and I'd say, "Yeah, I'll do that." I'd say, "Yeah, I'll do that." When I did a gig for Brighton fans, when they were trying to raise money, they'd be like, "Yeah, I'll do that." But you do know there's going to be some giving, there'll be some, they're going to be shouting at me. If I was asked to do something at Brighton's ground, I would say to him, "I don't think it's a good idea." So it was like, "Moo, I think I probably wouldn't do that." And the money was so arrogant. He just thought, "I know I've ruined their club. I've really ruined their club when I've slated them publicly ever since." But no, I think it'd be fine. I wonder if they thought that they'd bring you more with us losing. I reckon that there might have been that arrogance on the end of the year. Either way, he's probably saying it. Can't defend the seven-year-old man who walks on the bridge and claps intentionally to get booze. If you walked on it, you don't do that. You would've just turned on just going, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please, no, please, no." I just told people standing there going, "I've never been to Rome." I know, I went to Pope. Everyone knows mum. It was lovely. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, there was a couple of people who said to me, "You can't have been proud of that." I was very proud of that. Actually, I thought we showed an enormous amount of restraint. It was perfectly fair. Considering it was the weekend that West Brom fan, or A West Brom fan, did that lunatic thing. Chelsea fans couldn't bear the fact that Man City's youth team had schooled in front of them to throw coins. It does heart back to the fact that there were a lot of people in football. It doesn't exist for them before the premise. It's quite a long way to throw the coin. That's a good point. Yes, but it was. Not the weekend, though. It was very funny. I don't think it was big or clever, but yes, it was funny. I can't remember what the question was, but what a good question. It's the best question we've had. Right. The next question comes from Simon King. Hi, Simon. He says, "What are the panels?" Oh, panel again. "What are the panels' opinion on what hurts more, losing at home to a newly promoted side, or the goal of the month when our score does sell first?" Did both those things happen recently? Well, the goal of the month was a delegation. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. There's no goal from Scott Down. Oh, God. That was no goal. It went off Scott Down. Losing the waterfall, I didn't mind so much because we beat them. Yeah. And did not have that. So losing the ball with hurt. Yeah. Because we deserved it. I don't mind the goal of the season. I don't think that was the best goal of the game to be perfectly on the season. I thought their third goal was better. I mean, it was when it was. Jen actually battered him before he had time in space to, you know, it was a bit Steve Claridge in it. Came off Scott Down. Well, no, good a goal. It's just this month. It was a bit Steve Claridge, wasn't it? We wasn't. Look at it. Again, it came off Scott. Not having that. Yeah. He goes to the season so far. He did come out of it. He did come out of it. I think it was going on target before. Well, also, I'll get slightly in order. It's deli ali banga. Because he's a good player, but he's got a really good hurt. Oh, yeah. He's a great player. There was a couple of the columns online last week. I think it was Colin Moore and Savage, who both said he's got a sort that side of the game. Yeah, he's got a sort that side of the game. Yeah, he's got a sort that side of the game. And he gave Kebaini in the back of the three run as well. He needs a red card at some point. He does. Well, he needs his manager. In order of some of the senior players to talk to him. To be fair, though. I mean, look, without going on the bat, deli ali too much. Stephen Gerard was a nasty player when he was young. He wasn't when he was old. He wasn't when he was old. But what Gerard did was he settled himself down a little bit. He became a bit more professional. Where this is a bit of a nasty streak to deli ali that he just needs. Oh, I don't mind a controlled aggression. I thought we did. We got a nice hit as well, actually. Actually, I thought Palace controlled a regression. I thought for all that Rob's right that we went into the challenges. I thought we did restrain ourselves. And also, we didn't. There was a couple of flashpoints when Tottenham players tried to confront things. And to be fair, Kebaini, when deli ali went into him, Kebaini got up quite quickly. And actually the other Palace players away. That was the first time for a while that I've seen other players angry and surround a player. Which is what we talked about before, isn't it? I think that's, again, another indication of the fact that the morale and the team spirit is coming back. Because the fact is that deli ali is good. But I think it's an indication of how poor England are that we're all talking about as the Saviour. Because he's not that good yet. And the fact is, in the Euro, I don't mind his age as much. This is first season. The fact is, in the Euro is a referee's, the Premier is very physical in the Euro. He's going to get sent off every game he'll probably be suspended. But he'll get yellow carded much quicker by continental refs. Because some of his physical stuff really goes over. Again, it comes back to that thing. In fact, your dad was really cross about this. When Wickham got sent off against him in the league game, 3-1. Rightly so, for the elbow. But they're all condemning him. But at the same time saying, "Oh, deli ali's got a bit of spite. You need that bit of spite." Oh yeah, you're really angry about that. Because it is spite. There's a difference between being physical or over physical. Or Jack Wilshire trying to go into tackles he shouldn't make because he's so exuberant. And deli ali's not doing that. Deli ali's deliberately leaving studs in and hurting people. Well, my dad was so angry about the incident that when I'd got home that evening, I'd miss much today and my parents just going to bed. I said, "Right, I'm going to watch much today." My dad says, "Okay, let's tone it on." Fast forward through the whole thing. Fast forward through the palace game and watch the analysis. And then go back and watch the game. So yeah, it's true. Well, technology. But he haven't got by building up a little thing. Do you see when the corner came in from Son at the beginning and deli ali did the diving head up? Yeah. And kabai saved it off the line. Yeah. As that ball just got cleared out and deli ali's on the floor. Oh no, it was as on him right here over the bar from the rebound. He's gone past and as he's walking past, you can just see him shouting at him like this. Really? So I think they're building up a little thing. Yeah, they're building up a little thing, so maybe next season. That'd be interesting. Yeah. Right, final question is from Russell Levy. Oh, Russell. Hello. It's for you, Kevin. It says, "Considering how really not bothered about the FA Cup, Kevin was on Lasvick's pod. He certainly seemed pleased when he appeared on Torxport on Monday. Does this mean Kevin is now bothered about the FA Cup or was he merely winding up the Spurs supporting presenter?" No, I think, well, I was a bit cross because I was waiting to go on when they were talking. It's a poor horse to be sports top them out of Jacob's sports Chelsea. And as I was waiting to go on, they were talking about the fact that wouldn't it be nice if Pally's got to win because we don't often get there. It'd be nice for a Pally's fan to have a day out, so I did take exception to that and point it out. But I did, funnily enough, I felt more well disposed towards the FA Cup and Sunday night than I had done for quite some time. That's partly because I was sitting just in front of Alan Mulberry at the end of the game. And I think it's not just the throw. It's more the performance and the fact that we'd won and had a good day out was more to do with it. But yeah, I do tend to exaggerate for effect, sometimes perfectly capable of holding it. There's Oscar Wilde and it's the mark of a gentleman to hold two contradictory opinions at the same time. And I do tend to say things for effect as well, not always mean them. But no, I'd be the most, I couldn't be more proud if we won the FA. I'd be really, really delighted. But, and again, this is a pod that we need to do in its entirety. The FA is not a property that's been devalued by both the BBC and the FA. And they're now even talking about making it even worse. We've no replays. No replays. It's just one of the things about the FA Cup that everybody's always loved. It gives a chance for smaller clubs, A for the players and fans to go to big grounds, B to financially. Because football finances are so wrong that every club outside the Premier League and some of the minute are in constant danger of going out of business because of the finances. It gives some clubs, smaller clubs a chance to put themselves in the financial field. And people are talking, and for Steve Bruce, for somebody who's, most of his success has been in through Cup tournaments, a person who's for him to say, "This shouldn't be replays, go straight to penalties." No, sort of, because teams will start playing for penalties for the 15 minutes in. It has to be replays. Leave it alone. It was a perfectly good tournament until they started mucking about with it. Of course it was. Of course it was. And then we saw the ludicrous thing over the weekend with Man City wanted to play on Saturday, and the FA and the BBC wanted them to play on Sunday. Man City said, "If we play on Sunday, we're playing kids." And the FA said, "You can't do that." And they said, "Well, see what happens if you make us play on Sunday." And they made them play on Sunday, and they did. And they're perfectly within the right situation. Why should they have to play? They've got big games this week. And the fact is that the FA Cup should be a tournament where you play the first team, come what made. And the FA have colluded into a tournament where you don't care what team you play. And that's why I would like the team like Palace to win it or a team like what, because they play their first team and they try and win the tournament. And I love the BBC. I love the BBC a bit, but they've solidied it up as well. I mean, the draw should never be taking place before one of the games has been played. No, I agree, yeah. At least it was in a sports ground, not in the one-show Thompson's studio. It's like, anyway, but yeah. So, I'd love us to win it, but it'd be brilliant. And we would get any way for Cup. And also this talk would possibly turn it into a Champions League place this year. Oh, interesting. Palace in the Champions League, wouldn't that be good? Right. Thank you very much for your questions, listeners. In part three, we're going to go back in time for in this week. So, do you want us to know a bit? Welcome back to the Five Year Plan Podcast. Hey! Sponsored by Vector Printing for your printing board. We need to go to Vector Spelling up. Right. Tuesday 22nd. Oh, this is not a battle for all of you. Right. 1993, Tuesday 22nd February. Palace Beat Bolton 3-0 in the league. In front of a pitiful crowd of any idea how much? It would have been around six or seven thousand. Was it lower? Four and a half thousand. Just higher. Really? Four thousand four hundred fifty and six. That was a league game. Yep. I remember a game in Troisbury where we got about four thousand one hundred and we were at home and we lost. Mulroy was the man in general. Well, this is at the end. Backlash against the point we never had in mind for you. Okay, we were talking about in part three. What's that? Well, bear in mind. Well, great anniversary for us. It didn't boo him. Bear in mind. It was four years before that that we had fifty one thousand. In fact, because we played, we played Burnley to get promoted with it in front of fifty one thousand people. Three years later, we played Burnley almost exactly the day to avoid relegation in front of eighteen thousand people. And that was a big crowd because it was a vital game. So that's to lose. I mean, he lost thirty three thousand. It was just the most awful time to be a Palace fan. You can't imagine that. Palace got down next couple of seasons. That would never happen now, would it? No, and the ground was decrepit. And it wasn't, it wasn't Ron Nodes. It was Ron Nodes was kind of learning on the job, if you like. And in the end, it was a big debate to be head about how effective Ron Nodes was. And I think he deserves more credit than perhaps he got, but that was a shocking error. And that was a poor Palace. It was a, it wasn't a good time for Palace. He was a poor player at the time. Oh Christ, how long have you got? He'll merge his heart. It was a, it wasn't a good time considering what had just gone on. You know, it's one of the few, you know, that seventy eight seventy nine was a brilliant time for Palace. So it's, it's always a bit for our generation. That's what I think our generation is more philosophical than others about what goes, because whatever happens, if we get relegated, it will never be as bad as it was. Yeah. It was then. It's like, that's why I'm not, and I really don't, of course I don't want this to get really good. I'll just be in a Premier League for, for, for as long as possible. But I do think there is a generational thing where younger fans are, we've only known the Premier League figures of disaster not to be in it. But considering, you know, people talk about what happened four or five years ago before the new owners took over. Never mind that. I mean, those days it was just a terrible, horrible. Yeah. I mean, we're losing to made stone. That's my lowest point. Made stone. Made stone. Made stone. We're out of this administration really. I can't really date really, back in that in terms of really, really bad parts. Well, I remember the first administration as well, so. Twice. Yeah, can we start talking about it as I was reading also? Okay. Well, I've got another update. Obviously we're not dead. I've got another update, but it's, it's, it's not a very one. February 25th, 1998. In the early hours of the morning, Mark Goldberg and one of those exchanged contracts on the 30 million sale of Palace to the probably based businessman. February 26th, 1999. A year later. Palace failed to pay the wages of both players and staff as Mark Goldberg's struggled. Was that all it took? A year later. It's amazing. It took just a year. Crazy. Because it's stuck completely. He lost all his money, didn't he? Didn't he? It's a murky world with Goldberg nodes, Venables. He paid Venables 250 grand to be interviewed. No, let's, let's, let's not get into what Venables was getting paid for and his transfer bonuses and his gold wheelbarrow and his houses and his car. The, I mean, the biggest thing was that Goldberg bought, all he bought was the club and not the ground. Yeah. That was the biggest. Yeah. And the name Crystal Palace Football Club and the player's wages. So, you know, Ron, those always argued afterwards that he did that because he's, to safeguard the future of the club because he knew Goldberg was an idiot. Oh, here's a good one. On the same team. We've had some really rough days. This is correct. He deserved to win the FA Cup. This one. It's a course. You've had it good. Yeah. All you've had is success. Yeah. One fortifying. One administration. This update. This is, this is the update to end all updates in this week. March 27th of February 1998, Goldberg confirmed he would meet Venables on Monday to discuss the, at the time Australia coaches future. The new owner of Palace also stated he wanted to increase the capacity of so as to 40,000 and that he had a, quote, five year plan to achieve the status of the club. Wow. It could compete in Europe. And that is why, that's what we're going to do. That's what we're going to do. Yeah. There you go. February's been a bad month for us, isn't it? It's been a bad month. It's been a very bad month. It was an ironic name to five years ago. It's an ironic name. Yeah. After what Goldberg said? Yeah. That's good. There you go. Um, yeah. It's a good name. It's a good name. It's a good name for a fancy outfit. I like it. People don't understand it. But, I don't know. Do you know what I'm saying? I didn't realize it was Goldberg that said it. I always thought it was a, a Jordan thing. No. No. It's a Goldberg. Wow. Five years is not enough to turn Palace. It's not. Although they come to be fair. Oh yeah. Oh no, that was actually dead. Okay. I'll end with a slightly better one then. 26th of February 2000. It's only a couple of years later. Who made their debuts for Palace away at Grimmsby? Would it be? Made of Mullins? Nope. Okay. Do you? Nope. Debut. I'll give you a clue. They were both on loan. Oh, um. They held for sale. And, uh, Slicault. Correct. Yeah. I think they're debuts for Palace. I believe also in Ashley Cole state. Uh, I think it was his first ever league game, I think. Yeah. They were, they were dark times as well. Steve Couple. They were. But Ashley Cole. It's one of the reasons I'm always reluctant to join in the Ashley Cole version because he was brilliant for us. Yeah. Well, he was like our best player. Yeah, absolutely. But apparently everyone says his attitude off the pitch was fantastic as well. He was only 18 at the time. Yeah, it was. But he was arguably still one of the best lift-outs we've ever had. Yeah. Well, he kept us up because he scored the goal against Blackburn. Yeah. And also, him and Forsell were class, were class. You could really see it. Yeah, class. Yeah. But I remember Forsell didn't, he didn't, he didn't score for ages, did he? And then he scored a brace at home to stop. Yeah. Well, we were three now up at three, three, three. It was the first spell where he wanted to, where he didn't want to stay, or was it a second spell? Because I know there was a point where he, he basically wanted to return back to Chelsea. Mm. I think it was probably the second spell. I think so. He did still have a second spell. Yeah. Well, it was a score. By the way, I know it was a score. And did we lose? We lost one now. I went on the coach. It was a very long journey. Was it a bad on goal that we conceded? It was a penalty, I think. Okay. And the crowd was? Sixth down. Less. Five thousand. Five thousand. Five thousand four hundred. It was a slightly more than that Palace crowd in the 1993, but not very much. Good! That wraps up this in this week. Bit of a depressing one this week, but that's because of Palace's history for you, isn't it? Yeah, you can't read about history. You can't. It's your Rupert Murdoch. Right. In part four, we're going to look forward to Palace's trip to West Brom on Saturday evening. So, do you want us in a bit? Welcome back to this week's five-year plan podcast. Hi! Pod 170 sponsored by JCIS, the Global Research and Brand Consultancy from South London. Visit JC-IS.com. I will. I will. Good. And a bit sprinting for your printing embroidery needs. Go to vector.co.uk and let's vector with that. K! And check out the Vector with a K and FIP logo t-shirts. They're on sale now from FIPfanzine.uk. I could do it with an XXL. Really? Yeah, just XXL. I could do it with XXL. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The XXL's sort of been so urban. OK. I think I've actually got one, so I'll not bring it. Oh, no XXL would be lovely. I think anything. Other sizes are pretty good. I think they're getting bigger is what it is, not just me. It's an as a nation. OK. Right. West Brom away, which we did touch on earlier. Pugliss talking about leaving, a few problems there. Perfect chance. Kevin for Palace to get that League victory first one of 2016. I'm reluctant to say it out loud, but it's kind of pointing in our direction. This business with Pugliss talking to Jeremy Peace about a new contract, which indicates none of them isn't happy about next season. It's clear dissatisfaction with Pugliss' style of football from the West Brom fans. I think a lot of that coin, metaphorically, has probably aimed at Pugliss as much as it was aimed at Chris Brunn, albeit. It was just a ridiculous thing to do. They don't score a lot of goals. They are. They're not in trouble. It's interesting to see West Brom fans talk at the weekend. One of them in particular got very cross because the observer had included them in a list of clubs that might go down. He's going, "Well, we've got 32 points. We're not going down." They're not in a good place. There's clearly dissatisfaction with Pugliss. The sports club has voiced it as well. The style of football that's being played. I think you would imagine these are perfect circumstances for us to go out there off the back of that, but you never can tell with Palace. I think the only thing you would like to say with some certainty is, if our defence plays as well as it does on Sunday and West Brom haven't got a lot of goals. The only sort of slightly unknown factor is that if the fans, I'm slightly worried that their fans turn up in numbers and really get behind the team at the start, that's a kind of love-in with Chris Brunn, and that might lift the players a little bit. That slightly worries me, but I think they're quite quick to turn on their own players with West Brom. I mean, keeping it tight for 15 minutes, I think. I generally think, in the way that I did say this after this onesie game, with not a lot of conviction, but I generally think that performance on Sunday was indicating an improvement and a potential, at least if not turning the goal, or at least approaching the goal. I think if you had to pick a game for us to have after the Tottenham game, you probably would pick that one. I think there are still a couple of Palace players that have got points to prove to Pulis. We almost have to, it's very important. The next two games are really important. I'm worried because I remember saying the next five games are really important, Bournemouth, Watford, Swansie, and now it's become, we've got one point out of those, now it's become, if we don't get anything out of the next two games, then it will start to be a worry. But I don't think that will happen. For me, I think it's telling when there's one journalist that Tony Pulis always goes to, and that's John Percy, with his stories, and he did it with Palace. In the run up to him leaving Palace, there were a couple of stories of John Percy who writes for the telegraph, wrote about how he wasn't happy, and it's telling that there's this story now that's just gone out in the telegraph by John Percy, about how Pulis is probably thinking about leaving the club. All that they're going to have discussions at the end of the season. I don't think Pulis is happy. I think he felt that he probably wanted to sign one of John Waters, Peter Crouch, or someone else for West Brom during the transfer window, and he didn't get, that didn't happen. Where's that happened before, Wanda? Probably it was originally, yeah. It sounds very familiar, and I think that this is a great time to play them, but you know with Tony Pulis is one of those people that after they lose, whenever Palace lost, they tended to be that slightly greater resilience to the way that we played after defeats, and I think that's probably the, you know, that ultimately Palace will have to be patient, and I think in recent matches, prior to the Spurs game, and maybe prior to Swansea as well, there's an element of impatience to our style of play, and that was essentially undermined by the fact that, or underlined by the fact that we would try so hard to score, that if we didn't, then suddenly the opposition would get an opportunity, and they'd take it. Hopefully the Spurs game is an example of how that has changed, because I think we were very patient throughout that whole match. Well, it's away from home, which is good, I think, and also they've got three of their first choice, but four out as well, which means we've also got a whole lot of our first choice. Yeah, we have, but we haven't got three of our first choice back four out, and I think he's been making a lot of noise. And some of our first choice players have come back. And Pulis has proved that back four in the last game as well, I mean. And Pulis has been making a lot of noise about having three of his, and also there is, there's no point denying that there is, there's a bit of beef between the Palace management and Pulis, the court case for what the better world is ongoing. As I said, there are some Palace players that have got, I don't have grievances as the right word, but he robs a lot the wrong way, so there is a history to it. I do, I think it's a good game for us to, as I said, to have. And I think Rob's right, I don't think we'll go into it going home. But it's also interesting how we now have, as a result of players coming back and whatever else, we actually have a taller squad again, because you've got Martyn Kelly coming back, you've got Adebai, you're always a big game, so if we do play Adebai on Wickham as well, then you're dealing with a very, very strong physical Palace side. And I think that's probably ideal for a game like that. Well, also what was interesting is that the first two of Reading's goals against them on Saturday, Sunday, whatever date, Saturday, were from three kicks, and now identity board. I mean, that's something that Pulis always, we know, we pride himself on, and a lot of their goals come from dead ball situations and touch what we are good at defending dead balls, not so much recently, but we are good at defending dead balls. And if there is a weakness that we can spot, because again, we know how well we can. So it's, I just, you know, bearing in mind this Palace we're talking about, I do think that things are sort of lining up in our favourite a little bit. And also, we'll know some of the other results. Some of them will have played before us, Newcastle will have played before us. So they'll know, they will know that a win could more, you know... It's amazing how the mood changes, though, when you win a game. When you win a significant game, you know, you could sit in the squad and you can sit in just the way that we're talking about Palace right now. It doesn't feel like it's the end of the world, does it? No, because I've only ever played Sunday League football at a really, really low level to travel so to notice. It always amazes me how, what a difference confidence makes. It's such an intangible, it's so difficult to instill it in a club. But it's so, it's so bizarre that one result can just change the mindset of a whole group. Ben Watson said that in an interview about the season when we went up against, who was it in the, was it West Ham in the... And he said that season weren't doing well up until about Christmas said it. And in a couple good results, he just said it's confidence does more to you than having someone like messing your team. Really? Even though that'll probably give you confidence. Yeah, yeah, cool. But, you know, just winning two or three games, it does. And I remember when I first played with Crystal Palace and that was, for the first half of the season, we were awful. We were just like, we were a brand new team, loaded boys, just put together. And our manager did instill some confidence. We had a few games. We started drawing a few games. We thought, actually, we're not conceding a lot now. We kind of tightened up. And then once we started winning a couple of games, teams that you, you know, I think it was Chelsea that we'd lost to about... No, it was Arsenal that we'd lost to 12 to at the beginning of the season. Like, honestly, just completely turned over. You know, obviously, these kids have been together and grew and had the hairbrush at the same time and the same direction since they were four years old. But... But... You're not gonna like Arsenal. Anyway... Such a lovely image. We were having the hairbrush at the same time. Arsenal is Arsenal, but anyway, we got to the end of that season. We end up being in 6-4, which has proved the turnaround, and it proved that the players were exactly the same. We decided it just proved so much the confidence has to do. And I think that's something that's been lacking in Palace. Do you physically feel to... Do you sit there in a dressing room going? I feel confident. I went out for every game and when I'm standing there starting, it's about to kick off. There's just nerves running for your body. But... Through playing games and winning them, it gives you a sense. You just seem to figure each other out a bit more. You know, you can't... Games on your nervous. Everyone's a bit nervous. Everyone's a bit more hesitant. You've lost a couple of games. Everyone's trying to prove themselves a bit more. You play it, but you're a bit more free. You can do... Express yourselves a bit more. So you're less reluctant to sort of take a touch when you're lacking confidence. Yeah, when you're flying confidence, the first touch will come and it's down the line, and you'll bang, bang, bang, and everything works. As soon as that confidence goes a little bit, the whole pace the game slows down. And that's been almost evident in our Palace game. I've seen to think we've lacked... Anything up front, it gets up there and it's a bit like, "Oh, what do we do now?" There's no penetration in our team at the moment. Punching's been a full season, which hasn't helped really. He hasn't penetrated like he did the past few seasons. But I just think it's the confidence that we need, and hopefully the top of the game is given. I think it was also the trip that we had. You know, the fact that the players went away for three days. It was hard to think. You know, Pargy felt that some of the cohesion had gone. The players were kind of nagging at each other a little bit that things had obviously got on top of them, and taking them out of that stressful situation and putting them in a different surrounding with different routines, where the routine is essentially just hanging out with the rest of the squad. You build up kind of those ties a little bit. Oh, no, definitely. Well, no, definitely. That's what it was. Pargy said that he was watching Eddie Boy on Balassie talk about African football life in Africa, Scott Downer-Zahar were having a conversation about growing up in working class backgrounds and things that they hadn't really done before, and that seemed to really help. But that confidence thing, no trouble. In the dressing room, though, do you look round and have a players and go, "Yeah, you have more confidence than everyone else." When everyone else is playing, well, you know, there is points. You know, I'm never going to name names, but it's the same for any single footballer. There will be points when you step out on the pitch and you think, "I like this guy." But when I've got the ball, I don't really want to pass it to him because I feel as though he might not do it. You know, a couple of seasons ago you would have thought, "Right, I want to pass it to Balassie because I know you'll run past a couple of players." His end products have improved a lot in the past couple of seasons, but two seasons ago, you think of when he gets the ball, you might beat a guy, but the final ball is not going to go into the box. It will just end up going over the bar or something. But once you see a player have a couple of good games and they are doing those things, yourself, in your own position, feel more confident to, you know, give them the ball in as selfish as it sounds. It's just the natural way to behave on a football field. It's just about trusting the players around you and the more you trust the players around you, the more they trust you, it will just kind of work subconsciously in a way. And it just works subconsciously through winning a couple of games. Good. And do you know what lads? I trust you. This is the one I've got you on the broadcast. Oh, well, well, well done. I think that's a... You've ruined it. That's a good part to end the pod on. A very confident note to end the pod on. So thank you very much for being on. Listeners, thank you for listening. You'll hear from us after the West Bond game at the weekend. So we'll see you there. ♪ Welcome to Vast National Bank. How can I help you? Hey, I'm here to talk to someone about a loan. Oh, I'll grab you the L97B. We call it the "just talking" form. What about actually applying for a loan? Oh, my. Let me pop in a new toner cartridge. Hey, Bill. I want to pass me the big stapler. Yeah, I'm going to try a community bank. Skip the mega bank. When you need a loan, find a community bank at banklocally.org. ♪ This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. [BLANK_AUDIO]
"Wem-ber-lee, Wem-ber-lee!" Palace can't buy a win in the league in 2016 but they've now won 3/3 FA Cup games and are into the quarter-finals after an impressive 1-0 win at Tottenham. Will this finally be the catalyst for a turnaround in the league? Should Martin Kelly play most often? Did Alan Mullery really think he'd get anything other than abuse? All these questions and more answered on this week's FYP Podcast.
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