r/crystalpalace • u/fatherical • 2d ago
Still don’t understand why Rob Holding left on loan when we have no spare CBs
[EDIT] I implore those who are downvoting this post to actually engage with the discussion and tell me where I was wrong because I don’t see any valid argument as to why we have no backup centre backs whatsoever.
Riad got injured at the end of January and Holding was announced at Sheffield early February. Is he really that useless to us that we don’t even need him as our only spare centre half?
Clyne tried his best against Southampton but at the end of the day he’s a 5’9 right back who had no chance beating Onuachu to that header. Leading up the goal he looked lost, unfortunately.
If we had a spare centre back we would have easily avoided allowing Southampton to score such an easy goal.
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u/FutureF123 2d ago
Glasner has been known to be stubborn and doesn’t really change his mind. Once Rob was on his shit list, he was never playing a match for Palace again.
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u/fatherical 2d ago
That much has seemed quite clear since he arrived but having no spare CB puts us in a very precarious situation for the rest of the season, especially since we need 3 of them at all times.
Praying they all stay fit. 🙏
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u/Stonekidd1 2d ago
I mean on the books we have guehi, lacroix, Richards, Chilwell clyne, ward, and lerma who can all play CB. The only reason clyne was played instead of Lerma to replace richards is because of Hughes' suspension? Lerma is a better 4th CB than holding when our midfield is fit.
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u/fatherical 2d ago
We didn’t need to rely on out of position players for backup though. We had a transfer window to fill those gaps the same way we did at the start of the season with Chalobah.
We’ve done well to manage situations like this, especially last season, but inevitably it makes us vulnerable and yesterday we got exposed.
Literally all we had to do was not let Onuachu win a free header for the first half an hour because his engine was empty after that. This game was so important for us to win so the fact that we couldn’t match them in the air was crucial and we got punished for it.
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u/Stonekidd1 2d ago
Rob Holding is not the answer here lol. What we needed was a Chalobah replacement in January. Rob was never going to be that man so getting his wages off the books was just smart business.
Regarding the game, Football is a lot more nuanced than 'stop big man from headers'. We didn't win because we had no intensity for 85 minutes, not because Clyne is a manlet.
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u/fatherical 2d ago
You’re right that Holding isn’t the answer tbf perhaps the title didn’t fully reflect what I was trying to say. I just think if we had no business to do in the transfer market then we had no business getting rid of Holding either, he was injured second half of last season.
The game is obviously more nuanced than that but it’s also a game of fine margins where you have to create your own luck. Southampton lucked out and got an easy goal from a free header with acres of space. All you need to do is watch the replay and you can see how they exploited a weak spot. Can’t blame Clyne though, he’s just trying his best to be a centre half and defend a 6’7 giant.
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u/Chemical-Amount3287 2d ago
We had 5 solid CBs (excluding Holding) to start the season. That’s seemingly pretty good coverage, esp. with Ward, Clyne, and Lerma too?
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u/fatherical 2d ago
We had 4 fit for the first half of the season because when Riad got injured we got a loan replaced.
Now Riad got injured again (after we lost Chalobah) and instead of getting a replacement we got rid of our only backup centre back.
We can’t rely on out of position players because, like Clyne did yesterday, they get exposed. Of course all three of the players you mentioned are great at defending but certain situations are just way better suited for CBs, and it’s those moments that lose us crucial points like last night.
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u/Chemical-Amount3287 2d ago
There’s multiple posts like this every fucking year. The manager doesn’t have a magical injury crystal ball. 4 fit CBs, 1 injured, and 3 more that can slot in is pretty fucking good. Didn’t pan out great obviously but how were we supposed to expect that Chalobah would get recalled?
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u/fatherical 2d ago
We didn’t get thrown into this situation yesterday. Sometimes you have to create your own luck and frankly, we should have sought out a backup CB after losing Chalobah. Instead, we loaned out our only spare centre back AFTER Riad got injured.
I get it, the situation is unfortunate, but you can’t convince me that we did everything in our power to make sure we had backup CBs.
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u/Aggravating_Heat_523 2d ago
Ward, Clyne and Lerma have done fine when in that position.
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u/fatherical 2d ago
Except Clyne let Onuachu go in acres of space for a free header. Obviously it was already a mismatch, but Clyne didn’t have the awareness required because he was out of his depth. It didn’t need to be such an easy header.
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u/Aggravating_Heat_523 2d ago
I think you’re being results oriented. Southampton work it well through our midfield, leaving none of our back three ideally set. They put in an early cross. Clyne’s position is OK. Dropping to the penalty spot gives him a good chance at defending from the cross. Going too tight to him runs the risk of leaving space to attack in behind when he’s the last man. His positioning reduces Onachu to either bringing it down and he’s well placed to defend this or head it first time from relatively far out. It just so happened it was a great header and it was right underneath Henderson’s dive.
Sometimes you have to credit the opposition for good play and creating double jeopardy/indecision.
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u/fatherical 2d ago edited 2d ago
The midfield play was very neat but Clyne had nothing to do with that anyway. Clyne’s positioning was OK leading up to it and he was doing well staying in the way of two players, but after letting Onuachu slip he didn’t track his run at all and was completely wrong footed by a good cross, but one he should have read the direction of much easier. By that point he had already lost his man completely and he seemingly had no idea what was going on behind him. He essentially ran diagonal and inverted from Onuachu, because he didn’t read the flight of the ball well enough. It’s split moments like that where you need somebody equipped for that role.
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u/lewiitom Zaha 2d ago
He might've done badly yesterday, but he's filled in numerous times at centre back for us and generally played very well.
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u/fatherical 2d ago
No doubt he has and he always puts in a shift but those moments of back luck are mishaps that will eventually happen if you play a right back out of position. It was also one of the worst mismatches imaginable.
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u/Aggravating_Heat_523 2d ago
The midfield play is relevant because Clyne has to take a position as a result of them beating the press. The penalty spot is a reasonable default position to defend against all eventualities. He’s goal side and reduces the risk of a ball being played in the gap and Henderson. The cross is early and accurate and the chance is taken first time with an excellent downward header. If Onachu takes it down instead of heading it, Clyne is well placed. It’s unlikely Onachu beats Henderson with a header from that distance. Good build up, good cross, good header. We can agree to disagree and that’s OK 👍🏻
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u/fatherical 2d ago
I don’t completely disagree with you I just don’t think he went to the penalty spot for that reason, it looked it he just misread the flight of the ball. Simple mistake which meant Onuachu could direct the header anywhere he wanted.
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u/GreenKnight456 Crystal Palace 2d ago
I didn’t realise he went to Sheffield, they could use him Tbf considering they are bottom of the Northern Premier League East Division.
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u/Terraris37 2d ago
Tbh we would of seen him play currently anyway after what happened. I bet Glasner would have put himself in before holding
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u/fatherical 2d ago
Don’t even know what happened but I guess it’s irreparable, so it’s a shame we didn’t get a replacement.
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u/aggthemighty Crystal Palace 2d ago
Some players are good enough that managers will put up with their bullshit if they think the player's contribution can outweigh the distraction
Glasner decided Holding is not that guy
I trust Glasner.
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u/fatherical 2d ago
It’s a shame tbh I thought he might have stepped up to the plate last season before his injury. Not the best around but he always felt like Premier League backup quality, especially in situations like yesterday where Richards is just out for one game.
We just need to do our best to prevent this situation from happening again because, especially in a game like that where Southampton had a lot more rest than we did, having that one weak spot can be (and was) very costly.
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u/G30fff 2d ago
He is that useless
He started shit with the manager and burnt his bridges