Southampton at home at St Mary’s is a different proposition then when you are against them on your own patch this season, and so it proved in this festive Boxing Day fixture as we lost 2 – 0. Southampton are the best passing team in this seasons Championship, deservedly top of the league for a lot of the time they passed circles around us yet it says something for the quality of the Palace defence that it took them half an hour to break it down. Even when they did score over the match they still only managed to score twice with Brazilian centre forward Guly do Prado netting two accomplished headers providing the breakthrough with his strong and diminutive physique. Palace should have had a penalty in the second half and Glenn Murray went close to reducing the deficit but when put through twice in the box he was closed down and his shot was weak.
Palace and Southampton have differing priorities on the pitch this season. As Southampton are playing their way hard towards promotion, Palace fortunately are safe in mid table with the opportunity of a League Cup semi final and the chance to go through and play in a Wembley final. Minds of supporters and players therefore could be forgiven for wondering towards this match as well as one of the biggest games of the season, little own just the festive period against bitter rivals Millwall at the Den. (A ground Palace have not won at in ages.)
Obviously it is disappointing to lose to Southampton especially as I thought we had the tools and form, (and possibly luck) to turn them over. This would have been no mean feat when you consider Southampton’s unbeaten home record for the calendar year 2011. Despite the fact Palace lost like throughout this season we pushed Southampton close, were defensively solid and certainly did not disgrace ourselves. The good thing though despite losing is that the festive period is the busiest of the season and is packed with matches and a supporter blogger is kept busy as Palace look forward to Millwall and Leicester in very quick succession. Indeed being brutally honest though as an obsessional Palace fan I can deal with losing to a team with the footballing principles of Southampton under Nigel Adkins if we stuff Millwall.
I want to beat, indeed thrash Millwall not just because they are a bitter local rival second only to Brighton but also because we were better than them for ninety minutes at Selhurst in November. We should have won comfortably and had Palace’s domination been rewarded with more than Glenn Murray’s missed penalty in the second half we would have. Zaha and Scannell had opportunities that on other days they would have taken but Millwall’s keeper that day played very well. It will be interesting to see whether Millwall will be that lucky again this time round at the Den If Palace are as dominant. Millwall will have to work hard to cope with Palace’s attacking potency, yet good recent results against Portsmouth Doncaster and Bristol City have given the lions breathing space at the bottom of the Championship so there can be no doubt this will be a big battle. Palace will be desperate to make their superiority on the pitch this season count double at the Den to force one over their bitter local rivals on their own patch for the first time in a while because for supporters this is the most important game of the season outside of Brighton and this seasons League Cup run.
So the festive period continues at pace with games at Derby in the FA Cup and Leicester at Selhurst to come but now our attention shifts to the footballing festivities of New Year’s Eve and into 2012. A year on from the departure of George Burley and his last game as Palace boss at the Den on that miserable New Year’s Day 2011, Palace return looking to right some wrongs and in a much healthier state on and off the pitch. There can be no doubt Palace will be looking to record one last moral boosting three points in 2011 in a rivals backyard to assert their superiority at the Den a place yielding few rewards over recent years. Get ready for fireworks! Come On!!
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