Palace NEED you.

What a week it has been for Watford strikers Heidar Helguson and Danny Graham. Not only did they help the Hornets to a 3-0 victory against Scunthorpe, but the duo also made major strides in the Actim Index. Helguson`s brace earned him the highest score of the week – 52 points – and moved him up 116 places to 184th overall, while Graham posted the third highest score for a striker, with his 39 points moving him up two places to sit third in the rankings.

Kevin Nolan is trying his best to single-handedly get Newcastle back into the Premier League at the first time of asking. The former Bolton midfielder scored his ninth goal of the season in Monday`s 1-0 win at Preston - not the first time his goals have proved crucial for the Magpies. His decisive strike against North End helped him to 40 points – the second best for a midfielder this week – and kept him at the top of the Actim Index.

Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson moved into second place overall with a score of 16 points for the week, while Cardiff schemer Peter Whittingham dropped to fourth and Bristol City striker Nicky Maynard slipped to fifth place in the Actim rankings.

Darren Ambrose is enjoying his best season in years with Crystal Palace, and as a result is making steady progress up the Actim Index standings. Ambrose scored his 11th goal of an electric campaign to help the Eagles take a point against Coventry, but that strike was his fifth in as many matches. He earned 38 points for the week and moved up 19 places to break into the top 20 at 19th.

Dean Shiels` impressive form continued last weekend as he scored his fourth goal in five games to help Doncaster to a 2-0 win against QPR. The Northern Ireland international`s display earned him 48 points and a place alongside Watford`s Helguson in the Team of the Week attack.

Mark Bunn (23 points), who saved a penalty in Sheffield United`s 1-0 win at home to Peterborough, is the goalkeeper in the Team of the Week, while his Blades team-mate Chris Morgan (28) is in defence alongside Swansea`s Federico Bessone (39), Carl Dickinson of Barnsley (34) and Tommy Spurr of Sheffield Wednesday (25 points). West Brom`s Chris Brunt posted the highest score of the weekend for a midfielder – 47 – and he is joined in the Team of the Week by Nolan, Ambrose and Reading`s Jobi McAnuff (36 points). Helguson and Shiels form the strike partnership.

View the latest Actim Index >

It’s the 1970’s all over again across the pond. The name of the new breakaway second division in US professional football has been announced as the North American Soccer League (NASL) and Crystal Palace Baltimore are founder members.

If the name NASL means nothing to you, then try the New York Cosmos. This was the team that Pele played for back in the day. Funded by lots of lovely Warner Brothers money, the Cosmos dominated the sporting horizon in the US and attracted full houses at Giants Stadium. For a few precious years Football was a mainstream sport in America. Needless to say the League that the Cosmos played in (NASL) got carried away and issued expansion licences like so much fools gold. NASL became the place to go for fading superstars of the global game. George Best, Franz Beckenbauer, Rodney Marsh and other too numerous crossed the Atlantic to cash in. Steve Kember played for Vancouver Whitecaps (In this instance Canada is the same place as the US).

Inevitably the fad wore off, Warner sold off the Cosmos, the megastars got too old and the steady trickle of less old megastars couldn’t be bothered to make the trip. Eventually the whole thing petered out and died. However, the league left a lasting legacy and many people attribute the influence of the NASL to the upsurge in soccer as a participatory sport in the

The name NASL still resonates among the American public (and around the world too) and the new US Second Division have set themselves up under the same name. Their are echoes of the old league with Whitecaps lining up briefly before joining the MLS. Rodney Marsh used to be a player for the Tampa Bay Rowdies back in the 70’s. The club have reformed and issued a licence for the new league.

As far as I’m aware, the NASL starts next year (although there’s a degree of horsetrading to be done before that’s confirmed). The move for Palace represents an effective promotion as they were playing in USL 2 (the official third division) last season. So there is something for Palace fans to celebrate.

If you want to learn more about the old NASL then head over to its Wikipedia page. The best way to learn more about the New York Cosmos check out the brilliant 2006 Once In A Lifetime film. Crystal Palace Baltimore’s official site is here. And these websites are a good source of news about football in North America.

Coventry City 1-1 Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace’s players and fans were left frustrated by a 1-1 draw against out of form Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena, with the Eagles failing to make the most of a first-half dominance which should have seen more goals.

An all-too-familiar tale of missed chances hit Palace again, with the club’s strikers once more being shown up by Charlton reject and instant Palace hero Darren Ambrose, who scored midway through the first half. It was the midfielder’s 9th goal in 17 games for the club.

Despite having a number of additional chances before half-time, Palace struggled to deal with Coventry’s more purposeful approach to the second half and quickly allowed the Sky Blues back into the game, with former Southampton striker Leon Best nipping in and equalise.

Neil Warnock felt that Coventry would not have been as motivated had his players put them to the sword a little more.

He told the BBC: ”"If we had gone in 2-0 up I don’t think they would have come back from that.

“”I am pleased with a point. I felt we should have had a penalty in the first half.”

Palace have a visit from Watford to look forward to next weekend.

That title may be a little extreme considering Ipswich Town fans have been putting up (from what I understand) with decent performances, but not the results to match, all season, whereas we’ve been putting up with some distinctly mediocre performances, but (slightly) better results. Well, today I have absolutely no idea how we didn’t win. True, Kieran Westwood made 2 outstanding saves, but how on earth did the ball not go into Palace’s net more than once? The first half was poor, yet again, and Palace’s opener really reminded me of Derby’s opener, except for even worse. Cross in, no idea what Barnett was doing, heading it straight back to the winger, who squares it for Ambrose to slot home. The way it reminded me of Derby was that again, a midfielder drifted off his man, let him run and he was unmarked to put it in the net.

Although the first half was a poor performance going forward, the Sky Blues looked slightly more assured at the back than recent games, with new signing Wood looking good (and quick, at last a quick defender) at the back, and Barnett looking alright…nothing special, certainly not worth £2.5 million. Looked a better partnership than Turner and Ward, however. Van Aanholt was good all game in my opinion, but despite the defensive improvements, a need for Westwood to stay was shown when he pulled off a superb reaction save to push a header around the post. We didn’t offer too much in the first half, but we were still very much in it.

The half time pie was very much needed, man alive it was cold today, but I felt more upbeat than I have in recent matches. Probably ’cause some guy won £100 on the kick for cash (congratulations), scoring from further away than Eastwood can. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEfb4_FbxMU , Eastwood’s effort is awful) Anyway, that optimism was…rewarded? when Best nodded home superbly from some nice work by “Twinkle-toes” McIndoe, who was much improved in the second half, along with the rest of the side.

We really did dominate. We really, really did. Palace almost put the ball in their own net, had a couple of shots go just wide…no idea how Morrison’s deflected effort didn’t spin in, Bell (I think) completely mishit a volley, but then again, we had Westwood to thank for another absolutely fantastic save, low down to his right to keep us level.

Chris Coleman’s tactics must come under some scrutiny, after he made his first substitution with 15 seconds left. However, in his defence, Madine (who came on for Morrison) did win a header and Coventry should have had a corner, but the referee bizzarely blew for full time.

Ah well. Not a bad performance overall, excellent second half, disappointing first; but then what do you expect from the City?

Ratings

Westwood – Man of the Match – 8 – two superb saves.

Best – 7 – another good goal, looked busy all afternoon.

Wood – 7 – probably looked better than he is after the last few defensive performances from Turner.

Mcindoe + Bell – 6 – looked good second half.

Cork – 6 – decent performance.

Keep the faith.

Play up Sky Blues.

Crystal Palace’s North American sister team, Palace USA, have announced that they are joining a break-away league, kicking off in April 2010, according to a press release on their official website.

CPFC Baltimore, formed in 2007, have been playing in the United Soccer Leagues Second Division with limited success and little financial incentive. With soccer’s growth in popularity in recent years, the club feel that the newly formed league will provide a more competitive, financially rewarding competition.

Highlights from Palace’s official statement include:

Crystal Palace Baltimore is [sic] pleased to announce that they, along with The Tampa Bay Rowdies, have joined the new professional soccer league announced last week, beginning play in the United States and Canada in April 2010. The addition of Baltimore and Tampa Bay brings the new league to nine teams, as they join the owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United and Vancouver Whitecaps.

“A name for the new league will be announced next week. The new league is also active in its search for a full-time commissioner and will introduce an extensive marketing campaign in the coming months.

“Tampa and Baltimore joining our efforts is a testament to our game plan, our current ownership strength and our promise for the future. The ownership groups of both teams share our vision for soccer in North America and we are thrilled to welcome them to our new league,” said Joey Saputo, Chairman of the Board of Governors and President of the Montreal Impact.

With the idea of a breakaway league being aired in the UK in the form of a second Premier League division, we might well see Simon Jordan pushing for such a move in the future.

‘Ello all.

Well, the Internationals are finally over, probably for about another week, and we can get back to watching the Sky Blues battle for points. Just think, next season, on current form, there’s a good chance International breaks won’t affect us. Let’s also hope that injuries don’t affect us so much in the coming weeks.

Obviously the Sky Blues have suffered a serious injury crisis in recent weeks, and unsurprisingly given the small size of our squad, we’ve been hit badly; four defeats in five games, with at least three of those games being very, very winnable. According to the website, we’ve had 10 first team players out. Owch.

However, we’ve signed Wood at last, and hopefully he’ll provide us with a bit more defensive assurity. The defending vs Derby still makes me cringe, simply awful stuff. Our attacking hasn’t been great either, and against Derby we showed very little intent.

Still, Palace are a beatable side. It’s an important time for us at the moment, we’ve got a run of games from which we can pick up some serious points, which could be vital come the end of the season if our form continues to be so patchy; against teams like Peterborough, who, jokes aside, we could be challenging with to stay up at the end of the season, we have to win. I hate to be so pessimistic, but it’s hard not to be after the last five games.

Enjoy the game if you’re going tommorow.

My team choice

GK: Dimi (Westwood injured apparently).

Defence: (Right) Clarke – Wood (if eligible) – Ward (if fit) – Hussey (left)

Midfield: (Right) McIndoe – Gunnarson – Eastwood (left)

Strike force: Madine – Best – Morrison.

I’d go for 3 up front, solely because after four defeats in five, we need to be positive. Let’s face it, we aren’t gonna get any worse.

Enjoy the game.

Keep the faith.

Hopkin: He cheats, we score.

Sunday 6th May 2001, Edgeley Park. Crystal Palace are in the drop zone and need a win at Stockport County and hope things go their way elsewhere or they will be relegated.

With the sands of time running out the score is 0-0 and Palace are on the defensive. A poor defensive header sends to ball up into the air and destined to land on the head of a Stockport player just inside the area. Knowing that a County goal will mean doom for himself and his team, midfielder David Hopkin does the only thing left to do: He cheats.

With all the grace of a ginger Michael Jordan, Hopkin  hurls himself in the air, reaches out to the ball and tips it over the head of the attacking player. The subsequent clearance result in Dougie Freedman’s now legendary shimmy and strike that gives Palace their slender lead and ultimately saves them from the drop.

Stockport were furious and rightly appealed to the referee for hand ball. Huddersfield Town were relegated and have not played at that level since. If video evidence had existed back then the home side could have made a successfull challenge and the goal, in all likelihood, would have been disallowed relegating Palace instead.

So who is still in favour of video evidence?

Let’s face it, we all love Attilio Lombardo.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I want his babies.  And all this despite him playing under 50 games for Palace.  The following video from a charity match between Sampdoria and Genoa earlier this year shows the legend hasn’t lost anything.

Samp delightfully described The Bald Eagle’s goal as: “…a large torpedo power and accuracy that goes to the pole sausages sloping away.” Tasty.

Wow.

I am a closet glutton, please help.

I’ve been walking by Numidie for awhile now and only recently stepped in when I saw rouille (and fish soup) on the window menu.  Well actually it was fish soup with rouille but I didnt really notice the soup bit because  I have a sort of crack-like addiction to rouille.  It could have said rouille and 3 day old pizza or rouille and toast., I wouldn’t have cared.

Numidie is on Westow Hill in Crystal Palace and serves French/N.African cuisine.  The place looks nice it has three little art-deco chandeliers, little wooden tables and chairs, and a cool retro-French decor. And best yet there’s a little basement bar too!  Well the basement bar is only part of the best bit…the actual best bit is that three courses is only £14 and nothing on the wine list was more than £40?!

So, they have rouille, the menu and wine list are both excellent value and there’s a cool bar in the basement…PLEASE GOD make the food good!  Well to make a long story short — the food wasn’t good.

le menu

The food was SUPERB! In fact I have since found out that this little bistro is quite famous and has a very dedicated and loyal following.

The fish soup and rouille was very nice, I asked for extra rouille to put on the home-made foccacia-like bread.  For mains I had a roast chicken (always a test for restaurants) with Algerian dumplings and a chickpea sauce. It too was very good.
M, my dining partner enjoyed salade Numidie (say it with a French accent) as a starter – salad leaves mixed with an array of brightly coloured roasted red peppers, houmous and probably the best falafel I’ve ever tried.  For her main M had Couscous Royale with merguez, roast chicken and lamb (I secretly wanted her main) – the portion was huge and like everything else we had, excellent.

I opted out of dessert which was a tarte au chocolate but once taking a nibble of M’s decided it was too good to share, and promptly ordered another (this is the glutton bit, btw)

louis with the rouille

All in all a great experience and the bill came to under £50.  I have vowed not to frequent any more famous chef restaurants, offering little more than a bloated cheque after the meal.  To find such a welcoming, great value and excellent little place only 5 minutes from where I live, was a great surprise and pleasure. I will be most definitely going back.

Oh and nearly forgot, they gave us each a glass of pear digestif after our meals – loved it!

Numidie Bistro – 48 Westow Hill – Crystal Palace – SE19 1PX – tel: 020 8766 6166

Wine I recently tried

If you read imbibe magazine you will see I have a story about Zinfandel in the current issue.  Zin is one of my favourite grapes, that is, if it is made correctly.  Too many times it can be over-ripe, too tannic, sweet – in fact, it can be everything I hate about wine.  But when it is good, I can’t get enough of the stuff.
Sadly, like most things wine and American all the good things come with a price.  Plus with the added bonus in the UK very few California wines – and I’m talking around ten – are good and readily available.

That’s where Ravenswood steps in, Joel Peterson – founder and winemaker – is very well-known for his motto of “no wimpy wines” and this stands true to all that he makes.  Admittedly I am not a fan of all the wines in Ravenswood’s range, but one of my favourite is the Vintners Blend 2006 … for an entry-level, zin-introduction (I refuse to use zin puns) this wine is perfect. So,  I was happy to try it out (again) for the people at Constellation.

very good zin

On the nose there’s loads of dark berry fruit, ripe black-cherries, while on the palate it’s a mouthful of dark black berries, bramble, licorice and a nice cranberry tartness on the finish.  It’s costs £7.99 (Waitrose, Tesco & Spar) and for an entry-level Zin (in fact for a wine in general) it is good value.

By the way I had it with some homemade steak nachos, fresh salsa and guacamole, it was perfect.

]]> http://redandblueblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/palace-does-social-media/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:20:14 +0000 Terry Duffelen http://redandblueblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/palace-does-social-media/

I’m all about the social networking. I love Twitter and love it that Palace are getting involved in the joy of 140 characters. They seem to have got their heads round the notion that an effective social networker build relationships by conversing and sharing.

So when I replied to a tweet of theirs in mildy critical fashion after they tweeted a weblink, they replied with an explanation.  Then when they posted the below video of first team action I was even more delighted. Good social networkers share content and it’s great the Palace are taking a progressive (and reassuringly low budget) approach to social media. Now if they could just spend less time advertising paid for services and more time showing the actual content they say they’re showing, I’ll be as happy as a pig in shit.

While I intend to write some posts of substance, I also plan to post a load of stuff I find from Youtube, plus a bunch of fleeting memories or anything else Crystal Palace related that springs to mind. In that spirit I present the first in an all too frequent series of Bleak Moments In Palace History. These entries will be timed to coincide with upcoming fixtures.

The first BMIPH features a classic moment against this weekend’s opponents Coventry City. None other than Stantiongate. A match that needs little introduction to hard-core Palace fans. At Highfield Road, Jerry Murphy wins a free kick, Clive Allen takes the spot kick and scores… or does he?

The incident lead to a change in the rules with regards to goal constriction. However, it pretty much summed up our luck that season. We were relegated to Division 2. One additional curiosity: If you ever decide to have a look at this clip you’ll also discover a rare mangled pronunciation of the word stantion.

Us Eagles are usually left with little to get excited about during international weekends. It’s not that Palace players don’t get call-ups, it’s just that it’s all a little boring.

However, with the news that Kieron Djilali had signed on-loan for Chesterfield in time for their fixture at Rochdale–in addition to both Daryl Flahavan and Lee Hills signing for Oldham Athletic last weekend–there was suddenly a little more action to focus on as far as the weekend’s lower-league fixtures were concerned.

Djilali featured brightly in Chesterfield’s 3-2 win, with the general consensus being that he created chances and looked lively. Unfortunately, Hills and Flahavan could do little to prevent their side from losing to Gillingham 1-0.

Palace fans might be pleased/surprised/unimpressed to hear that former Palace players Gregg Berhalter and Jovan Kirovski helped put their LA Galaxy side into the MLS Cup Final with a 2-0 win over Houston Dynamo. Berhalter–whose most famous appearance for Palace came in the 1-0 win against Stockport back in 2001, put the Galaxy a goal up from a chipped David Beckham free-kick in the first half of extra-time.

The Galaxy went on to score a second from a  Landon Donovan penalty, and will now face either Real Salt Lake or Chicago Fire in the final at Seattle’s Qwest Field on the 22nd of November.

In more positive/negative/laughable news, former Palace youngster and turncoat John Bostock signed for Brentford FC on a one-month loan, scoring two goals on his debut against Palace rivals Millwall.

Bostock, who referenced the bible to justify his move to Spurs when he said, “you should put a light on the table so it can shine, not hidden under a bushel where it cannot be seen,” will no doubt be disappointed to find that the bushel he was once under at Palace was so suddenly replaced by Brentford’s rusty old bucket.

There is little doubt that the youngster would have featured heavily for Palace had he not listened to the negative influences that surrounded him at the time of his move.

Crystal Palace loanee Freddie Sears is desperate to extend his stay at Selhurst Park

Darren Pratley was the toast of Swansea after his match-winning double in the South Wales against Cardiff last weekend. The former Fulham midfielder showed why Swans boss Paul Sousa rates his so highly, opening his goalscoring account for the season with two clinical finishes and scoring 53 points in the Actim Championship Index in the process. The Londoner has only made seven appearances for the in-form Swans due to injury, but he looked to be getting back to his best as the Bluebirds’ wings were clipped by a Swansea side who are unbeaten in 10 Championship games. Pratley’s exploits ensured he moved up a whopping 112 places in the Actim Index and although he is way down in 194th place overall, the combative midfielder is certainly one to watch.

Blackpool defender Alex Baptiste was a major mover in the Actim Index as the Tangerines thrashed Scunthorpe 4-1 to move up to fifth in the Championship table. Boss Ian Holloway put his faith in Baptiste to be a rock at the heart of his defence and the big centre-half has not let him down.The former Mansfield man scored his third goal of the season against the Iron and bagged 45 points for the week to move up 21 places to 16th in the Index. As well as chipping in with a few goals, the 23-year-old has been solid at the back, winning 52 tackles and making 21 interceptions. Baptiste was joined in the Actim team of the week by team-mates Ian Evatt and Charlie Adam, who were also on the scoresheet against Nigel Adkins’ side.

Rob Hulse was Derby’s hero as they secured a much-needed victory against Coventry on Friday night and the striker matched Baptiste’s tally of 45 Actim points for the week. The former Sheffield United frontman produced two clinical finishes as the Rams came from behind to beat Chris Coleman’s side and it would be no surprise to see him shoot up the Actim Index. Hulse has been one of a host of Derby players in the treatment room this season, but he looked to be nearing full fitness against the Sky Blues and his 45-point haul was his biggest of the season. The other striker included in the Actim team of the week was Rory Fallon after his striker gave Plymouth a 2-1 win over Doncaster which moved them out of the bottom three. The former Swansea man moved up 64 places to 107th in the Index after registering 36 points for Paul Sturrock’s Pilgrims.

Kevin Nolan still leads the way in the Actim Championship Index after playing his part in Newcastle’s 3-1 win over Peterborough. The former Bolton man is 31 points ahead of Cardiff midfielder Peter Whittingham after adding another 19 points to make his overall tally 335 points. Nolan has seven goals and three assists to his name this season and has completed 180 passes for the Championship leaders. QPR’s flying winger Wayne Routledge is a new addition to the top 10 in the Index, moving up five places to seventh. Routledge has more assists than any other player in the Championship, setting up eight goals for Jim Magilton’s side.

Newcastle’s Steve Harper remains the leading goalkeeper in the Actim Championship Index. The 34-year-old Magpies custodian has made 81 saves for Chris Hughton’s side and he moved up one place this week to 13th place. Scott Carson is the next highest keeper but the West Brom number one is 15 places and 21 points behind Harper. But it was Crystal Palace keeper Julian Speroni who made the team of the week after another impressive display in the 1-0 win over Middlesbrough. The Argentine was recently hailed by Palace boss Neil Warnock as the best keeper in the country and he was once against outstanding against Boro. Speroni is 58th in the Index and moved up 44 places this week after picking up 24 points against Gordon Strachan’s side.

Jay Simpson is a striker in form at the moment and the on-loan QPR man is making strides in the Championship Index. The Arsenal youngster has scored four goals in his last six games for Rangers and was on target in the 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday. Simpson escalated 26 places in the Index to 27th following his performance against the Owls and scored 31 points at Hillsborough. He has now notched seven goals for the Hoops and is developing into a key performer for the Londoners, who look to be a good bet for a play-off place.

View the latest Actim Index >