Wilson Palacios - The Booking That WILL Shape Our Season

[contrast]

Sitting on 9 yellow cards, Wilson Palacios is one yellow off a two game suspension, as far as I understand? We can't kid ourselves, the guy probably has another 4 or 5 yellows in him before the end of the season, so the next one is bloody important. And it could be a factor that has a large impact on where we are at the end of the season. . . .

We all know that we have Arsenal or a Semi Final at Wembley followed by Chelsea and Manchester United. We NEED Palacios for those games, I believe more so than the league games against Portsmouth and Sunderland, so it seems to me, that thankfully we have him for the game against Stoke at their place, we need him too badly to play at Stoke in that type of game, but we need him to get booked in that game so he doesn't get booked in the games after and then either missing our Wembley experience or matches against Chelsea and Man Utd, and possibly against Arsenal!

The problem is then, that we don't have Palacios against Pompey and Sunderland, usually you would think, meh, we have the depth to deal with that scenario . . . . but at this moment in time, we don't.

Ideally Wilson won't get booked at all, but we can't kid ourselves, its the type of player he is.

All this, and I forgot to mention a little match against Fulham in the FA Cup aswell . . . .

Catch 22? Tactical booking time? What do you guys think?

[thfcire]

hes deffo not diving in as much latily and its made him a better player.the commentator said yesterday that arry says he only has to get to april 11th for them to be wiped???

[jUsT2eXy]

We discussed this yesterday in the match chat on the website while watching the game... People questioned me when I said Harry should let Wilson get the yellow...but when I said it was only a 2 match ban they said ... ok might as well...

Better to miss 2 'easy' games then the 3 games we have against the top teams right...

I say .. go break a leg Wilson... (not literally of course)

[THFC6061]

According to the Premier League's own figures, Wilson Palacios is only on eight yellow cards so far this season....

Official Site of the Premier League - Barclays Premier League News, Fixtures and Results | Statistics

...but it's commonly believed that he's actually on nine.

I think he should just play his natural game, regardless of picking-up an extra yellow card. If it comes, it comes.

He has been immense for us in the past few games and managed to avoid getting yellows recently.

The problem arises with who is able to replace him for those two suspended matches should he reach 10 yellows for the season, given that players like Lennon, Huddlestone, Bentley and Jenas are all currently missing from our midfield.

We have options in players like Gudjohnsen, Livermore and Kaboul but none of them offer the qualities that Wilson does. If we had Jamie O'Hara available, he would be as near perfect a replacement as possible.

[steelktm]

would it be 9 bookings since he also has one in the FA Cup or CC? typically those all are added up within the ban that he would get right? so if it is 2 match ban it would be the next 2 english games he has to sit so that to me would state that if he has 8 PL yellows then he must have 1 in the cup compitition somewhere.

[BigDub]

He has been much more careful, yet just as effective in these last few games. He hasn't even made any tackles that should have been booked but were just ignored by the ref or something. Hopefully that booking doesn't come. But when it does, lets just hope it isnt at the most crucial part of the schedule, also lets hope Tommy can get back soon.

[thfcshady27]

If/when it happens then the most important thing is that whoever comes in needs to step up to the plate and do a job for us....he will be missed but it's part and parcel of the game and we just need to get on with it!
As for a tactical booking well that's cheating in my eyes and a def no go ....play the game as it's meant to be played and deal with the consequences!

[Park Lane Yido]

he only has to get to april 11th for them to be wiped???

ROFL - so only April 11th then!!! Remember this is Wilson we are talking about not Gary Lineker!!

If it was two weeks he had to go until they are wiped then I would be a bit more happy. But this is nearly a month. There is no way that Wilson can go a month without one booking. It's not so much Wilson that worries me as he has improved, it's more the refs who will see him go in hard and wave a silly yellow card at him.

[mattyvw]

I can't believe we aint called jamie back from pompey I can't see any good reason for him still being there

[thfcire]

ROFL - so only April 11th then!!! Remember this is Wilson we are talking about not Gary Lineker!!

If it was two weeks he had to go until they are wiped then I would be a bit more happy. But this is nearly a month. There is no way that Wilson can go a month without one booking. It's not so much Wilson that worries me as he has improved, it's more the refs who will see him go in hard and wave a silly yellow card at him.

i did have a little chuckle when he said it,and i think the commentator did too ha ha.we just have to pray that we get someone back to cover him if {when} it does happen

[contrast]

I can't believe we aint called jamie back from pompey I can't see any good reason for him still being there

We can't call him back, we didn't add a clause in to call him back. How many more times do people have to say this?

[stroud_jm]

he did much better yesterday, timed his tackles very well and generally stayed on his feet in the middle of the park. The boy just has to play smart and not worry too much about the card, if he's playing hesitantly then we miss out on what makes him such an important part of the team in the first place. And as others have said, when he does get the caution, somebody will have to step up during the suspension. Fooked if I know who that would be, though.

[mattyvw]

We can't call him back, we didn't add a clause in to call him back. How many more times do people have to say this?

sorry mate my bad. bloody stupid admin mistake to do that thou

[steelktm]

yeah and that part kind of worried me too. i wished that once we got that 3rd goal that 'Arry would have thrown in like Livermore or whomever we would use for Wilson's cover when (because i'm am a realist and its a when not an if) he gets suspended. i know it would have only been 7 or 8 minutes but that is still valueable time in my mind that we could have gotten him in for some playing time.

[ctw01]

We"ve discussed this in another thread last week or so but anyway, it is a problem and one you cant choose when it should happen.
As you have stated, every game now is vital so the only chance we have is some of our injured players such as Hudd can get back to fitness and can fill in when required.
Willy will get booked for sure and when it happens we"ll just have to deal with it then and not before.