IN HIS latest column, Crystal Palace fan Alisdair Kemp has a few words of advice for Thomas Ince...
THOMAS Ince has been a little outspoken to say the least since joining Crystal Palace on loan in January.
While for journalists a player of his candour is undoubtedly a welcome break from the monotony of "they're a great team" and "we'll go there looking for three points", perhaps such forthrightness might be better reserved for when he has established himself as a Premier League player.
Casting himself as quite the young upstart, Ince spoke frankly about how the Swansea defence wouldn't be able to handle the likes of Cameron Jerome, Glenn Murray, Yannick Bolasie and himself.
Of course, Ince's prediction proved correct as the second half on Sunday saw Swansea struggle to cope with the intensity, work-rate and athleticism of the Palace attack. However, I'm a firm believer in letting one's football do the talking.
Garry Monk need only have pinned Ince's quotes to the dressing room wall to have motivated his players pre-match.
It's always difficult to understand why certain players take it upon themselves to do the opposition manager's team talk on their behalf.
There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and until Ince has put together a string of convincing performances at this level, I just feel he would be better advised to tone it down a little so as to avoid intensifying the considerable spotlight already burdening him.
He clearly has the ability but so far he has only managed to turn in one half-decent performance in three appearances.
On another note, it's disappointing to see the majority of match reports focusing on the dubiousness of Glenn Murray's penalty and not giving the inspired second half performance from Eagles the credit that it deserves.
The response to an insipid first half demonstrated the sort of character that will prove pivotal if we are to avoid relegation.
The intensity of the pressure applied to Swansea higher up the pitch culminated in Chico Flores felling Murray when the frontman was presented with an open goal.
The penalty was, in fact, not dubious at all. The foul was clearly outside the area. However, given that Murray would almost certainly have rolled the ball into an empty net were it not for Flores' intervention, whether the foul was inside or outside is really immaterial. Swansea can have no complaints.
To conclude, I'd just like to reiterate the sentiment of my first article from a fortnight ago, in which I argued that dropping Danny Gabbidon for Scott Dann seemed harsh and could lead to a new host of defensive problems.
Once again against Swansea, Dann's lack of pace was exposed, particularly in the first half as we seemed to play a puzzlingly high line.
This was compounded by Dann's propensity to try to attack or intercept the ball: a particular problem given that should he miss, he has little hope of recovering his position.
Indeed, a failed attempt at an interception led to the big defender being dragged out of position, allowing Jonathan de Guzman the space to score.
