Smith has to stop hauling opposition players down

I can't quite understand why Adam Smith is being caught out of position quite so many times during matches at the moment. I know he likes to push on, as does Daniels, but he is risking getting sent off when he chases back only to use his strength in his arms to stop an opponent from getting a shot away. It happened again at Crystal Palace when he hauled back Wilfred Zaha and on another day he could have seen red.

Adam Smith (Smudge). 

Sadly, Smith has a habit of giving away needless free kicks in his attempts to 'take one for the team'. He did it against West Ham's Michail Antonio and the consequences of that were clearly seen when the Hammers were able to level with some precision free kick taking from Mr Payet. Luckily Palace were not so accurate in front of goal and Artur Boruc put in one of his outstanding games, so AFCB got away with Adam Smith's frantic attempts to thwart Palace strikers this time. In Smith's defence though he is the only player who played a full 90 minutes at Portsmouth before doing the same at Crystal Palace, so that was likely to have caught up with him at the end of the game.

It is always a difficult decision on whether to take down a player or not and in the rules of the game it is not supposed to enter your head, but it does when you can see them about to take aim. I though Harry Arter was much more controlled in his weighing up of the situation in the first half when a Palace player did battle with him for some 20 yards but, when Arter was behind him in the box, he refrained from making a lunge from behind which would have led to a penalty and probably a sending off.

I might be being over sensitive, but AFCB's record at defending set pieces is the worst in the league so it does not help when the team gives so many opportunities away for the free kick specialists to win the game. This was a game that AFCB can smile about, but they can't afford to do that against Arsenal - I' watching you Smudge!