After a week’s break, Paul Price is back with another edition of The Eagle Speaks where he shares his views on the last two weeks at Palace …
I previously had an article ready for publishing after the Swansea game but decided to completely go back to the drawing board following our defeat away at Southampton. This article covers a bit of the Swansea and Southampton games but has been re-drafted as an article around perspective.
It seems like a long time ago now but the game against Swansea was a real welcome to the reality to the Premiership for Palace. Up until this point, we had competed pretty well and been unlucky not a grab a few more points here and there. Despite our lack of points, we could be relatively pleased with many aspects of our early performances. If being truly honest it felt as though we had done quite well given that we have a brand new squad, plenty of injuries, been on the wrong side of some controversial decisions and still had to cope with the immense challenges of the first tier in English football which was a brand new experience for many of the players.
When Swansea arrived at Selhurst Park, there was definitely an element of fear for the first time this season that we could be on the receiving end of a bad result. As it turned out, the result completely flattered us as we were played and passed off the park by a much better side with Swansea unlucky to only leave with only two goals. Our only outlet for much of the game was through direct balls punted into the box in hope that one of the forwards could get on the end of it.
These balls were too obvious, too long, too straight and ultimately the Jerome / Chamakh partnership did not work.
Moving on from that defeat and licking our wounds, we travelled down to the South Coast for the away game against Southampton. Again we were on the end of a two nil defeat but this was different from the Swansea game. We were actually in the game in the first half but some naïve defending yet again cost us dear for the first goal which was well taken by Osvaldo. The later free kick from Lambert should never have cleared by the wall and watching the highlights it is very easy to see that Gabbion did the unspeakable for a centre back and ducked under the ball with the entire wall not even making the effort to jump. This of course resulted in a gaping goal and a very exposed Speroni.
Having reviewed the highlights, it was also clearly obvious that Chamakh dived when he could have tried the shot. This was very frustrating as if he had scored we may not have been talking about another defeat. The game would have surely changed with Southampton having to chase and take more risk which could have played into our hands and pace. After the whole Ashley Young debacle, it is hoped that Chamakh gets hauled over the coals for his behaviour. As well as being completely unacceptable, it also entirely undermined the words of Parish and Holloway in recent interviews on the subject of diving.
The main and over-riding issue coming out of these 2 games appears to be around team spirit, togetherness and never say die attitude that we witnessed in the Championship last year. These attributes were always going to be amongst our strongest weapons in order to survive in the Premiership this season.
As per my article in the middle of June this year, this was something that I feared could be an issue as we moved into the Premiership, adding new players to the squad and the loss of fan and dressing room favourites to other clubs.
As well as the perception around team spirit witnessed in the past two games, we haven’t shown any composure on the ball, we have looked ragged, we have shown little attacking intention, been too narrow, often had no out-ball to attack (especially via the wings) and our passing has been poor in critical areas of the park which has been a major factor in our current demise this season. We have too often conceded after giving the ball away deep into our own half which you just cannot do at this level without being punished. This is not massive negative criticism but is actually the harsh reality of the short-falls in our recent performances that need to be addressed and urgently.
These recent results caused some fans to take to Twitter with the usual crap that you would perhaps expect from fans of Arsenal or Manchester United when they have lost a few and their clubs are “in crisis.” It appears on the surface that some people only want to support this club when we are doing well with the usual “Holloway Out” brigade re-surfacing.
You have to wonder if some of these people were the same ones that were lauding up our victories, game-plans and performances against Brighton and Watford at Wembley last season when Twitter was devoid of any critical comments for Holloway and the team that played in those games.
This club is and always has been about taking the rough with the smooth and accepting that there is a great deal more rough to deal with most of the time. It is about supporting Palace through the good times and the bad times because we love the club, it is a local club for many and because we fans have chosen the right road in life by not supporting some team that are 200 miles away and top of the league just because it is fashionable or because we can revel in the simulated glory.
Returning back to an earlier point, perhaps the only valid current complaints should be around a lack of heart and spirit that seems to be crept in on the field in the last couple of games as this seems to cause upset to most fans. We are all probably guilty for a few expletives and some moaning at times about passion and pride at wearing the shirt during the actual game and, in many respects this is part and parcel of the experience and being caught up in the passion and atmosphere. However, some of the tweets that were published at the weekend simply beggar belief.
This season was always going to be incredibly hard with whatever squad we could muster on our budget, it was going to be hugely challenging with the constant barrage of negativity from the media and a very hard journey with the heavy “underdog” tag worn around our necks even more so this season. What the club, team and certainly players don’t need is negativity and abuse from the fans indirectly and especially directly. This is not welcome, not constructive, unacceptable and not common and decent behaviour. It is also something that is not tolerated in most other life situations so why do some people think that this is okay for Palace players?
With regards to Holloway himself, perhaps we should have indeed strengthened the team more in defence during the transfer window and perhaps we should be playing with a formation to get the ball out wide more often and to create the chances as was the case when we had Zaha and Bolassie in the team each week. Although these are lessons to be learned and areas for improvement, there is only so much the manager can do to get the boys in the right mind-set for the game.
If it is about passion then I cannot honestly see any better man for the job than Holloway as he has passion in abundance.
From a game strategy and tactics angle our formations and team selections at times have looked a bit suspect and it is becoming very obvious that we cannot continue to go into every game trying to stifle the opposition, challenge for the ball and then play ourselves out of trouble and onto victory as we simply do not have this quality and composure at this level. With the return of some key players to the squad, maybe we will witness more open and expansive play from the team in future games and more willingness to get the ball forward on the floor and take the game to some teams.
We are now six games down and have only managed to secure three points from eighteen available. Although this does not make great reading, it is hard to fathom what some fans actually expect from the past results considering the stature of some of the established Premiership teams we have played. We next travel to Anfield for a hugely difficult game against Liverpool. You can guarantee that the vast majority of fans will be behind the club no matter what the outcome is so, here’s hoping that a little more perspective can be applied from the few.
Whatever happens in the next game or the remaining games to come, we need to take stock and remember that this club has come a long way in a very short time. It is a club in transition and not the finished article but the foundations are there for improvements on and off the field for the future. The transition itself may take many years to accomplish so patience is indeed going to be a key virtue for all involved in the club. I think that I would much rather be in our current position with Holloway at the helm, £120m in our pockets and with an evolving squad than down in the basement of the Championship with no money to spend, results going against us and Gr££dman in charge of our destiny #justsaying.
