Our weekly feature, The Eagle Speaks, is written by Paul Price who brings us his views on the recent goings on from Selhurst Park. You can get in touch with Paul on Twitter.
Another week gone and two games have already passed with it. Firstly Palace travelled down to Bristol City at Ashton Gate for a second round game of the League Cup. Ashton Gate has been a massive bogey ground for Palace for over thirty years. Although it would have been good to overturn this run of form, it was pleasing to see that Ian Holloway had rested the whole team that took on Stoke at the weekend and instead had chosen a very experimental “B” side to start. This side was full of decent Palace players and a fine mix of Academy players, new signings and players scraping for a place in the first team with something to prove. Surely they would want to shine, give the manager selection problems and stake their claim for a start against Sunderland?
The game was positive on a number of fronts despite the loss as it gave Holloway and the owners a good opportunity to see the depth in our squad. Unfortunately the performance appeared to show that our squad was lacking on a number of fronts and definitely ended up being a factor with the transfer window closing less than a week later. On the night, Bristol City played the better football and scored twice midway through the second half to seal their place in the next round. A very nice half-volley from Garvan very late on made the final score 2-1 to Brizzle.
The media reported it as a shock defeat but, with the chosen squad and a fair lack of match fitness and time together, it was no real shock at all. On the night and in retrospect, the game was a good test for some fringe players but it was probably good for our Premiership aspirations that we left the competition.
Moving on to the Palace Sunderland game in the late kick-off on Saturday, some fans at Palace were touting this as a “must win” game on social media. The truth of it was that it was a game that many actually felt that we could win but, with thirty-five Premier League games to go the “must win” tag was not relevant. The build-up to the game was yet again very exciting. The atmosphere before kick-off at Selhurst was electric and everybody hoped that it would be all three points in the bag and a climb up the table.
On the day itself, Palace were by far the best team by a country mile. Goal machine Gabbidon scored in the ninth minute following a slight deflection. Despite Palace outplaying Sunderland for long periods and having plenty of shots there was a real fear that all of this hard work could be punished as it was still only 1-0 and a number of our shots were not hitting the target. Fears grew more when in the 64th minute, a very well taken header from Fletcher was converted past Speroni. After this, Palace did incredibly well to re-group, keep their chins up and go and try and win the game. A defensive error from the very experienced O’Shea saw Gayle fouled in the box. Gayle converted the penalty in the 79th minute for his first Premiership goal for Palace. You have to admire the bravery of the young man for taking on the pressure of what could have been a crucial and winning goal in front of the Holmesdale. We all hope that this is the first Premiership goal of many for Dwight Gayle.
As we edged towards the full time minutes it felt as though we may win but would definitely get a draw however the 3 points were bagged deep into injury time when O’Keefe curled a great effort past the Sunderland keeper. It was an absolutely stunning effort that could not have been better placed as it dinked the cross-bar before nestling into the Stoke net. Shortly afterwards, the whistle blew for full time to rapturous celebrations from Olly, the team and the Palace faithful.
“It was a day that will live long in our memories during and beyond what is going to be a really hard season. Everybody in the team played their part in a great win with an assured performance from the whole Palace team and some real quality being shown.”
Chamakh’s class up front was a joy to watch. Gayle’s movement throughout the game was very impressive and the penalty was a massive bonus to get him off the mark. Jedinak was Jedinak and was involved and mixed up in everything either as part of a defensive unit or taking part in the attacks where possible, even with a couple of cheeky attempts on goal. KG did incredibly well in the centre of the park. The back four also played a massive part with a pretty solid performance from Delaney and Gabs with outstanding performances from Ward and Moxey. Puncheon showed some exciting quality. Campana some real class and Speroni solid even though he did not have too much to do.
It was great to see O’Keefe on the pitch as he was excellent at Wembley, deserved a crack in the Premiership and was rewarded with a great goal. Wilbraham did a job in holding up the ball further up the pitch to remove the pressure late on in the game. Joniesta was his usual energetic self and was unlucky to not have scored on the day with a couple of great chances but his goals will come.
The final tally was seventeen attempts on goal for Palace and ten for Sunderland. Palace had six on target to just two from Sunderland. These stats do not tell the full story at all. Palace played Sunderland off the park for massive parts of the game and we fans were able to witness some of the best attacking and controlled play from Palace that we have witnessed in quite a while.
The only disappointment on this great day for me was the poor punditry again on Match of the Day that evening. Too much focus was placed on the losing manager and not enough on Palace’s valiant efforts, Dwight Gayle’s career rise and goal and our general play, spirit and performance.
“The beautiful goal from Stuart O’Keefe would have been dissected to pieces by the MOTD team if Robin van Persie had scored it.”
This was a day to be very proud of being a Palace fan but, many felt that the programme did not get us the recognition and praise that we deserved when we only want a level playing field. On a positive note, the BBC seemed to have taken note of a number of disgruntled tweets from our fans as the analysis was much improved on MOTD2 with O’Keefe being awarded goal of the week by the panel. Holloway’s dancing even got a good showing which was great to watch.
Lastly, we have just witnessed an absolutely crazy transfer deadline day. In so many ways, it is great that it is over but would admit that the last day was quite exciting. With regards to signings, Palace have had a transfer window beyond our wildest dreams with plenty of new faces arriving.
“In no particular order – Chamakh, Gayle, Marange, Phillips, Dobbie, Puncheon, Campana, Thomas, Bannan, Kebe, Grandin, Mariappa, Hunt, Jerome, Geudioula & Alexander.”
On the flip-side, we have lost a few players too. At the time of writing it looks as though Dobbie, McCarthy and Garvan may be off. The one I am most disappointed about is Peter Ramage as he was more to many than just one of our players. It always felt a bit like he was one of us, played with passion and wore our shirt with pride. We can only wish him well for the future as unfortunately there is no real place for sentiment in this game anymore.
Final thoughts are that with so many coming in and a few going too, the balance of the dressing room will change fairly dramatically which is a shame in many ways but inevitable. Man management will be key to our success this season as the squad moulds and evolves. I do honestly feel that we have one of the best man managers in the business in the shape of Ian Holloway to blend it all together and get the best out of the team.
As a Palace fan you have to admire Olly, Steve Parish (CPFC2010) and the staff at our club for their hard work in this transfer window and we can only look forward to the season ahead. Many are still pinching themselves that we are in the Premier League as it still feels like a stolen bonus season in so many respects so let’s all enjoy the Palace roller-coaster and see where it takes us. We (as usual) need to make sure that we get behind the team, the manager, the club and board because it certainly feels that we are shaping up well and ready to give this Premiership lark a bloody good go.
