The Eagle Speaks

After a well deserved break, Paul Price returns with the latest edition of The Eagles Speak and shares his views on the recent fun of good form that Palace have been enjoying of late …

Two successive home games at Selhurst Park could not have ended better for Crystal Palace Football Club, Tony Pulis, the players and the fans.

On the 3^rd of December the players put in an excellent shift against West Ham with a positive, solid and stout performance against a very physical Hammers team.  Marouane Chamakh scored the winning goal with a glancing header from a Barry Bannan cross.  In retrospect it surely had to be Chamakh that took the glory after a very short and unsuccessful loan spell at West Ham.

Chamakh had just started to show some glimpses of his calibre in recent games but on this night he was winning tackles, chasing the ball like a man possessed and showing some real class.   Chamakh’s goal gave the Eagles all three points and Pulis his first win against a team that looked as though they may well also be in the mix at the end of the season based on their current form.

We also all know where they can stick their bubbles following their visit to Selhurst. Very funny!

Saturday 7^th December saw Palace welcoming Cardiff to Selhurst Park for a game that many hoped to get some points from.  This was expected to be a tough challenge against last year’s Championship winners that had spent pretty heavily in the summer.

The game started very quickly with Cardiff making Speroni work in the very first minutes with a close range save from a Fraizer Campbell attempt.  After this early scare they did not really threaten for the remainder of the game.  Cardiff did not play at all well during the match partly due to their own frailties but mainly because Palace were just excellent with one of the best performances we have seen for a long time on the hallowed SE25 turf.  Towards the end of the game I even heard the word “showboating” which is not often uttered these days on the terraces but raised a smile.  Cameron Jerome headed home with his first Palace goal on six minutes making for a very buoyant and noisy Selhurst Park.  Chamakh slotted home beautifully on ten minutes into the second half with a volley placed into the corner with the outside of his right foot.

These games and recent form seems to have lead to the footballing world suddenly taking notice, pundits starting to re-address their earlier comments and a feeling of optimism on twitter and around the club.

Pulis and his predecessor, Keith Millen, have done extremely well in the last five games with a well played out draw at Selhurst against high flying and impressive Everton, our first away win against Hull, a slim loss away to Norwich and the two home games mentioned above.   The end result is five games played, one goal conceded, four clean sheets, four goals scored and a team that looks as though it is capable at competing at this level with a bit of grit and fight about it.

We have often said that our team spirit would be key this season and we all felt concerned when it appeared to have completely vanished towards the beginning of the season.

Millen and Pulis appear to have bought a bit of the good old Palace spirit back to the dressing room and we appear to be reaping the rewards of this newly found (or regained!) togetherness.  Previously it was our old players from last year that were showing the traits that we all love and admire but in recent weeks have seen some of the new boys coming to the fore.

Chamakh has been excellent with his quality touch, composure, battling performances, distribution and of course goals.  Cameron Jerome has done a great job at leading the line with a well-deserved goal coupled with his pace, strength and presence in the front line.  The man is a tank and when he gets going he looks very difficult to stop.

Another player that has grown into the club is little Barry Bannan.  He has been everywhere in recent games, run his little legs off, tackled well and been the source of many of the quality crosses and free kicks that we have seen raining into the opposition penalty area.  I for one was very impressed with his performance again on Saturday and really pleased to see the standing ovation that he received to the tune of Barry Bannan (there’s no limit).  It really feels that the wee man has settled in brilliantly well, enjoying his football, the fans and life in SE25.  The goal away at Hull was a huge bonus for us as a club and a big confidence boost for the player.

The players above are now making for a heady mix of a Palace cocktail with the vastly improved Gabbidon and Delaney, the consistent Jedi, KG, Speroni, Moxey, Mariappa and Ward and we now  surely have a chance this season.  Puncheon even showed a bit more this weekend and his cross was headed home by Jerome.  If Puncheon properly comes to the table and with the quality we have on the bench then it is going to be very interesting indeed with additional players also coming back into the frame shortly.  It has to be said that wonder-boy Ward impressed beyond belief at the weekend with his seamless shift to left back following the injury to Dean Moxey.

Fingers crossed that Deano makes a swift and speedy recovery in readiness for the away trip to Stamford Bridge this weekend where we hope that our good fortunes may continue. 

My opinion is that we visit the Bridge at a pretty good time generally with a Chelsea defence already leaking more goals than they did in the whole season when Mourinho was previously in charge.  They will however be like an angry bees nest that has been hit with a stick following their defeat to Stoke this weekend and will be looking to hit back in style. Hopefully we can expect our two big forward lads to revel in the trip to Chelsea and for our newly stubborn defence to “park the bus” if needed.

The reason for our recent run of results and the word on the street is that Pulis is working the players really hard on their fitness, organisation and hard defensive training in Beckenham.  This appears to be allowing Palace to start to create their own style and identity to build upon going forward.  I know it is early days and some were worried about the Pulis brand of football but currently it is looking good, entertaining, exciting and effective.

This style is already paying dividends with the players looking more focused.  The style, set-up and recent results have also given the players a sense of belief too.

On the new set-up, training and Tony Pulis our very own Joel Ward was quoted as saying;

“We’re looking to hurt teams and to lock up and be solid.  If we keep clean sheets then we can go on to hopefully win the game. Our desire and our will to just see games out has made the difference. There’s a togetherness in the group, we’re all working harder for each other and going that extra yard. We’re working a lot in training on how to deal with different defensive scenarios. We’re learning and becoming more of a unit.”

Seems as though things are definitely heading in the right direction at Palace at the moment.  Our current form and words like this from the much admired talisman are what is needed to bring a bit of that spirit that we had last year.

Looking at Twitter over the weekend I was really impressed and pleased to see that Palace are currently fourth in the “form league” with Manchester United in a lowly position for them of mid-table and long may it continue.

I am not going to start to look at cheap hotels to stay at in Munich, Barca, Madrid, Paris or Amsterdam just yet but to finish this season in seventeenth or above would be an amazing achievement for all concerned and stick a sock in the mouths of the doubters.

We have a very hard battle ahead but we are doing just fine now  but we have a long way to go still. Anything can happen and we are seriously giving it a proper go so onwards and upwards for the next few games and the season ahead.

The final word must go out to the fans again on Saturday.  The noise and atmosphere has had a great deal of adulation from other fans and the media recently and it is amazing to be a part of that. 

The noise from the Lower Holmesdale was relentless on Saturday and the atmosphere up above in the Upper was also just excellent.  The Arthur Wait also played a massive part on Saturday in creating an electric and intimidating atmosphere. An atmosphere that is going to be a key part in us staying up this season.

The players comment, love and thrive on what the fans at Selhurst create as described by Pulis, Jedi and Browett in this week’s programme.  Let’s keep that cauldron boiling home and away and make Selhurst a proper fortress again as home form this season is massive.