What is happening to the atmosphere in Selhurst Park writes Danielle Lowe?
I thought everything I was hearing about it turning bitter was just a rumour related to the recent wintery weather but I witnessed it myself on Tuesday night against Aston Villa.
Before we even conceded, when we lost our initial moment, fans became tense and disappointed and a lack of hope washed across me. It was like we had given up before the game had even begun and it was a game we were supposed to push through and win.
I just could not believe what I was seeing. When did we become a club that takes ourselves so seriously? Where has our happy-go-lucky anything is possible attitude disappeared off to? It felt bitter and like a completely different club to the one I witness last year when we were losing.
The longer the game went on the more that people were screaming in anger (mainly at the fact Neil Warnock continues to leave substitutions too late for them to make a super-sub style impact) and people were leaving with ten minutes to go.
Pre-match I talked on Palace Radio about the atmosphere and the performance. It has become increasingly clear that players are following their own direction and guidance more and more. In the game last weekend against Swansea City there was something about the way Mile Jedinak scored and instead talked to his teammates on the way back to the centre half rather than celebrating. Something we have not witnessed him do for quite some time.
It is hard to know whether fans are angry at the players or at the management team. We know the players we have on the pitch can perform and work together and that they can succeed, yet this year they are struggling. Are they struggling because they lack the needed guidance and motivation or are they just being told to do things that they are not comfortable with?
I think it is clear there is something wrong. Chamakh has become increasingly agitated over the last month and his temper is becoming visible, especially when confronting the referee. There are certain players that need a firm hand pointed at them for them to perform at their best and I feel that Warnock is not providing that and instead the fans are having to try to enforce that strictness.
I am not saying that we performed badly over the last few games, because there are many positives for us to take. However, there really are things that I just do not understand and clearly fans do not understand either. Whatever it is that causes the atmosphere to drop faster than a lead balloon I think that fans need to look at themselves too.
Sure, we are struggling and yes of course we want to progress further in the league, especially after exceeding expectations last season but it takes time to get secured in the Premier League, to perform consistently and with that get to where we want to be. As nice as it is to dream of having the perfect second season and finding ourselves in the top six, we need to be realistic. As much as we bounce around the relegation places and narrowly avoid them we should remember we have been in some tight holes before and that we can bounce back.
We have players that whilst they need somebody being strict on the training ground and through the week, they need fans to get behind them and to motivate them. The drop in atmosphere is making a few players push harder and harder to succeed and do well but it is also making us give up and them make more mistakes because of it.
Sure we all want success. Sure we all want to achieve. Sure we all want amazing signings. Sure we all want everything to be perfect. We just need to be patient. We just need to keep hope. We just need to remember that anything is possible and that they are our club and we should motivate the players and the manager to do the best that they can.
We cannot let negativity overwhelm the club otherwise we risk becoming like so many other clubs in the Premier League, lifeless, passionless hubs where the silence is almost deafening. We need to keep the chants going, the dancing fiery and the flag waving fierce, not least because we cannot let our doubts take over the players concentration and determination but also because it is winter and Selhurst Park is possibly the coldest place I have ever been (especially at the front of the Arthur Wait last New Year when it was torrential rain).
It is the start of December. Do not write our club of yet. People did that last year and there was a miracle. If you have no faith in Warnock remember back to our promotion season when (to quote a radio colleague from Tuesday night) ‘we did not get promoted because of Ian Holloway, we got promoted in spite of Ian Holloway‘.
And to that end I tell you, we can stay in the Premier League not because of Neil Warnock but in spite of Neil Warnock. And why you may ask? Because our players are getting their act together, guiding themselves and others to focus on the task in hand and because they have the quality and maturity to pull together and ensure that as a team they do what the fans need them to do – win.
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