We are almost at the half way point of the current Premier League season and Palace have rarely featured in the bottom three places.
It is a far cry of our experience at this stage last season. We were a permanent fixture in the relegation zone until Tony Pulis arrived and worked some magic. Yes, it feels dirty typing that but regardless of what happened two days before this season started, you cannot argue that he along with his management team and players gave us something we could have only dreamed of. A mid-table finish in the top division.
Fans will always have something to say and in the modern age it is so much more instant. Just like it used to be down the pub after the game or the following week back in the day. In person, it is easy to argue a point or put your point across in a way that is conveyed with body language and facial expressions with no misunderstanding.
Discussion and interaction enhances the game of football. There will always be talking points, or at least until video technology is introduced by the powers that be but that is a completely different talking point.
The fans of clubs often think they know better. It is deemed irrelevent that managers and coaches have done the job for years and see how the players are faring in training day in day out. Fans watch their team in one or two games a week and they seem to know better. Or so they like to think, who am I to argue?
There is a common theme though in that some players are untouchable no matter what they do in a team while there are players that are always criticised by fans even though they have done very little wrong.
Palace have a few players that fit into each category, every club has. There are players that fans love to love and players that fans love to criticise. The problem is, where a player is doing a decent job the criticism continues in a blinkered fashion. There is little wrong with admitting a player has proved you wrong.
I have no qualms in admitting that it has happened to me. Take Maroune Chamakh for example. Before he joined the club I had no interest in him. The news that he was a potential signing irritated me. Wages for one was an issue in my mind, not that we could not afford one player on high wages but the view was two-fold. Pay one player a high wage, other players will wonder why they cannot be paid more. Discontent in the ranks could be encouraged.
The other point, and more importantly, was more about whether he was really the calibre of player that Palace needed. He flattered to deceive at Arsenal and was regularly criticised by both media and fans. My mind was changed the minute I saw him first play for Palace. He simply oozed quality and while it took a few games to get up to speed with the Palace way, it was clear that he would be a favourite. He grew even more when being groomed into the number ten role and my admiration for the player increased further.
Regular listeners of the EPL Roundtable podcast would have heard me gushing about him last season even though I narrowly lost out on a bet with a West Ham fan. One goal, just one goal would have got me an iPhone 5. I could forgive Chammers for that, he had performed way beyond my expectations, as had the rest of the team.
There has been plenty of chatter on social media this season around several of our players. There are the usual favourite topics of discussion – Gayle v Campbell, Puncheon v Zaha and Kelly v Mariappa. It will always be there between fans and discussion is healthy as I mentioned before as people will always see different things in different players.
It is very rare for any two players to be the same, all will have a slightly differing attribute to another. What matters is how it effects the team or more importantly, how it helps the team as that is the common goal that we all have. We want the current Crystal Palace team to be the best that can be.
The problem comes when you consider whether the best Palace team to take on Stoke City last weekend the same eleven that are best equipped to take on Manchester City next weekend? Probably not as the two opposing teams are completely different both in style and ability.
While Zaha looked to struggle against Stoke City, he may flourish against Manchester City. Dwight Gayle looked a little lost against Stoke when he came on as a substitute late on but he may be that outlet we need against City. Maybe Campbell starting the next game would work to soften up the back line for a spriteley Gayle to run at them in the last twenty minutes. Perhaps Delaney is better equipped to deal with the City attack rather than Hangeland. Who knows but everyone will have a valid opinion more often than not.
What I do know and what many fans often forget is that Warnock, Millen and company watch these players day in day out. They can see the form each player is in and they can sense when a player is perhaps down mentally for reasons outside of the game. Ninety minutes of football each week is nowhere near enough for a player to be judged.
Imagine that. Neil Warnock attending every Premier League game that Palace play throughout the season but does not go to training during the week. Instead, he allows Millen to take training along with his coaching staff but Warnock picks the team based on the performance in the previous game.
It just would not happen. While the discussion is healthy among fans, every player that is picked to pull on the red and blue shirt for each competitive game for the club is deemed to be the strongest available for that particular game and for the tactics.
Everyone is different. Everyone sees something different in all situations. We all support the same club and while there will be disagreements, we all have that one common goal. To want Palace to be the best that they can be.
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