An eleven minute hat-trick by Yannick Bolasie stunned the Stadium of Light as Alan Pardew’s Palace turned on the style in an impressive second half performance.
Bolasie’s three goal salvo was the first for a Palace player in the Premier League. Nobody had achieved that feat before and not many thought it would have been the DR Congo international.
The second half performance was just sensational. The traveling fans were singing ‘it’s just like watching Brazil!’ I would not go quite that far just yet. Personally, it is the best football I have seen Palace play.
That is four wins on the bounce. We now have seven wins from eight away games played and to top it all off, Alan Pardew became the first Crystal Palace manager to win at Sunderland in the Premier League.
Yannick Bolasie
Three goals in five minutes completely derailed Sunderland. Newly appointed boss Dick Advocaat was shell shocked after their victory over bitter rivals Newcastle the previous weekend. Palace was a chance for another three points and another step towards safety.
What Sunderland and Sunderland fans forgot was that Palace are side that are very dangerous away from home. We seem to thrive in unfamiliar territory, sometimes it can be backs against the wall job, but other times we can dismantle teams with free flowing football. Or in the words of Palace TV host Chris Grierson ‘liquid football!’
We all know we have pace in abundance and now with Jason Puncheon dropping deeper we have that creativity. If Bolasie can add more goals to his game any team we come up against will have to make special plans because at the moment, we are that dangerous.
I have banged on about Bolasie on countless occasions here at TEB. With an end product he will become a top, top player.
We are very lucky to have a player of Bolasie’s ability at the club. This club of ours has a terrific association with flying wingers and it great to see our current batch of wide men terrorising full backs wherever they go.
The summer is looming and although there will expectation to see who will walk through the doors, it will also be a time where we will have to be wary of other clubs trying to poach our top talent.
I am under no illusions that some decent clubs will be after Bolasie’s signature. Let us just hope he continues his development here with us at Selhurst Park.
Return Of The Jedi
Mile Jedinak returned to the starting line up following his four game suspension for elbowing West Ham United’s Diafra Sakho.
Talk before the game was whether our influential captain was guaranteed an automatic starting place even though the squad has fared so admirably without him.
It brings up the debate that often does the rounds in football circles of if clubs should always start their best players regardless of form. Jedinak is one of our best players, we should not forget that.
Does he deserve special treatment because he is the captain?
We have seen it this year with Liverpool and the way Brendan Rodgers has handled Steven Gerrard. In the biggest game of Liverpool’s season their once influential captain did not start. What happened? Less than a minute later a red card is shown and Liverpool’s hope of a top four finish hang in the balance.
Personally, I felt Gerrard should have started that game and I know Liverpool were on a fantastic run of form but leaving him out was a mistake.
As for Jedinak, it will be a tough decision in future because if he is injured or suspended we know we have a squad that can cope without him as it did when he was on international duty at the Asian Cup. I acknowledge that with him in the side we are better team. It could certainly become a dilemma, but hopefully a welcome one for Pardew.
Souare versus Kelly
I would like to know what other fans feel about the situation that could arise next season. Who will fill our left back position?
Would you like to see Pape Souare occupy that position when fully fit or would you go with the tried and ever reliable Martin Kelly? It is a dilemma Pardew will face and I am intrigued to see who he will go with.
At the moment I would opt for Kelly. Since making his move from Liverpool he has been an almost constant fixture in the side. We must not forget that playing left back is not his preferred position as he is predominantly a right footed player.
You always know what you are going to get with the Liverpool lad, full on commitment. I still feel he will end playing as a centre back and a partnership with Scott Dann could be something we may see in future.
What about Souare? The Senegalese defender arrived from Lille in January and has not had too many opportunities to impress. He started the FA Cup tie against Liverpool and fared okay. Against Arsenal he gave away a penalty in the first ten minutes and when he started at the weekend he only lasted about half an hour due to injury. You could say he has been unlucky.
As of yet we have not seen the best of Souare. Whether he becomes a hit in the top flight remains to be seen, but a string of games would do him no harm at all.
Palace continue to go from strength to strength. We are back at home for our next two fixtures starting with West Bromwich Albion and the return of Tony Pulis to SE25. It is yet another chance to pick up three points and continue this upwards momentum and who better to do it against, the man that walked out on the club days before this season began.
That moment seems such a long time ago now.
