There’s something special brewing in the little world of Crystal Palace. I write this just as our starting 11 is released before our opening fixture at Carrow Road, away to Norwich. Looking through the names, just as Jeff and the boys are analysing it similarly on Soccer Saturday, you can see a real difference, the bench. Our team arguably, has been strong for the last two seasons, but the bench has always let us down. This time though, there’s a difference, with names like Wickham, Gayle & Bolasie there it really is a marked improvement over the past two seasons. We really do have strength throughout the squad, something I don’t think I have ever said about Palace in my lifetime.
There are muffled murmurs on social media that because Bolasie isn’t starting, he’s off to a bigger club, seemingly Spurs with a rumoured £25m bid in the pipeline. I think that’s absolute nonsense, what with Yala having seen the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Wilfried Zaha’s big move away. The lad has his head screwed on right and can see that at Palace, he is given opportunities to improve week in week out, something you could say a bigger club cannot guarantee him.
Yohan Cabaye is starting too. Wow. Yohan Cabaye in red & blue, the red and blue of Crystal Palace, not Barcelona, not Bayern Munich. Crystal Palace. That really is a properly exciting signing, and I know every Crystal Palace related social media group has been banging on about it for weeks, which I imagine gets pretty tiresome. I can scarcely believe it myself despite the transfer being confirmed over a fortnight ago, I really hope he gets a goal on his debut, I think if he does, the Palace fans will fall in love, much like they did with Atillio Lombardo. This is bound to be an exciting player who will give our team balance and the capacity to go forward with the ball.
I noticed yesterday that the football obsession on twitter has gone so far now that whenever you use the hashtag of a Premiership club the club logo appears next to it. I myself am not sure why this is necessary but it is another small bit of publicity for our club, plus it was also a cue for some rude ‘equivalents’ which some Palace fans created for Brighton, which did make me chuckle. I’m delighted that, even since our success in the Premiership, our rivalry with Brighton and Hove Albion is still alive and kicking, and I personally would love to see them up with us for a season so we can have a true Premiership derby.
There’s not long till kickoff now, roughly 25 minutes to go, and normally this is the point I’m sitting in the corner of the room, nervous, biting my nails, praying we don’t lose too badly. Now I’m sat bolt upright, concentrating intently on my TV, wishing I could be at Norwich instead of stuck in my university accommodation. I can’t say that I have been more excited for an opening fixture than this one, and with our squad strength and depth, I can’t see us playing for the 40 points as much as we have in previous years.
I feel I must touch on the recent news about our academy, which, due to the intense restructuring at the training ground, has been shipped out and are currently looking for a temporary place to relocate. I really hope this move is indeed temporary. Without our academy some of the big names in modern football wouldn’t be here, and I have to be honest I haven’t seen much action from them, especially with the realisation that (correct me if I am wrong) Kyle De Silva was the last player from the academy to make a professional appearance for the main team, nearly 3 years ago I believe. We need to invest some of our new found cash into our academy to build it up and make it a place where top young players want to play.
It’s now 3pm, and kick off time, and now I am nervous, I really hope we get a good result today to give the team some confidence going into some tricky fixtures in the coming weeks. My Super 6 prediction put us with a 1-3 win, so I very much hope that pans out! I can smell problems though if we don’t get the first goal, I know confidence is probably the key factor in how we play, a Crystal Palace team low on confidence just do not win games. It’s crazy how skill is now second best to self confidence, but the aforementioned signing of Cabaye must have done wonders for the club and players confidence so I hope that is the driving force for success this year.
Finally, what does success look like this season? Avoiding Relegation, Top Half, Europe? It really is a shock that I am talking about Crystal Palace and European football in the same sentence. Pardew seems to think either Euro’s or a cup is what should be considered success this season, and I do think it would be nice to see some silverware come to Palace, but I am wary of Europe, given the demise of many teams after committing to European football for just one season. I’d be quite happy sitting in mid-table for the season, for once, not having to worry about relegation and just enjoy the exciting football on display.
I think we have the ability to push on into the top 8, competing with Spurs and Southampton, maybe not in terms of funds, fanbase or even players. But Crystal Palace always over achieve which is exciting and long may it continue, after all, proving people wrong about our team is what is so so satisfying about being a Palace fan. And as I write these final words, Wilfried Zaha has just put us a goal up, it looks like this might just be a season to remember!
