It was great to see Palace reach their first FA Cup final in twenty-six years last week, and a great performance was required for us to get there.
Fortunately, we turned up and put on a brilliant show for the thirty odd thousand fans that were lucky enough to get tickets.
It was pure nostalgia that we were matched against Watford in this brilliant fixture, our last appearance at Wembley was also against them, where we also won by a small margin. It was great to see the fans with all the balloons and banners painting our end red and blue, it was certainly more of a spectacle than that of Watford’s fans.
The players seemed to react to that and we scored within the first ten minutes of the game, with the header, reminiscent of Pardew’s goal against Liverpool in the 1990 semi final.
Watford did find a way back in to the game but another header from Connor Wickham helped us seal the win. With that in mind, it was a little disappointing that we couldn’t carry that momentum back into the league with us in our game against Newcastle. What is more frustrating is that we performed well at the start of the game, then just seemed to give up shortly after half time.
I am not a person who would criticise a manager unnecessarily, but it does seem that our club morale has taken a bit of a dive over our league form. What with the media speculation about anger regarding large wage differences at the club, and Chung-Yong Lee’s recent comments in the press, I would think it’s time we had a little look back at what has always made our club successful, which is the spirit amongst the players. When we lose that spirit, we lose games, it’s very simple, the same thing happened to Ian Holloway when we were first promoted.
I think we need to scrape out this season, try and forget the last five months ever happened, and do a bit of a refresh in the summer, some team building activities, anything to try and regain the team bond in the camp. I am still a big advocate of giving a couple of youngsters a go in the first team as well, the likes of Sullay Kai Kai and Hiram Boateng could be ready for action with us in the Premier League.
I doubt anyone else is satisfied with the results at the moment, but we can be assured that it is unlikely to end up with us being relegated, although had we lost to Norwich, the reality is that we very much could have been. This is not good enough and if things do not change, next year, we could do a Villa or a Derby, and be humiliated for the majority of the season. Something does need to be done, but I still have enough faith in Alan Pardew to pull it off.
There is another point I want to touch on after our loss to Newcastle, which is the penalty. Now having watched the highlights, I’m not sure where the referee has seen enough of a reason to give one, but nevertheless we should be taking these chances, and I don’t think Cabaye was the right person to take it. I know it is easy for me to say that after the game, but it seemed to me he and Pardew wanted to stick it to the fans of Newcastle by having an former player score against them, and I think the pressure got to him.
The save was superb, there is no denying it, but for me, Mile Jedinak should be our penalty taker, he has a 100% record of penalties with us. There is no reason for us to try and make a statement, or show off, we should just be getting the job done, and it stinks of arrogance that Cabaye insisted on taking that spot kick, the first time I’ve really ever been disappointed in his actions.
I’m also a little confused why Speroni was played against Manchester United, but then hasn’t been played since. He put in an impressive performance that day and Pardew seemed to suggest in his press conference that he wanted Speroni to play more, the game today would have been perfect for him. You can’t blame Hennessey for the goal as the free kick was superb, but it would be good to have a change between the sticks now we don’t really have anything to play for.
It’s disappointing to see our season dissipate like it has, as I think everyone associated with the club knows we can do an awful lot better, so here’s to next season where we can hopefully replicate our good performances across the whole thirty-eight games.
