Plenty Of Potential In This Squad

It’s been sport, sport, and more sport all the way this summer but in a week or so the new Premier League season will kick-off and with it brings back the mighty Palace.

As let’s be honest, the England national team let us down tremendously at the European Championships in France, and since then it has been a post mortem which in truth seemed like nobody cared about.

Then came the Sam Allardyce appointment. Again it seemed like nobody gave two fudges, but that’s the state of our national team, and whether Allardyce will turn it around remains to be seen.

But onto the real football, am I excited about the new season in general? Yes and no. Don’t get me wrong, being able to watch Palace again is something I have missed immensely over the summer, so once the season begins the better.

We all know what the transfer window is like, full of rumours and speculation. This window has been completely different. The amount of money that is getting thrown about it ridiculous, and if you ask me it is ruining it a tad for me.

Jose Mourinho looks set to splash out close to £250 million as he looks to tie up his last and most expensive signing Paul Pogba. Whether the Juventus man is worth that is another article in itself.

Chelsea and Manchester City have also splashed the cash on players which come with reputation but whether they will cut it in the Premier League remains to be seen.

Then we come onto Palace and our business. Has it been good so far? Yes. I do think we have paid over the odds in areas. Is James Tomkins really worth ten million? Not in my opinion. Andros Townsend was worth the money and should be a real coup, as was Steve Mandanda.

When it comes to the prices of strikers we are after, the market has just gone insane. Thirty million odd for Christian Beneteke is well too much. Also twenty million for Saido Berahino, a lad that has enormous potential but seems to rather kick up a fuss periodically through a season.

We are desperate for goalscorers and no doubt when it comes to crunch time, when we have left it late, we will have to pay whatever. Common sense seems to have just disappeared in managers today.

Now before you say I am just talking nonsense, and slating me that I may be a tight bugger, but it seems Premier League teams are not, but paying over the odds seems the ‘in’ thing to do nowsadays. No doubt Palace will pay extremely over the odds to get a couple of strikers in we so badly need.

Enough of my ranting, the question on most fans lips is where do Palace go from here?

Last season was good in terms of how our cup run went. We won’t forget our day at Wembley anytime soon. But the league form faltered, and it is something that will have to be corrected this season, but if we do get the targets we want, such as Benteke and Berahino we should be looking at another top half finish.

I think it is only naturally that we want to see the side progress and improve, because in all honesty our league position last season didn’t reflect the quality of our squad, and with the additions we have made so far, we should now certainly be aiming higher.

There is plenty of potential in this Palace team, some players have to prove a point and by the looks of pre-season it looks as though some that were unfancied last season are getting a look in. So we might see some different options and ways of playing next year, which is always good.

Overall it’s hard to set targets for the coming year, but I just want to see how we start and also how the team gels and then I can form my opinion on how far I think this team can go.

Believe me, with the right personnel and right approach we could be a surprise package for the rest of the season.