Palace fans have quickly discovered that 2022/23 is nothing like the same as 2021/22. Some important changes are underway!
1-0 To The Arsenal?
There’s no doubt. Patrick Vieira is a charismatic leader with a ridiculously excellent track record as a player for winning matches and winning trophies, including the FA Cup, the Premier League and the World Cup. But, as they say, you can take the boy out of Arsenal, but you can’t take Arsenal out of the boy.
When we’re 1-0 up, Patrick has shown that he will go to considerable lengths to shut the game down to preserve that scoreline so beloved from his days at Arsenal. But Palace are not the Invincibles. Against Brentford, Wilf fashioned a worldie out of nowhere to put us ahead, but then Patrick re-shaped the whole team and, in so doing, removed its attacking threat. For 85 minutes, Brentford NEVER looked like scoring. In the last 10 minutes, with Patrick’s substitutions packing midfield and defence, Brentford could (and arguably should) have scored 3 times. This followed on from the loss of a 1-goal lead at Liverpool and the loss of a 2-goal lead at Man City. Seven points lost from winning positions. It feels like déjà vu as, this time last year, fans were moaning about points lost to last-minute goals by Arsenal and Brighton.
After the Brentford game, Wilfried Zaha was quoted as saying: “I’m lost for words. As soon as we went into the lead, we started to defend. I don’t see why we do that.” Instead of playing the game closer and closer to our own goal, we have fast and skilful players who can turn breakaways into goals so we want to be attacking the big green patches behind opposing defensive lines that play higher and higher as opponents are drawn forward in search of an equaliser.
Patrick tells us he tells the players: “To be successful, you need to be brave.” You’re a proven winner, Patrick, your ambition alone should ensure that these mistakes become profitable learning experiences, you’ve already worked wonders for the Palace, so we are confident that you will be brave, Patrick, as that’s the best way to ensure we win games.
This Is Our Squad
Whether by design or not, all our transfer activity was completed before a ball was kicked, several weeks before the window closed. The ins and outs succeeded in bringing down the average age again, gave us more first-team players and might even have slightly reduced the wage bill, but the squad we have is the squad we live with – only for 12 more games though. Because of the World Cup, the winter window opens exactly at the season’s halfway point, so every club has the chance to make more changes if the need arises and the money is available.
Throughout the window, Patrick made it clear that he wanted more players, and there are signs that the squad we now have is too thin. Mitchell’s injury at City enabled Bernardo to run free, and briefly we played like a relegation team, letting in 4 goals in 28 minutes. With Riedewald seemingly not under consideration to play left back if Mitchell can’t, we have two right backs and a central defender who can step in (Ward, Clyne and Richards) and all 3 have played left back for the first team in the past week. But none is truly satisfactory as all are right-footed and none give Zaha much support going forward, and perhaps that’s why Adaramola was very suddenly recalled less than one month into a year-long loan at Coventry.
Flexibility Is Vital
Being stuck with Plan A (4-3-3) is soooo last season. When desired, Patrick can now switch (and has already switched successfully) to Plan B with a 4-5-1 – when everyone does their job, this is a pragmatic approach that provides certainty in defence as well as the knowledge that we can shock opponents when we break out into attack. Within these systems and with a limited number of players available, it’s doubly important to have players who will change their role within a game.
At Newcastle, for example, it was fascinating to see Jordan Ayew spend the last 30 minutes in Conor Gallagher’s favourite area, attacking in the channel inside Olise and supporting the central striker (in this case Edouard). Ayew did really well, working as hard as he always does, though – in that game – to put him there, we had to sacrifice Eze and remove from Zaha all support, rendering our most dangerous player pretty much ineffective. The other most flexible player is, of course, Zaha in that he can play alone up top or alongside a central striker. While his hold-up play can sometimes disappoint, his speed and trickery is recognised as a real threat by opposing central defenders (especially as they tire). Zaha gives these players nightmares when he runs at them with the ball and also when he gets in behind a high line defence.
The Youth Set-Up Is Strong – And Getting Stronger!
The value of a strong youth set-up was illustrated by the summer transfer window – 13 players moved for £40m or more, and all were purchased by the Big Six plus Newcastle. Palace seem unlikely to ever feature in that list of buyers.
It’s early in the season, but results down the ladder of youth at Palace have already been very positive, and John Kymani-Gordon is turning heads with 8 goals in his first 4 starts. We should all be encouraged that all the age group teams are winning their games, and Palace’s biggest ever “loan army” of 8 players (even after Adaramola’s recall) are out in the world gaining first-team experience at different levels in 3 countries. These young men can be expected to fill shoes in the first-team squad in the years ahead.
The Fixture List Has Been Cruel
After 6 games, only Leicester and Fulham have had it tougher than Palace. And, looking ahead, it gets no easier as our next 4 matches are all against clubs currently in the top half of the Premier League.
Using the current league table and awarding points for each fixture played based on the opponent’s league position (1 point for playing Arsenal as they are first), it can be seen that Brighton, Brentford and most of the Big Six have had it relatively cushy so far:
- Leicester 37
- Fulham 37
- Palace 46
- West Ham 50
- Man Utd 52
- Southampton 57
- Wolves 58
- Bournemouth 60
- Leeds 60
- Newcastle 61
- Forest 63
- Villa 65
- Everton 66
- Liverpool 70
- Brighton 73
- Brentford 75
- Chelsea 78
- Spurs 79
- Arsenal 80
- Man City 93
Should We Be Worried About Differing Time Horizons In Plans and Ambitions?
When the media were hyping Zaha moving to Chelsea or Arsenal, Patrick worried some fans when he said that he had one response to this possible development, the player had another and the Board’s response was different too. Wilf has one year until he’s out of contract, Patrick has two – so they have different time horizons, as well (of course) as different plans and ambitions.
What about the Board? Obviously, the Directors have no contracts, but how stable are they?
Blitzer and Harris have already shown their hand – media reports told us they were part of a competing consortium that failed to win ownership of Chelsea. And the media have also told us they are interested in buying a minority stake in Manchester United. Clearly, for these two Americans, the grass is greener elsewhere in the Premier League, so it can only be a matter of time before their chunky minority stakes acquired in 2016 come up for sale (if not already).
Meanwhile, John Textor has the largest minority shareholding (acquired in 2021), but he also has large stakes in leading clubs in Brazil (Botafogo) and now France (Lyon). How distracted is he by the spreadof his interests across the globe?
This leaves only Steve Parish who Palace fans can 100% rely upon, but remember, he’s just a minority shareholder in a private company. Without key undertakings from his co-Directors, Steve is frankly vulnerable at any time. And Steve has so much on his plate. I don’t know if you noticed, but the media reported that (very untypically) Steve was moaning about the referee and injustice in the game at City. He may have been right about Ayew’s disallowed goal and Haaland’s wild kick that went without a card, but that’s not the point. Under stress, people act out of character. And Steve’s public moaning was very unlike him.
I think he must be very, very stressed. Not only is the club’s ownership issue a cause for worry, but he has a long list of issues. Should Wilf be offered a contract extension, and would he sign? The same goes for Patrick. The summer window carried a net transfer fee cost of £20-25m, so where will the money come from to pay for new players that Patrick wants in the next window or two? Planning permission for the new Main Stand is back on the menu – how do we pay the minimum £100m for the redevelopment as well as buying houses so they can be demolished? Financial Fair Play rules are being re-written and will soon be much stricter, so the Palace might struggle to conform. And that’s without any of the work needed to gain value from Palace being a member of the exclusive club called the Premier League.
Conclusion
The season is still very young, but there’s a lot going on at the Palace – on the pitch and off it. Let’s all hope and believe that positive developments continue while solutions can be found so the club can continue its remarkable recovery under the leadership of Steve Parish.
