The win against Southampton last weekend has set us up nicely to what no doubt will be a hectic Christmas period.
A solitary goal from Yohan Cabaye and two great saves from Wayne Hennessey saw off a useful looking Saints side.
As we head into the festive period, the news of Jose Mourinho being sacked will no doubt have split the footballing world. In my opinion it was coming, how a side that won the Premier League a mere seven months ago can become what they are now is quite astonishing. Could they be in a relegation battle? Time will only tell.
Back to Palace and with the transfer window approaching and the new investment on the horizon, does the club invest again to potentially fire us into Europe?
We could find ourselves in a ‘catch 22’ scenario come January if we are still perched in the top six. We could either invest fairly heavily again, or we could keep what we have and see what happens in the second half of the season.
We have seen what happens when we get injuries. Suddenly the squad depth we thought we had at the start of the season looks very ominous, especially when we get injuries in the forward department.
That is partly due to the fact that Patrick Bamford has not really come alive so far in his spell with us, and that has led to Alan Pardew being reluctant to throw the young lad on for no more than twenty minutes at a time.
If the investment was sorted before the window, I would not dive into making too many hasty decisions. We have the makings of a fabulous squad, but going out and recruiting possible players that would tip the balance and fire us into Europe could upset the squad, and further down the line we could pay for that.
Some Palace fans might be dreaming of Europe now, but I am certainly not getting carried away. We need probably two to three more world class players before we can fully make an assault. Do not get me wrong, we are in a fabulous position at the moment, and if we can do something like Leicester City and go on a run it could well be achievable this year. I do not think we are ready just yet.
Firstly, we need a world class striker. We have a potentially quality centre forward in Connor Wickham but he has to start delivering the goals. Since coming back from injury the former Sunderland man has been terrific, but he has not found the back of the net. Before we can think about Europe, we need a striker that is scoring regular goals.
Without a striker who can score at least ten to fifteen goals, and someone with European experience I think we would find it tough going. Although many regard the Europa League as ‘mickey mouse’ trophy compared to the more esteemed Champions League, it is still a totally different beast.
As we look to the New Year, everything is looking rosy in South London. It seems all is falling into place but please, let us keep our feet on the ground and look forward to a future filled with endless possibilities.
