It has been a very frustrating week for Palace fans.
Having won at Wembley in a cup semi-final the previous Sunday, losing to Newcastle United on Saturday brought us back down to earth following the high of reaching our first FA Cup final for 26 years.
The Newcastle game could not have been much worse. Andros Townsend scored the only goal of the game, albeit a spectacular free-kick, while Yohan Cabaye missed a late penalty against his former club to add further cause for concern.
The result was effectively meaningless as only a drastic, seemingly impossible, improvement from Sunderland would see us go down. However, a win would have provided us with momentum heading into the final two games of the season.
Alan Pardew, unsurprisingly, asked Keith Millen to speak in the post-match press conference at St. James’ Park, and the assistant boss’ comments were very interesting. He admitted that Cabaye was elected as penalty taker before the game, despite Mile Jedinak being a more obvious candidate. Cabaye had scored all four of his previous penalties this season, but Jedinak would not have suffered the same pressure that the Frenchman would have felt when stepping up to take the penalty with fifty thousand people hurling abuse at him. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The most positive news this week has been the release of FA Cup final tickets. The game against Manchester United now seems much closer and, although the nerves are increasingly building, there seems to be a genuine belief that we can overcome Louis van Gaal’s side. A reply of the 1990 FA Cup final against Manchester United adds further incentive for Pardew’s side to return to South London on 21st May having won the most sought-after trophy in the domestic game.
This week’s team news includes the return of midfield pair Jonny Williams and Sullay Kaikai from their loan spells at MK Dons and Shrewsbury Town respectively. Williams spent the first period of the season on loan at Nottingham Forest, but Dougie Freedman’s shock departure paved the way for the Wales midfielder to look elsewhere when his original loan ended in January. A single appearance for Palace this season came against Chelsea in the 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park, before he made the switch to Karl Robinson’s side, but featured largely as a substitute.
KaiKai’s season has been much more impressive. Having previously enjoyed differing spells at Crawley Town and Cambridge United, the young winger was sent to Shrewsbury to further his footballing education in League One. He has been a key player for the Shropshire based club, scoring an impressive twelve goals in twenty-nine appearances and edging closer to a first team spot at Selhurst Park.
Pardew had high praise for Kaikai in his press conference, telling the waiting media; ‘Sullay has been a real success at Shrewsbury. He’s a player that we sent out to develop and he has.’
The Eagles’ boss also said Kaikai would be involved in the squad for the final game of the campaign against Southampton, however, he will not play any part in the match against Stoke City.
With safety almost mathematically secure, including a few of the younger and fringe players would not harm the fortunes of the first team, particularly if Pardew wishes to rest key players ahead of the cup final. Seventeen year old midfielder Luke Dreher has already been involved in a match-day squad, and giving further opportunities would produce a vital learning experience for those players.
Finally, Pardew admitted that attacking midfielder Chung-yong Lee would be fined by the club for his recent comments to South Korean media. Lee has been frustrated at a lack of first team opportunities this season and a summer departure seems inevitable, but his criticism of his manager was distasteful and unprofessional. According to Pardew, Lee also tried to excuse his quotes by claiming he was miss-translated, which the Palace boss said was untrue.
The game against Stoke will be the final time Palace play at Selhurst before the trip to Wembley. The final two games offer Pardew the chance to prepare for one of the biggest matches in the club’s 111-year history, and a good performance, matched with a positive result, against Mark Hughes’ side would give the club perfect momentum heading towards the Wembley showdown.
