Next up for Palace is a long trip up North to take on Sunderland at the Stadium Of Light so we had a chat with Rory from the excellent Roker Report to find out more about the Black Cats.
Q. What were your hopes and dreams for the new season before a ball was kicked?
Just to not be in a relegation battle. I know that sounds ridiculous for a club that have been in the division since 2007 but these last few seasons have been ridiculously repetitive. I don’t think anyone thought we’d be finishing comfortably top half but being mathematically safe by March and never really looking over our shoulder would have been nice. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to be another one of “those” seasons. A cup run would be nice to keep spirits up though, that kept us all buoyant during Gus Poyet’s first season and David Moyes likes the cups, so here’s hoping.
Q. Was it a successful transfer window for the club or are there areas that still need improving?
It was just pretty “meh”, really. I thought despite losing Younes Kaboul, a massive influence on us last season, we had still added more depth to the defence but Papy Djibodji has looked pretty shaky so the jury is still out there. Keeping Lamine Kone was massive though and it was good to see the club stand their ground on that one. Other additions were Jason Denayer on loan from City who hasn’t had a chance to play in his natural position of centre half, Donald Love who looks far from a Premier League full back at present and Javier Manquillo who looks solid and dependable enough.
We’ve undeniably left ourselves short up front. Jermain Defoe is our only real goal scoring threat so an injury to him will destroy us. We allowed Jeremain Lens to leave, which was understandable initially, but not when Fabio Borini is out until Christmas and Wahbi Khazri just isn’t in Moyes plans and/or isn’t performing at the moment. It means we’ve had to overly rely on young players like Lynden Gooch and Duncan Watmore, who should only be squad players at the moment, not comfortable first choices. Still though, we have Adnan Januzaj on loan who is capable of causing any defence problems if he feels like it and we signed big Victor Anichebe on a free who, joking aside, may actually prove to be good foil alongside Defoe once he’s fit. It’s still not exactly inspiring though.
The midfield is a bit of a mixed bag. We broke our transfer record to sign Didier Ndong and he looked good against QPR in midweek and didn’t give a bad showing at Spurs last Sunday. Another of Moyes former Everton cohorts arrived in free agent Steven Pienaar, a good influence to have on the training ground and he’s looked tidy in early showings. Not getting Yann M’Vila on a permanent deal was pretty baffling though, as he seemed desperate to come but hopefully he’ll join in January when his contract at Ruben Kazan expires. Look out for Paddy McNair as well, who only went and scored a brace at Loftus Road! Might be worth playing up front at the minute, actually.
Q. It has not been a great start to the season for you, any particular reason?
Having all of our pre season preparation torn to shreds thanks to England’s inability to beat Iceland was a pretty big factor. Losing Allardyce when we did meant the club had to halt all transfer dealings, so by the time Moyes arrived, we were weeks behind everyone else. None of our new signings were brought in before the end of pre season, with Papy Djilobodji being our first through the door on the night we played our last friendly. Due to this, you can tell Moyes still doesn’t know what his best team is or what system is best to play. In the opening games you can’t really see any particular plan or identity yet, but bizarrely, we’ve looked different in every game so far. I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but nothing about Sunderland does at the minute.
Injuries haven’t helped much either, meaning fringe/young players getting more game time than expected and we even had to play John O’Shea in the centre of midfield in our opening game away to Manchester City. Lee Cattermole and Jan Kirchhoff only returned recently so hopefully the fitter they get, they more harder to beat we’ll be. If they can get as good a cohesion going with Didier Ndong as they did with Yann M’Vila, then we might be onto something.
Q. What do you make of your new manager?
Fairly pleased. When Allardyce got the England job, Moyes was probably the best and most logical option as it wouldn’t be too much of an upheaval and would be the closest thing to continuity we could get. The majority of supporters acknowledge that he has a tough job on his hands but we have to start getting results soon, or least performances, as that patience will start to wear thin. Getting us playing with some kind of identity and plan would be good start.
If he could also try and be a bit more upbeat when addressing the media that would be appreciated as well. I don’t expect him to say that everything is great but he’s saying things publicly that are obvious anyway and just don’t need to be said as they can only dampen players moral. Winning games is the best way to avoid that problem though so if we start winning, he can say what he likes!
Q. Dare we ask your views on the rule changes going into this new Premier League season?
I like how they’re now being harsher with dissent and it’s good to see referee’s enforcing that quite strongly. Same for relaxing the sending offs for clear goal scoring opportunities to it only being a red card if the foul was deliberate. Although I’m sure I’ll find that annoying when someone doesn’t get send off against Sunderland.
I do worry about the holding in the penalty area if John O’Shea is playing though, he loves a sly shirt pull.
Q. It is looking difficult for an un-fancied team breaking into the top six this season but if you were to pick one, who would it be?
I don’t think there’s going to be anything resembling another Leicester City this season but it looks like Everton have a good chance of getting back among the elite if they keep going the way they are. I don’t suppose you’d call them “unfancied” though. It’s really hard to tell this season as most of the usual suspects seem to have got their acts together, to some degree at least. Watford have been impressive and I suppose Palace have a chance of achieving a good position if Pardew can avoid the traditional, Steve Bruce-eqsuqe, slide.
Q. Perhaps you could share your views on Palace as a club, how we did last season and our start to this season?
My earliest memory of Palace was the play off semi final defeat in 2004. I was eleven at the time and things that happen when you’re that age do stick in your mind, so I’m naturally a bit resentful of Mart Poom getting fouled for that late Darren Powell equaliser. Rationally though, no strong feelings either way if I’m honest. Your fans always make a decent noise and whenever Pardew does well it winds up the Mags, so fair play for that.
Q. Name one player from each team that the opposition should be concerned about?
I think it’s all about the forwards in this game. Jermain Defoe is by far and away our biggest threat and if he gets some decent service, he’ll nab himself a goal. To be fair, even if he doesn’t get the service he’ll still sniff out an opportunity for himself.
As for yourselves, Christian Benteke looks to have regained some confidence and he always did well against us when he played for Aston Villa. I have faith in Kone being able to handle him but Djilobodji will have to up his game if he retains his starting position.
Q. Prediction?
In recent years, these have been the games we’ve struggled with. When we need a win to get things going and we’re playing a beatable team at home. We’ve always bottled it before then pulling something out of the bag against one of the big boys. Still, I’ll try and remain optimistic and say Moyes will break that cycle as we edge a narrow game. 2-1 Sunderland.
Q. Please tell us a little more about you fan group and any projects that you are working on.
As well as being one of the editors at Roker Report, I’m part of the Wise Men Say podcast. We tend to record on the Monday after each game, going over whatever has happened in the latest match and general world of Sunderland. We also do a twice weekly column for the Sunderland Echo and founders Gareth and Stephen do a weekend preview show called Into The Light with former Sunderland striker Michael Proctor.
