2017-18 Crystal Palace, Riding the Manager Merry Go-Round

candylandriots

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Holloway
Pulis

Warnock
Pardew
Allardyce
(with a liberal sprinkling of Millen in between)


de Boer?

Crystal Palace are edging closer to appointing a successor to Sam Allardyce after the former Ajax and Internazionale manager Frank de Boer was offered the role at Selhurst Park.

The Palace chairman, Steve Parish, with guidance from the club’s American major shareholders, David Blitzer and Josh Harris, has conducted an exhaustive month-long process scrutinising the credentials of candidates following Allardyce’s surprise resignation last month. The former Alavés manager Mauricio Pellegrino and De Boer impressed, with the Dutchman now the preferred choice. Pellegrino is expected to replace Claude Puel at Southampton.
Seems like a pretty good hiring for Palace. Their BBS seems pretty positive on de Boer. Anyone here have much to add on him?
 

candylandriots

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Frank de Boer makes his first signing, picking up Ruben Loftus-Cheek on loan from Chelsea. Let's hope he works out better than the last two loans CP has taken from Chelsea.

I don't know if this is necessarily the nail in the coffin for every Palace fan's hope of signing Mamadou Sakho on a permanent basis, but de Boer got all Dutch and signed Jairo Riedewald from Ajax for GBP 7.5MM.

And in the no surprise category, malcontent Steve Mandanda was sold back to Marseilles. Not sure why it never worked for him at Palace. He got a hamstring injury early in the season and never bothered coming back. The team is kicking the tires on Barcelona backup Jasper Cillessen. I'd say that this is a pretty big spot of need, and it's really annoying that they couldn't get Begovic.
 

candylandriots

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This team looks absolutely terrible. Frank de Boer wants to play a 3-4-3. These do not appear to be the players to play it. Joel Ward is a disaster as a midfielder, though inevitably the 3-4-3 seems to morph into more of a 5-3-2. Last week, Scott Dann was one of the 2 up front for reasons that are still a mystery. Benteke is getting zero service. After an injury to Tomkins today, they switched to four at the back, whether out of necessity or tactics, I'm not sure. They did look a little better, except for Tomkins' replacement, Martin Kelly, making a boneheaded giveaway that gave up another goal.

The team has zero goals and have had few scoring opportunities. When they have come, they have been botched. Injuries to key players like Zaha, and now Lofts-Cheek mean a little leeway should be given, but the players on the field look listless and generally confused.

Dougie Freedman was hired as Director of Football last week, but you have to wonder if he's there to take over should de Boer have even less time than he did at Milan. I haven't seen anything to suggest that things will be turning around anytime soon. The big question to me about de Boer is, does he concede the system doesn't fit the players, or keep trying to fit the square peg.

At least when they sucked under Pardew, it was entertaining. I don't have anything philosophically against de Boer's system, but there can't be time for patience in this league.

I'm very concerned about the state of this team. On paper, with the talent n the field, and a man with a very good reputation as a manager, this should be a solid mid-table team. Now they look maybe mid-table for the Championship.
 

candylandriots

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You know, if someone didn't know any better - they'd think that Palace were a pretty important club. Their last three managers were England manager, Champions League winner as a player/former Inter Milan manager, and England manager.

We know better.
 

candylandriots

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Just got home yesterday and watched the 5-0 drubbing by City.

The first half actually looked pretty good. The second half...not so much.

Benteke is now out for 6 weeks, and there is no backup striker available. Games against Man U and Chelsea follow, so Palace won't be able to use Fosu-Mensah and then Loftus-Cheek (who has been their best player). It's going to get worse before it gets better. Wilf will hopefully be back October 14.

I just hope it's not too far away from them by the time the injuries heal and Hodgson gets them better organized.
 

candylandriots

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I'm speechless!!!

They look like a different team today. Like actually professionals.

The crowd was fired up before this. Now it's got to be great being there.

Nice to see Speroni back too.
 

candylandriots

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Wilf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Set up by Mama Sakho.

It looks like Roy has them drilled so much better. People seem to be where they belong. Amazing how that works.
 

OCST

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Andy Carroll got two yellows in the space of a couple of minutes, second one looked pretty rough - elbowed the guy in the head - didn't see replay but it looked bad
 

candylandriots

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I think I was much happier during the international break. This team is just so frustrating to support. Week in and week out I say, “they deserved better” as the game ends. But at some point, you need the goddamn points. Everton didn’t deserve either one of their goals, Palace dominated possession and play, and still both teams walk away with a point, and they can’t make up any ground on one of the teams they’re chasing.

And seriously, fuck you Anthony Taylor. You were plenty lenient with the cards, but give the softest penalty I have seen all season.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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That penalty was bullshit, so yeah.

The Niasse goal was a gift and you can’t give away goals like that but Palace deserved three points.
 

candylandriots

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That penalty was bullshit, so yeah.

The Niasse goal was a gift and you can’t give away goals like that but Palace deserved three points.
Yeah, it seems like I keep saying they deserved the points too. At least I generally like Everton, so I guess I've got that going for me.

Man, if Wayne Hennessey had done what Speroni did on Saturday, there would be torches and pitchforks in South London.

On to Stoke and needing three points for sure.
 

candylandriots

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To celebrate our big move into 18th place - Crystal Palace has unveiled plans for a massive renovation of Selhurst Park.

It looks beautiful and if I'm being honest with myself, really necessary (if you've been to the Arthur Wait stand, you know what I mean). But the current stadium is also one of the things I love about the club.

No word on what happens to the Sainsbury's inside the stadium.

And I think someone was trolling us in the video, with a fan wearing a Jordon Mutch shirt.
 

Spacemans Bong

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To celebrate our big move into 18th place - Crystal Palace has unveiled plans for a massive renovation of Selhurst Park.

It looks beautiful and if I'm being honest with myself, really necessary (if you've been to the Arthur Wait stand, you know what I mean). But the current stadium is also one of the things I love about the club.

No word on what happens to the Sainsbury's inside the stadium.

And I think someone was trolling us in the video, with a fan wearing a Jordon Mutch shirt.
They don’t seem to be doing much with the Whitehorse Lane End, that suggests the Sainsbury’s stays.

It doesn’t look bad at all, and although I’m not a huge fan of glass facades it makes sense for Palace given their history.
 

candylandriots

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They don’t seem to be doing much with the Whitehorse Lane End, that suggests the Sainsbury’s stays.

It doesn’t look bad at all, and although I’m not a huge fan of glass facades it makes sense for Palace given their history.
I actually just read about Sainsbury's, which suggests it might be moving.

Dialogue began with the council’s planning department last month and is ongoing with Sainsbury’s, whose store adjoins the ground, with Palace seeking “a tiny sliver of land” from the supermarket. “I can’t imagine for a minute that Sainsbury’s want to be the people who hold up the development of a new iconic venue for south London,” said Parish, who admitted residents would need to be appeased. “We’ve deliberately chosen something with the minimal potential roadblocks, and Croydon council have been outstanding so far. We’ve put them under pressure, time-wise, and they’ve responded brilliantly. I’m sure they’re not going to want to drop this. I’m sure they’re going to want to be sensible.
I remember being absolutely shocked when I saw a supermarket in the stadium the first time I was there. I thought I had walked around so far that we had gotten lost.
 

Spacemans Bong

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IIRC, Palace were in financial trouble at the time and it is a part of London relatively underserved by supermarkets, so a few quid from Sainsbo’s for a supermarket and a new stand went down nicely, especially since that’s where the executive boxes are.
 

candylandriots

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After an abysmal first 60 minutes or so last night, Palace pulled off a late win with two goals (89', 92' if I remember right) over Watford. This means they haven't lost for six straight and at least temporarily are out of relegation position. With the three teams behind them playing Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool today, there's a decent chance they stay here at least until Saturday.

It hasn't always been pretty, but this team is functioning well now. With a little more luck (or less stupidity, take your pick), they'd be a 10th place team. I'm impressed with the mental toughness that allows them to keep coming back. It's a stark contrast to the end of the Pardew days, where they would routinely snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Zaha is a beast.
 

coremiller

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Palace have been massively underperforming their expected goals all season. Now that they've made up the deficit from their terrible start, they are in a good position to stay up.
 

candylandriots

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So losing Puncheon won’t be that big a deal, but losing Dann for the season really hurts, especially with Sakho out. I’d like to think this won’t cause a rush for a CB during the window, but having the corpse of Damien Delaney being a heartbeat away from starting is concerning.

I learned something very interesting while listening to the excellent Five Year Plan podcast. The discussion went to the transfer window, of course. And whether the price would be high enough to sell Zaha. One of the panelists seems pretty plugged in to the team (he’s good friends with Julian Speroni) and said something I found surprising. He said that he understands that Wilf’s wages are already higher than both Harry Kane’s and Dele Alli’s.

Palace have the 9th highest wage bill in the league, so I guess that shouldn’t be so shocking, but I was surprised. Maybe that says more about Spurs, but it also means that the need for someone like Zaha to move is kind of softened.
 

candylandriots

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I didn’t see the game versus Burnley yesterday, but did see the extended highlights. Palace deserved every bit of that win. The team is playing outstanding football right now, despite an extremely thin bench. Andros Townsend and Jeffrey Schlupp have joined Mama Sakho, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Scott Dann among first team players injured.

This team has only lost very close matches to Spurs, Arsenal and Newcastle (they probably deserved draws in each of those to be honest) since the end of September. Roy Hodgson is becoming a legend.

Another legend in the making is Bakary Sako. He’s not a very good player, but don’t tell him that, because all he does is score goals. He made only his second start of the season, but is Palace’s leading scorer.

But that thin bench is concerning. With Dann and Puncheon done for the season, Cabaye not able to go 90 minutes anymore and Conor Wickham coming back who knows when, the team needs some help pretty much everywhere. And they have been spending money at every window to paper over some of the hideous stretches of play they have had over the past several seasons. At some point, that money either is going to run out, or needs to be saved to add an impact player who can get the team to the next level.

They’re looking at improving GK with a transfer of Vicente Guaita from Getafe, breaking the back and forth between Speroni and Hennessey. They’re also looking to add another striker, interested in Khouma Babacar from Fiorentina, an option I like a bit better for the longer term than Oumar Niasse. They’re also looking at Ibrahim Amadou to fill in at CB, a position that seemed to have a lot of depth before. It’s frustrating to spend money there, but presumably in today’s market you can sell almost anyone for a profit. But I’d much rather see them spend this money on trying to pry one of the excellent players we have on loan - Rueben Loftus-Cheek and Tim Fosu-Mensah would be amazing additions to this team, and by all accounts, both seem happy at Palace (though hard to say whether consistent starting opportunities would outweigh what Chelsea and Man U can offer them).

The bottom of the table is incredibly congested. 10 points separate 9th from 20th position in the table. I don’t think they are out of the relegation woods yet, but I do feel much more confident about Premier League football next year. The team seems very much invested in Roy’s program, but it is also hard to imagine Roy sticking around for 5 more years too.

Maybe it is always one step forward, two back in this league for all but the top 6, but whenever optimism runs high, it seems there is an inevitable reality check. In the meantime, at least we are finally ahead of Brighton.

Arsenal is up next, a team Palace usually has trouble with. Hopefully it will be Arsenal without Alexis Sanchez to help keep this momentum going.
 

candylandriots

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Lots of new bodies coming in - which is good, since so many of the old ones are broken:

Vicente Guaita (GK) from Getafe for £7m
Jaroslaw Jach (CB) from Zaglebie Jubin for £2
Erdal Rakip (MF) from Benfica on loan

Nice that the latter two are pretty young and also nice that the scouting department is digging for these types of players. Rakip apparently wanted to play for Hodgson since he comes from Malmö. He hasn't actually played for Benfica. I understood he only joined the team in time for him to be loaned to Palace, but that could have been hyperbole from the FYP podcast.

Hopefully Guaita will end the Wayne Hennessey era once and for all. He's a bit older, but there had been some talk about this waiting until the end of the season so they could get him on a free. I think that this was money well-spent to get him in now.
 

candylandriots

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We are up to nine (more or less) first team players injured

Speroni
Schlupp
Kelly
Dann
Loftus-Cheek
Puncheon
Sako (another reason the Pablo Zabaleta is perhaps the biggest douche in the EPL)
Zaha
Wickham

Sako is now out for the season along with Dann and Puncheon (and probably Wickham if we are being honest) and now Zaha could miss significant time with a knee injury.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/05/football-crystal-palace-wilfried-zaha-knee-specialist-injury-newcastle?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

If Hodgson can keep this together and make it through to next year, I will gladly contribute for a statue in his honor.

In other news, GK Guaita will be coming on a free in July from Getafe instead of now.

Good times.
 
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candylandriots

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Croydon city council gave preliminary approval to the redevelopment of Selhurst Park.

One of the things I love about the team is the stadium. It reminded me of going to Fenway in the mid-90s. But it’s actually kind of dangerous and not very accessible to many people. For example, the restrooms in the Arthur Wait stand have entrances that are narrower than most people’s shoulders. If there were a fire, it would be a catastrophe, and forget it if you use a wheelchair.

So this is really necessary and I’m glad they’re doing it despite whatever nostalgia I have for a team I’ve been following for 5 years haha.

Here is the story with some pretty pictures.

https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/2018/april/club-given-go-ahead-for-stadium-development-by-croydon-council/?utm_campaign=9394160_1324_616_STADIUM_PlanningPermissionGranted_19.04.18&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Crystal Palace Football Club&dm_i=10Y7,5LCKW,BH1DAN,LQ4X3,1
 

candylandriots

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I won’t link to the Sun out of respect, but they’re reporting that it looks like Cabaye is heading there. There is a picture of him standing near a sign with the OM logo, like he’s outside their office or something.

His contract with Palace is finished, and I don’t expect they’ll be resigning him. He’s been worth the money, but he really can’t go 90 anymore, and he came to Palace to play with Pardew - so I’m guessing both will be happier parting ways. I certainly wish him well, but CP should not be signing 32 year old midfielders.

I’ll just add here that I’m absolutely ecstatic about the 11th place finish. I don’t think there is much difference in quality between 10th and 17th in this league, but given where they started, this is beyond comprehension.

Just one thing about how good they’ve been under Hodgson: after the 7 game winless/scoreless streak to start the season, their GD was + 7.