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Football News: Team Review - Crystal Palace

Team Review - Crystal Palace
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Team Review - Crystal Palace

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League Position: 10th

 

Ins And Outs

Ins:
Joachim Andersen from Olympique Lyonnais
Odsonne Edouard from Celtic
Michael Olise from Reading
Conor Gallagher from Chelsea (loan)
Marc Guehi from Chelsea
Will Hughes from Watford
Remi Matthews from Sunderland
Jacob Montes from New England Revolution

Outs:
Andros Townsend to Everton
Patrick van Aanholt to Galatasaray
Mamadou Sakho to Montpellier
James McCarthy to Celtic
Gary Cahill to Bournemouth
Scott Dann to Reading
Wayne Hennessey to Burnley
Connor Wickham released
Stephen Henderson released

 

Goalkeepers:

Jack Butland
Vicente Guaita
Remi Matthews

This is an area to me that looks in need of an upgrade, Guaita is no more than decent in my opinion, Butland is injury prone, while Matthews is an unknown quantity. With Guaita 34 now, it is time they looked for a replacement or, more properly, an upgrade.

 


Defenders:

Joachim Andersen
Marc Guehi
Nathan Ferguson
James Tomkins
Jaroslaw Jach
Tyrick Mitchell
Nathaniel Clyne
Joel Ward
Martin Kelly

Palace have recruited well for the style they want to play, the only real issue I see is the lack of left-back cover and a lack of similar quality to Mitchell for the right-back slot. Ward is reliable enough, but not good enough, Kelly has far too many injuries and Clyne's lifestyle and attitude have destroyed any chance of him ever achieving his potential. The strength of their centre-back group is extremely impressive, this despite losing two on free transfers in the summer. Added to that, they are of a good age to grow together as a group, with only Tomkins over 25.

 


Midfielders:

Luka Milivojevic
Jairo Riedewald
Cheikhou Kouyate
Conor Gallagher
Will Hughes
James McArthur
Jeffrey Schlupp
Eberechi Eze
Michael Olise

Gallagher was an excellent recruit, but it seems likely that he will not be back for next season with the performances he is putting in. McArthur is probably at the end of his time at the club this season too, so they will need to strengthen here again in the summer, but this season it looks good. Olise is a player to come in for the future and Eze will be back soon, those two will provide a lot more creativity and flair. The oddity to me is the recruitment of Hughes, who is nowhere near good enough.

 


Forwards:

Wilfried Zaha
Odsonne Edouard
Christian Benteke
Jordan Ayew
Jean-Philippe Mateta

The forwards look a much better unit than in previous seasons, though you do have to wonder if there is enough goals in them to move the team up the table in the long term. With Zaha's tendency to blow hot and cold, depending on how whiny he is getting in that match, the return of Eze and emergence of Olise cannot come quick enough for Palace. Right now they have an over-reliance on Zaha at times to create for them. Eze and Olise can not just ease that pressure, but actually improve the creativity of the team as they both have the potential to be better places than Zaha is.

 


Manager: Patrick Vieira

Right now the Arsenal legend is doing a great job for Palace, they are playing some great football, getting results and looking a good team. The problem is that in his career so far, short though it is, he has started well and then his teams have faded away once the initial awe at working with him has vanished. Palace will be hoping he has learnt from his previous jobs and that he will be able to keep the momentum going.

 


Conclusion:

They have done extremely well to quickly turn the age profile of the squad around and it has gone from an ageing, over-the-hill, overly-defensive unit to a younger, more vibrant squad in just one window. Is the investment something they can continue or was it just a one-off to rebuild the squad? If they can continue to invest, then they have the building blocks of a European competitor. Without further investment, it will remain just building blocks.

 

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Written by Tris Burke November 16 2021 10:27:40

 

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