Negative Palace Will Go Down

On the 23^rd of December, Crystal Palace sat 17^th in the Premier League, with the worst league record of 2016 out of every professional team in the country. The club had just sacked manager Alan Pardew the day before and were set to announce his successor. The man about to take the helm was disgraced former England manager, Sam Allardyce, a man with a reputation for saving struggling teams from Premier League relegation. In my opinion this was an attempt to batten down the hatches for an upcoming relegation battle. I believe this was a big mistake. A better option would have been to find a coach who could improve the team’s play with fresh ideas and tactics.

Fast forward to today, Palace find themselves in 19^th position with no sign of improvement. In fact, things have got worse. In the 8 league games since Allardyce took over, the team have only gained 4 points from a possible 24. Granted, they have only conceded 14 goals in 8 games compared to 32 in the 17 games under Pardew, but at the other end of the pitch goals have dried up. Before Pardew was sacked, the team had scored 28 league goals at an average of 1.65 per game. Since Allardyce took over, those numbers have dropped to 4 goals in 8 games (0.5 per game). I hate to state the obvious, but you can’t win games without scoring goals.

Since the new year, fellow strugglers Hull City and Swansea City have replaced their managers too, both choosing to take what I believe was a more positive route. The team from Wales appointing Paul Clement on the 3^rd of January and Hull naming Portuguese, Marco Silva, two days later. In Marco Silva, Hull were gaining a coach who had won a league title the previous season, claiming Greece’s Superleague with Olympiacos. Although new Swansea coach Paul Clement had limited prior experience, a brief spell at Championship side Derby County his only previous managerial role, he did come with vast pedigree. Having served as assistant manager at Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, he has worked under world renowned coaches such as Carlo Ancelotti.

In the short amount of time since their respective appointments, the fortunes of both clubs have improved. With Clement leading Swansea City to 4 wins in 6 games, picking up a Barclays Manager of the Month award in the process, they have now leapfrogged Palace to climb out of the drop zone and into 15^th position. Silva’s brief time at Hull City has included a league win over Liverpool and a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, as well as victory over Bournemouth. Their 2 league losses could be forgiven as they came away to Arsenal and champions elect Chelsea. They also pushed Manchester Utd close in the League Cup semi-final, a 2-1 win in the second leg not quite enough to even the tie on aggregate. Hull City too, have now climbed above Palace in the league and the prospect of Premier League survival has improved.

Crystal Palace’s Premier League future does not seem as bright. With the team currently showing no evidence that things are going to get better, Sam Allardyce’s record of never being relegated from the Premier League is in serious danger of coming to an end. In fact the only possibility of preserving that record appears to be if he is sacked before the end of the season.

At the end of the day…

Palace’s negative approach of appointing a manager with the intent of trying to plug the holes in an already sinking ship, has not worked. If they had tried to find a coach who could change the way the team played in a positive manner, as their fellow relegation candidates did, they would have a better chance of Premier League survival. Let’s face it, things could hardly have been any worse than they are right now. I hate to say it, but Palace are going down!