Football News: Team Review - Crystal Palace

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Team Review - Crystal Palace

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League Position: 13th

Goalkeepers:

Jack Butland
Vicente Guaita
Wayne Hennessey
Stephen Henderson

Guaita has been a good, solid keeper for Palace over the last few years, but he is mid-30s now, so they will have to start looking for a long-term replacement. Could that be Butland? Doubtful considering his injury history and some very lacklustre performances in recent years, so it becomes an area of the squad that is full of ageing players that need replacing. I have a feeling, just glancing at the squad list, that this could be a bit of a theme for this particular review!

Defenders:

Cheikhou Kouyate
Mamadou Sakho
Nathan Ferguson
James Tomkins
Gary Cahill
Scott Dann
Patrick van Aanholt
Tyrick Mitchell
Nathaniel Clyne
Joel Ward
Martin Kelly

A very solid bunch but worryingly just two of them are under the age of 30. Also there are a lot of players who suffer regular spells out injured, which is only going to get worse as they get older. They really do need to start refreshing the line-up now. Apart from the two youngsters, only Kouyate looks like he is not on the far side of the hill, and at least on the slide. In the case of Cahill and Dann, they look like players whose legs are gone and relying on experience.

Midfielders:

Luka Milivojevic
Jairo Riedewald
James McCarthy
James McArthur
Jeffrey Schlupp
Eberechi Eze

The midfield seems worryingly light, though Kouyate can of course play in there. There is no creativity other than Eze, who is extremely talented but needs to up his work rate a bit more. It is a solid midfield, one that you can rely on to give good protection to the defence, but it is clear why the ball goes back to front so quickly, often missing out the midfield, as there is not the quality in there to play through it. It is yet another region of the squad that needs overhauling.

Forwards:

Wilfried Zaha
Andros Townsend
Jean-Philppe Mateta
Michy Batshuayi
Christian Benteke
Jordan Ayew
Connor Wickham

The one thing that stands out a mile, almost screaming in your face, is the lack of goals in this forward line. Not one player has managed to score double figures and it does not feel like any of them can be expected to do so either. Maybe Mateta could become that player. Otherwise the pressure is on Zaha and he has lost the smile off his face recently, clearly he is feeling the pressure and he wants to leave as well. There needs to be a replacement found soon.

Manager: Roy Hodgson

Like the team, he is ageing and coming to the end of his career. With the squad in major need of a rebuild, is he the right man to take them through it? He has shown no signs of wanting to walk away, but his age has to put a question mark over him due to the pressure being heaped on managers these days. How much longer can he go on? If I was the owner I would have serious worries about giving him money to spend on players to suit his way of playing.

Conclusion:

The whole set up is in desperate need of an overhaul, reducing the age and adding some goals. It is hard to see how they can do it, without losing their key players. They have such a small core of true quality players, the loss of any is a huge blow. They also seem to have a lot of players that are injury-prone, as well as ageing. If they get off to a bad start to the season, the whole thing could come crashing down, similar to the way Sheffield United dissolved this season.

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Written by Tris Burke April 16 2021 08:31:54