Crystal Palace 1 – 4 Fulham; Palace suffer Premier League Reality Check as Four Star Fulham Crush Palace!

A world class strike from Fulham’s Pajtam Kasami against the run of play and a strike from Steve Sidwell on halftime cancelled out Adrian Miriappa’s opener to give Fulham a 2 – 1 lead at halftime. Things went from bad to worse for Palace at the start of the second half as Dmitar Birbatov was left unmarked to head home a third, and Philippe Senderos completed the hammering with a forth, volleying home a corner ten minutes into the second half.

Reality is biting hard for the Palace faithful as the size of the task at hand Palace have to stay in the Premier League becomes all the more stark. Even Fulham despite their poor form put four goals past a haphazard Palace defence.

It started so differently for Palace. Yannick Bolasie was making his first Premier League start of the season combined well with Jason Puncheon on the opposite flank and Palace’s Young Spanish Midfielder Jose Campana caused Fulham problems with their pace. A goal from Adrian Miriappa gave Palace a deserved lead on seven minutes. What followed showed the quality of the Premier League as Palace’s progress towards a second home win was blitzed and derailed by two quality and world class strikes.

Kasami’s equaliser for Fulham came out of nothing and brought comparisons with Marco Van Bastan’s world class volley for Holland at Euro 88. Palace was left reeling and still recovering when a free kick for Fulham deflected off the wall back to Steve Sidwell who shot an unbelievable drive into the top corner to give the cottagers a halftime lead against the run of play.

Palace had the fight taken out of them by halftime as in the second half the ruthless finishing of the Premier League was drummed into Palace as even a team struggling in the league such as Fulham was still ruthless enough to drub four goals past the Palace backline.

The reality is this is not a very good Palace side and within forty eight hours they would have cost Ian Holloway his job as the manager fell on his sword with true dignity as he felt unable to continue in his post. The fact is the unquestionable team spirit that had lifted Palace in to the Premier League was missing this campaign and Holloway’s decision to bring in fifteen new faces in the transfer window had back fired as he did not know his best team and his decision to bring in journeymen and mercenaries had lost him the dressing room.

Who next then for Palace? I thought Holloway’s tenure would be eventful and exciting if not long. So it proved with him delivering Freedmans’ team to the Premier League. Ultimately his decision to dispense with the players who got him there like Garvan and Dobbie cost him the team spirit and the dressing room. Tony Pulis is a frontrunner to be the new boss his disciplined and direct style would make Palace difficult to beat and may ultimately give Palace the best chance to stay in the division.

Pulis’s hard taskmaster reputation may drill the team kicking certain mercenaries’ backsides into actually putting in performances for the team. Another manager on Palace’s radar whose star is on the wane could well be Martin O’ Neil his success at Wycombe and Leicester showed he liked a certain style of football, even though he spent a lot of money at Aston Villa and was less successful at Sunderland.

The choice for Steve Parish and the board of directors may be an unexpected one given how keen they were to hold onto Holloway’s services. Yet both sides can hold their heads up high as both came out with great dignity as Holloway accepted he had lost the dressing room and Parish conceded Palace did not have the infrastructure in place to make Holloway’s tenure a more successful one.

Up next for Palace is Arsenal on Saturday with Keith Millen, Holloway’s assistant in temporary charge. Things do not get any easier in the Premier League, but with thirty games left there is enough time and points available for Holloway’s successor whoever that may be to make a real impression.

The question remains over Palace’s next manager. It is that question that may well decide Palace’s fate this season and into the next campaign. The choice over the next manager may decide whether has any long term legacy or is simply setting up a strong squad for a promotion campaign in the Championship in 2014/2015.   

Palace Blog into 2014; into the Premier League.

Due to illness my blog has taken an extended hiatus this preseason and into Premier league campaign 13/14. Probably a good thing given Palace’s slow and difficult start to the season. As for the much hyped deadline day business Palace was busy bringing in sixteen new faces including Dwight Gayle from Peterborough, Cameron Jerome from Stoke, Jimmy Kebe and Adrian Mariappa from Reading and Adlene Guediara from Forest, and probably the most high profile loan signing from Arsenal of striker Marouane Chemakh. Given Palace’s start to the season it could be said Chemakh has been disappointing so far.

Palace with a mere three points going into October’s international break sees the Eagles in nineteenth place in the premier league with only Sunderland, defeated 3 – 1 at Selhurst Park below us bottom of the league. Last Saturday I made only my second away trip of the season to Liverpool’s Anfield. It was only my second trip to the stadium having seen Palace downed 3 – 2 in 2005. 2013’s version of events proved not to be very different as Palace was defeated 3 – 1. We could at least console ourselves for the journey home with the second half display winning it as we did courtesy of a Dwight Gayle glancing header his second goal of the season.

It strikes me disappointed though we may be with the start to our season can we really be that surprised. Missing as we are Murray and Williams to long term injuries with Bolasie only just available to face Liverpool and Jonathan Parr still struggling and as a result the threadbare nature of the squad even with the new recruitment policy can barely be expected to compete with others at the top level in the Premier League. The recruitment policy adds little more than confusion as Holloway struggles to bed down the new signings and find his best team.

This threadbare hand to mouth approach to recruitment and rotation in order to find the best team has got the short shrift it deserved in the early part of the season; an 0 – 2 home loss to Swansea, where we were fortunate to get nil was followed up by 2 – 0 defeats on the road at Old Trafford and Southampton. Outplayed on both occasions even if refereeing performances are poor and we were on the wrong end of some truly atrocious decisions at Manchester United we lost the right to complain when Chemakh dived against Southampton in another lacklustre display. Oh for the simpler days of Wilbraham, Andrew or Easter, Progress!

One thing I admire about our return to the top flight is the sense of excitement generated by each home and away match as each game is an event and each opponent a big game. With Fulham and Arsenal on the horizon it is hard to know which match is bigger; Arsenal, or Fulham because of its potential as a season defining fixture at the bottom of the league. Either way Selhurst will be packed to the rafters, the world and its dog in attendance simply due to the mass marketing appeal of the Premier League. No doubt the Holmesdale Fanatics will add to the unique atmosphere with the cracking display of pyrotechnics and fire crackers.

It was funny invading the sedate grounds of the prawn sandwich brigade of the North West Anfield and Old Trafford with smoke bombs and flairs, as I am not if these libraries had ever seen such brazen an invasion of loud supporters backing a team sadly so hopelessly outplayed on the pitch! Still at least we can enjoy ourselves off the field with witty song and banter and a truly unique cracking atmosphere produced by brilliantly loyal fan base home or away.

It is also great though from a footballing point of view to see world class quality players close up on the field in front of you. Swansea’s movement a fortnight ago at Selhurst was something to behold. Palace could do nothing but admire the speed of passing as they cut through our defences like a knife through butter leaving our midfield totally static. Even Jedi and KG were out of there depths. Watching players in close quarters like Sturridge, Gerrard, and Suarez is something to behold their skill and speed of thought and ability to finish world class. My only disappointment was not seeing Zaha line up for United again I fail to see why David Moyes refuses to use such a talent in a struggling side. Brilliant ex Eagles Routledge, Fonte, Clyne and Moses did line up against us for Swansea, Southampton and Liverpool respectively.

It has been a tough start to the season but the second half at Anfield offered real hope for more of a fight during the new season as new players bed in. Combination play between Kebe and Bolasie on the wings looked good and Jose Campana looks a class act in midfield, a real complement to hard tackling Jedinak and KG. The frontline though remains a concern. We miss Murray out till after Christmas, Cameron Jerome tries hard and Gayle shows courage and promise spurred on by the odd goal. The only unfortunate yet to settle being the expensive Chemakh, the less said the better suffice to say the jury is still out.

It was great to have Bolasie back in a Palace shirt again Vs Liverpool just in time for what is shaping up to be a season defining match against struggling Fulham before a classy Arsenal outfit come to town before the month of October is rounded off with an away trip to West Bromwich Albion. Now we only need Jonathan Parr and Glenn Murray and Jonny Williams to make speedy first team returns. One thing that is certain is that this Palace side will have to show commitment to the final day of the season against Fulham in the return fixture at Craven Cottage. This is not Palace’s best ever Premier League squad and given we have been relegated at the end of all our previous Premiership campaigns a strong work ethic alongside luck is going to be a necessity.

Ian Holloway will drum it home to his players the need to fight and scrap for every point never giving up. With Holloway’s passion, ability, and unerring positive beliefs one thing is certain this season will not be boring. The remainder of Palace’s 2013/14 will be memorable rather than boring and certainly will not be allowed to peter out without a bang.