Yes! Yes! Yeehaah! Whoopie!
That is how delighted I am. Goodbye to a fantastic footballing year for Crystal Palace that built slowly as a transition and ended as a crescendo at Old Trafford and most pleasingly at the New Den on Saturday. As a fan there can be no greater pleasure then beating Bermondsies offering to the universe on their own patch. To be honest I would have settled for that and a quiet season but when you factor in a cup run, winning against Manchester United, and being the first team in history to beat Brighton in the league at their new stadium I would have bitten your hand off. The fact the history books will forever bear witness to Palace’s supremacy over Brighton illustrates how enjoyable a year 2011 has been.
The Millwall match is an illustration of the new fortitude and relative depth of the Palace squad this season. It also illustrates that Freedman is a rookie manager who learns from his mistakes and knows importance of getting the team to perform and win in massive games against bitter local rivals. Illustrated by our first win at the New Den since 1996 (Kasey Keller and all that.) Freedman’s influence is making it a season of landmarks but he is also growing in experience and this is shown by his team selection and his faith in squad players. This was demonstrated against Millwall in the absence of Julian Speroni with the selection of Lewis Price who played excellently and should be more than ready when called upon against Cardiff City.
Freedman also has flexibility in midfield and options up front. Resting Murray as part of the rotation for the busy festive period and month of fixtures ahead his replacement in the starting line up Jermaine Easter proved more than capable combining beautifully with strike partner Chris Martin to slot home the winner at the near post. Easter finished a neat move started by Wilf Zaha that saw Ambrose combine with Mile Jedinak in midfield to create the chance for Martin to feed Easter to finish and send the Palace fans into delirium. Palace deserved to win the game but again relied somewhat on defending deep in the second half relying heavily on the ample talents of Clyne and Parr at the back but there can be no doubt the win was deserved. Even if the victory could have been more comprehensive it could not have been better received, truly fantasic!
I like Dougie Freedman because instead of relying on his already obvious and sublime past achievements as a player with our club he is brave, clearly knows his players, and is not afraid to take risks to achieve. Against Millwall he was brave with his team selection chosing Martin and Easter over Murray and Scannell up front. He would have been criticized had he lost but he knew what needed freshening up from the disappointment of the Southampton match and strengthened the midfield with the creativity of Jedinak and Ambrose. It worked, putting Palace on the front foot exploiting a Millwall side clearly fragile on confidence. Spirit is strong and players want to play for him. Jermaine Easter is a case in point prepared to wait patiently for his chance, scoring goals consistently from the subs bench before taking his chance in the starting line up. A chance he did not waste scoring the goal in the first win at the New Den crowning Palace kings of South London. Happy New Year!
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