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.