It's been a dream start to the 2015/16 Premier League season as they find themselves in 2nd place as we head in to the international break. After pulling off the biggest upset of this weekend when they were victorious at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, I discuss whether they have the potential to make it into a European competition.
Position : 2nd
Points : 9
Results : Norwich 1-3 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal
Crystal Palace 4-1 Shrewsbury Town
Crystal Palace 2-1 Aston Villa
Chelsea 1-2 Crystal Palace
Fixtures : Manchester City (H)
Tottenham (A)
Charlton (H)
Watford (A)
Having looked at their results alone, what you can see from Crystal Palace is two things: goals and consistency, both at home and away. Both of these qualities are going to be needed if they are to challenge for places in Europe this year and it's good to see that they've started this season by demonstrating that they have these qualities. However these are not the only things that see a team into Europe so let's go more in depth and discuss what else will help Palace have a season to remember.
The Manager's experience
Despite him being criticised by Newcastle fans for the job he did there, Palace fans will have nothing but praise for Alan Pardew for the job he is doing. His 4-2-3-1 formation has been a perfect suit for his players and ever since he's joined the London club, they've looked a much improved side. Pardew is very capable of leading a side to European qualification as he proved to everyone in the 2011/12 Premier League campaign where he led his Newcastle side to a 5th place finish, an achievement which Palace fans will be hoping he can emulate with their club this season. Now into his 18th year of management Pardew will be hoping to add to the 2 trophies which he has picked up in his career and having achieved a 61.54% win rate since joining the London side, it looks like this could be the club where he adds more trophies to his record. The English manager seems to have: the respect of his players, fans and chairman, all the makings of a successful club.
Threat from out wide
The area in which Palace manage to tear opposition defences to pieces is in the wide attacking areas. Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie in particular find freedom in Pardew's 4-2-3-1 in the LAM and RAM roles. They are two of the most feared wide men in the Premier League due to their pace, trickery and their ability to whip a cross in is exceptional. Pardew seems to get the best out of Yannick Bolasie as although he still doesn't score many goals, Bolasie causes defenders all sorts of problems and now he has become a nightmare for full-backs to play against. Zaha's talent has never been questioned as we all knew he was capable of great things and he is a magician at times with a football, however since arriving at Palace he really has matured and taken his game to the next level. He now looks stronger with the ball at his feet and his decision making on whether to shoot or pass has improved dramatically. I personally used to think that he was a bit too weak when playing against a full-back who was fast and strong however I think that Pardew identified this and has helped Zaha to begin growing into one of the Premier League's best wide midfielders. If these two players stay fit then there is no stopping Palace's fine start to the season from continuing and hopefully these two can be stars for many years to come.
Games against the top teams
Crystal Palace had a tough month having had to play both Arsenal at home and Chelsea away in the first 4 games of the season. In the home game against Arsenal, in which Palace suffered their only defeat of the campaign so far, they played outstanding football at times and were unlucky not to get anything from the game. Pardew's side showed how organised they were defensively but more importantly they showed that they weren't afraid to take the game to a top team. If Connor Wickham's effort at the start of the second half had found the back of the net and not the post then Palace could have won it but it wasn't meant to be. Pardew's men headed to Stamford Bridge to face last year's champions in a game which I thought Chelsea would start a winning streak after defeating West Brom last week. However it was Pardew's men who ended up victorious when they produced the shock of the weekend. In this game, despite Chelsea's dominance for large periods of the game, the Crystal Palace players showed their resilience to be beaten and their determination to be the top teams as they put in a strong defensive performance and they're counter attacking football was absolutely sensational. When you're playing against the best teams in the league you need a player to step up and produce a moment of magic to win the game and for Crystal Palace, this came from an unlikely source in the form of Joel Ward. The right-back scored the equaliser against the Gunners with an insane strike from the edge of the 18 yard box and he also scored the winner against Chelsea showing that anyone in this Palace squad has the capabilities to score in big games and with Man City and Tottenham to play straight after the international break, Crystal Palace have yet another chance to prove themselves as European challengers.
Teamwork
My final point on what's working well for Palace so far and what they need to continue doing to such a high standard is their teamwork. Crystal Palace are one of the best teams to watch play in the Premier League at the moment due to how well they play together. Palace and Leicester are very similar as they are proving that you don't need to spend 100's of millions to match the best teams in the league as they've discovered the best way forward in my opinion. This tactic is to build a squad with players that suit the team you have in order to have achieve a squad with the same ambitions and playing style that suits the fans, manager and their fellow players. Watching Palace play against Arsenal and seeing highlights of their other games, what you see is a squad with real understanding of each other's game. This has clearly been worked on in training and this has helped squad morale massively as there appears to be a real togetherness in the squad and credit has to be given to the players, manager and the chairman especially as he has allowed Pardew to sign the players he thinks suits the squad the best.
Everything looks to be going great for Crystal Palace so far this season and with the good relationship between manager Alan Pardew and Chairman Steve Parish and how well Alan Pardew is respected by both fans and players alike, it seems like it's going to be a very successful year for Crystal Palace and I hope they qualify for a European competition and prove to the top clubs around the world that money does not buy success!
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