Crystal Palace - Just how doomed are they?

If you'd have told the average football fan that the first managerial sacking of the season would take place after just four games he'd most likely have laughed in your face. He'd be in hysterics when you then said Roy Hodgson would manage in the Premier League again. And he'd down right call you a liar when you then suggested that after the first 6 games the side at the bottom of the league would have zero points and zero goals. Now imagine the reaction when you tell him all of the pre-mentioned points happened to the same club. Come on in, Crystal Palace.  

  

Crystal Palace. Just how has it gone so wrong so quickly? As the 2016/2017 season drew to a close, The Eagle's finished in a very respectable 14th position. With Benteke firing in the goals, Zaha causing havoc down the flanks, and Sahko looking solid at the back, it appeared that Palace where on the up. Well you asked and you shall receive, May 23rd 2017, Big Sam quits. The former England manager (very briefly yes, but still former England manager) had taken over at Selhurst Park and, despite some early turmoil, got his side playing the 'Big Sam way' in time for the Palace faithful to be able to watch another season of Premier League football this time around. The reason for Allardyce's departure appeared to be his desire to retire from management, stating he 'has no ambition to take another managerial position'. This was HUGE for Palace as Sam Allardyce's tactics had been what kept them up, and it had taken time to drill those tactics into the side. Now it was back to square one, and who was the man for the job?  

  

Frank De Boer. The legendary Dutch centre back was tasked with carrying on from where Big Sam had left off. And what did he do? The exact opposite. Now, modern day football is much more tuned to the style of football De Boer wanted to play, a style similar to that of the Ajax side he was a part of for a decade. The Ajax side that managed to win five league titles, two domestic cups, and one Champions League title as well as one UEFA Cup. An Ajax side with the likes of Patrick Kluivert, Jari Litmanen, Frank Rjjkaard, Edgar Davids and Marc Overmars just to name a handful. One of the great sides in European history, playing one of the most attractive styles of football we've seen, and De Boer tried to translate a similar style to Crystal Palace. It doesn't take a genius to see how poor of a decision this was from De Boer, but when you look back at his former managerial roles you have to wonder, why did the club hire him in the first place? When Steve Parish sat down with the board of directors, and ironed out the deal to appoint Frank De Boer, did anyone in the room ask "Why are we hiring him?" A club that had clung onto Premier League survival with a manager famed for keeping poor teams up with an ugly, long ball and hard tackling style of play, wanted to hire a man who had only ever managed sides who, for one, were HUGE sides in their domestic leagues, and two, played fast paced, slick, attacking football. If this HAD been asked maybe Parry would have responded with "Yes but look at his success at Ajax!" Which would be a fair argument, De Boer did win four league titles in his first four years at Ajax... but then failed to win the Eredivisie in either of his final two seasons before leaving for Inter Milan. What happened at Inter you ask? I'm glad you brought it up! After spending big in the summer, the new manager was fired after just 88 days in charge. So, this was the man Palace we're hiring, not the legendary Dutch defender, not the all-conquering Ajax manager, but a man who's track record over the last three years could rival any as the worst in management. In all fairness to De Boer however, after a slow start, and by slow start I mean four defeats from four with ZERO goals, his side did appear to be slowly but surely, adapting to his style of play. But just like that, it appeared Steve Parish did some research into his new manager, and showed the Dutchman the door in record time. 4 games, 4 defeats, no goals, and now no manager. How could it possibly go worse?  

  

Roy Hodgson. That's how!  

  

Crystal Palace had managed to appoint their second former England manager in less than one calendar year. Take that however you like but the appointment of the 70 year old made him the oldest appointment in Premier League history. I'd pay to be a fly on the wall of any Palace fan for the moment they discovered the man who failed to manage England to a victory over Iceland, was now the captain of their rapidly sinking ship. In fairness to Roy, when in charge of 'smaller' sides he famously does quite well. He lead Fulham to a Europa League final, and over achieved with West Brom. But you have to ask yourself, is there ANY appointment in football history which has drawn less enthusiasm then this? Actually yes. When Hodgson was given the England job over Harry Redknapp! (But we won't go into that.) So, what has Roy done since being given the job? Has he registered Palace's first points of the season? No, two defeats, including a 5-0 hammering by Manchester City. Well surely they've scored a league goal by now? Again no, that makes it 6 games without a goal for Crystal Palace. And as if things couldn't get any worse, their top goalscorer and record signing from last season Christan Benteke is said to be out for up to 6 weeks with injury. This news means that, going into an extremely tough away trip to Manchester United, Palace have ZERO fit strikers. THIS is the chance for Roy to prove he isn't past it! This is the chance for him to earn the trust of the Palace fans! Solve this crisis, get some goals on the board, and prove the doubters wrong. Wait... he's after Carlton Cole to replace Benteke? FREE AGENT Carlton Cole? The man who hasn't scored a single goal for his last three clubs? Not a bright upstart from the academy, not a youngster on the fridges of the side, Carlton Cole. What was that I said about unenthusiastic?  

  Do you know what this reminds me off? Cast your mind back to 2008, Derby County, mid way through their first season back in the top flight of English football. They were rock bottom of the league and looked destined for relegation, and what did they do? They signed Robbie Savage and gave him the captain's armband. The rest is history as Derby ended with a historically low 11 points, which included just one win. Could Palace be on for a similar season? The signs are all there.  

The new boys - How the newest members of the Premier League are coping.

As the 2015/2016 Premier League season pushes towards the busy Christmas period, now seems like an appropriate time to see how the newly promoted sides are competing in the top flight of English football. Many newly promoted teams over the past decade have struggled in their first season, and have in some cases suffered relegation back down to the championship at the first time of asking. With the bottom of the Premier League famously being very tight, with many sides struggling to push into the top half, teams coming up from the championship now have as good a shot as any side to stay in the division. The tight competition, along side the apparent decline in quality from many lower Premier League outfits means that newly promoted sides are no longer the targets for the big guns as they used to be. With Watford, Bournemouth and Norwich City the newest sides to join the top tier of English football, I will compare each of their starts to the season, and give my prediction on whether or not they will stay up.

Many followers of English football describe the Championship as the hardest league to get out of in Europe. And with the title race, more often then not, going to the final day, and the battle for the play offs captivating the nation season after season, this claim is one which holds particular merit. So to win the championship is an incredibly difficult task, and one which requires a side to stand above the rest. AFC Bournemouth's performances throughout the season drew many compliments as they where being noted as the best footballing side in the league, and this led to them winning the title. When you consider that Bournemouth where the smallest side in the division and have a capacity of only just 12,000 in their home ground of Dean Court, winning the championship becomes even more impressive. For a side of this size, you have to wonder whether they could handle the Premier League, against some of the biggest and richest sides in the world and prior to the kick off of the 2015-2016 season, this factor had many people picking Bournemouth as their faviourites for relegation.

However, the performances from the cherries caught a lot of fans by surprise, despite defeats in their opening two games, the bravery shown in the performances, particularly away at Anfield showed the fans that they could fight to stay up! The following week AFC recorded their first win, a 4-3 victory over West Ham, with Callum Wilson firing in a hat-trick and instantly pushing him into stardom in the league. A steady run of results following the win looked to be showing signs of improvement for Bournemouth, however an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury has ruled out top goalscorer Wilson for the remainder of the season, which will have many fans of the side worried. In the last two game weeks the winners of the 2014/2015 Championship title where reminded of the quality of the Premier League elite, losing two back to back games 5-1 to Manchester City and Spurs respectively. After 10 games the Cherries sit just outside of the relegation places, a position anyone involved with the club would surely accept right now. The question is, without their star man Callum Wilson can Bournemouth survive in the Premier League?

The play offs are always entertaining to watch and perhaps throw up the best action in the championship season. The winners of this mini-tournament earn promotion to the premier league, and the teams placed 3rd-6th get the chance to fight for a place in the final at Wembley, with the winner being the third and final side to join England's elite that season. Norwich City are the side who claimed this sort after spot in the 2014/2015 season and earned their place in the top tier of English football. Out of the three promoted sides, Norwich are the team with the most recent premier league experience, after only being relegated to the championship at the end of the 2013/2014 season. This could possibly give an advantage to the canaries ahead of this season as they know what it is like in the premier league, unlike the other to promoted sides who boast very little experience between them.

Norwich where perhaps the faviourites out of the newly promoted sides to stay up at the start of the season, with a combination of top flight experience and having perhaps the strongest squad out of the three, Norwich looked in a good position to survive. In their first four games, Norwich managed only one victory, but the performances where there and improving, as it looked like the players where getting used to the standard of the Premier League. City then went unbeaten through September, with two wins and two draws in the league, as the team appeared to be jelling and picking up very important early points. However, the key to survival in the Premier League is consistency, and despite a very good September, Norwich have failed to pick up a single point in the month of October this season and with their last fixture of the month away at Manchester City, it appears like that trend will continue. Norwich are currently sat in 16th position, and will almost certainly have to improve their consistency if they will to survive in the top flight.

The final sides out of the newly promoted that I will take a look at is Watford. Quique Flores's side finished just one point behind Bournemouth in the championship and earned the second automatic promotion spot in the Championship. Watford spent a single season in the Premier League in the 2006/2007 season and despite playing entertaining football where relegated straight back to the Championship. Since then the Hornets have flirted with the possibility of promotion, with many play-off appearances, but they have always fell just short. Having finally secured promotion last term, Quique Flores has brought in a few big names to help strengthen his team and to increase the chance of survival. Perhaps the biggest being former Spurs midfielder Etienne Capoue, the Frenchman had produced solid performances for Spurs, which earned his much acclaim throughout England. This addition, a long side a few others, had left Watford in a strong state to start the season.

Despite taking longer then any other promoted side to register their first win, Watford where also the only promoted side not to lose their opening league game, not being defeated until 29th August away at Man City. After that result, the Hornets went on the collect back to back victories, and the points started to come in on a consistent basis. One win, One draw and One defeat in the month of October is a steady run of form for a newly promoted team, which sees them currently sat in 13th position, the highest of any newly promoted team. This early position will impress anyone involved with the club, and it is a sign of content for the side early in the season.

10 games into the season, the new boys in the Premier League have all shown relatively good accounts of themselves. With all three sides turning in some strong performances, they all have a chance to stay up if they can get a consistent run of results together between not and May. My Prediction: Bournemouth - Relegated (sadly) Norwich - Safe (but only just!) Watford - Safe (The top performers of the new sides in the league).