Aaron Ramsey’s late winner on Saturday evening rounded off what could be described as a pretty depressing week for us Palace fans.
However, the intensity of the Eagles performance against such a high quality opponent demonstrates both the hunger and desire within the Palace camp to not only survive this season, but to also compete at a decent level within the EPL.
Light at Last in the Crystal Palace Tunnel
With ex-manager Tony Pulis’ shock departure still the only main topic of conversation on everybody’s lips, it was universally accepted that Palace were ripe for a thrashing at The Emirates, lambs of the slaughter to Arsenal’s expensive, World superstars.
Indeed, picking up any English newspaper or surfing the internet for a media take on the Palace situation, one would have presumed this was a team of absolute strangers heading for North London. Such was the brutality in the reporting of Pulis’ departure, and the subsequent mocking of any player useless enough to have been playing in the famous red and blue, an alien would have believed Palace to be a set of no hopers who were lucky to even be playing in the EPL, let alone a team of players who finished in mid-table only just this May gone by.
One newspaper even encouraged its’ readership to ‘ditch any Palace players from your fantasy team’. Cruel, bullying, nasty reporting, you could say. But extremely beneficial material for caretaker manager Keith Millen’s pre-match team talk, which you could only presume did not require a lot in the way of motivational speech to his derided players.
For Palace came flying out of the blocks, albeit whilst the bus was parked, but when they did venture forward,they actually looked quite dangerous. Brede Hangeland’s accurate header from a first half corner was just reward for a solid defensive display. Pandemonium not only set into the vocal Palace fans, but also to my front room, where my three year old boy and I jumped around making lots of noise – a fantastic moment indeed.
Arsenal’s frustration at this and all filtered through to the stands, where Julian Speroni’s over elaborated goal kicks led to arguably justifiable claims of time wasting from the home fans. But the Eagles held firm, and for a few minutes, were winning until parity was restored with the Gunners’ equaliser right on half time. Palace, perhaps still in a celebratory state, were caught napping at the back, and Laurent Koscielny’s header was firm and true.
The expected second half barrage from Arsenal duly arrived, and was only really heightened with the red card of Jason Puncheon. ‘Punch’ was a real hero for Palace last year, scored some important goals, is a Palace fan and will feel as down as any other supporter, given that his second yellow card was a reckless challenge, and got nowhere near the football.
With the indication of five minutes of added time at the end of the game, most Palace fans knew the writing was on the wall though. Palace were never going to hang on for that long, under that intense pressure, and with a man less. Cue Ramsey’s tap in from some calamitous defending, and the resistance had been broken, dreams shattered and it was another disappointing end to a Palace story this week.
But on reflection, it was a brilliant Palace display of guts, determination and resilience. The work rate of the players ‘who could only play for Pulis’ was phenomenal. Marouane Chamakh even had sweat on his brow – a sight most Arsenal fans would never have dreamt possible, such was his reputation as a prima donna during his Arsenal and even early Palace career.
Incredible credit must go to Millen, the coaching staff and the players. Keeping the players both motivated and focused amidst the turmoil of Pulis’ departure, is a genuine credit to the professionalism of them all. The travelling Palace faithful once again out sung their more illustrious hosts – which is just par for the course these days from the club’s tremendous following.
A tribal following that now deserves a passionate, motivated leader, to drive these classy battlers forward and beyond this season. We are told to expect a new man at the Palace helm by Wednesday, and ex-Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood appears to be the new favourite for the role.
Not the most experienced manager, but a young man who is very passionate, seeks first team opportunities for youth players and an EPL winner as a player with Blackburn Rovers is surely not a bad fit for Palace right now.
What next? Another London derby this Saturday against West Ham United, at home. A winnable game? Possibly.
Yet I cannot get over the strange, but unlikely scenario of Pulis being in the Hammers’ dugout on Saturday. Was Pulis tapped up by West Ham? Well, poor old Sam Allardyce is in big trouble, and how ironic would it be for Palace to get their first win of the season at the weekend against the man the team cannot cope without? Stranger things have definitely happened at Crystal Palace.
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