When Patrick Viera was announced as Crystal Palace Manager. 9 first team players had already left and most of the team was aging. Expectations were low. Some predicted Palace to get relegated & some predicted Patrick Viera was going to get the boot.The people who had these predictions had great concern.
Palace had made some great transfer business and they were just rejected by Lucien Favre, a manager with greater pedigree. Patrick Viera had no definite style of play nor definite system judging from his time at Nice, where he was sacked for stagnating the club.
Little Did they know that Patrick Viera would guide Crystal Palace to a 12th placed finish while playing some of the prettiest football seen at Selhurst Park.With highlights including going unbeaten against Manchester City & Arsenal ,Beating Manchester United on the final day of the season,Outplaying Chelsea for 88 minutes at Selhurst Park ,their 3-0 annhilation of Tottenham Spurs and them reaching the F.A Cup Semi-Final.
His next challenge is to establish Palace as a Top Half side.With Player Of The Season Conor Gallagher returning to Chelsea.The Right Back Slot needing desperate upgrading, The future of Top scorer Wilfried Zaha uncertain and Roy Hodgson's influence on the squad starting to wear off. This may have the makings of a horrible season.
WHY PATRICK VIERA SHOULDN'T WORRY YET?
With Odsonne Eduard,Michael Olise ,Eberechi Eze & Jean-Philippe Mateta, he may be able to replace Zaha's goals if he leaves. This is pretty much a young squad and since most of his recruits were adapting to the physicality of the Premier League. As the younger players gain more experience, the team will get automatically kicksr.
RECRUITMENT IS KEY
Crystal Palace's main areas of concern are RIGHT BACK, Conor Gallagher Replacement ,modern GOALKEEPER and how they recruit in these areas will define their upcoming season.
Right Back
With Michael Olise the only Palace Player creating more than 1.5 chances per90 and with both Joel Ward and Nathaniel Clyne failing to register a chance p90 combined. A more attacking right back will be needed to ease the burden on Olise & Mitchell. Getting more from their fullbacks will be crucial since both Ward & Clyne are over 30 & none of them were ever good. It is a no brainer that Right Back should be first priority.
My First choice would have been Djed Spence since he was arguably the best right back in the past championship season and he had some steller displays against Arterta's tricky Arsenal & Top-Half Leicester in the FA Cup.while playing for a promotion play-off pushing Nottingham Forest. With Spence also fitting the transfer policy but since Palace is competing with Teams in Europe, It would be unrealistic to think Spence would sacrifice possibly playing in the UCL for a top-half race.
Djed Spence
So better alternatives are needed with Palace needing a Right Back that creates,progresses while contributing defensively with great effect and could also play multiple roles when needed. My 2 possible options are:Max Aarons, Ethan Laird(on loan from Manchester United With my pick being Max Aarons.
He is premier league proven and he will be cheaper since Norwich got relegated. He was solid defensively last season and he can put up decent attacking returns.He also has experience playing in a possession-based system with Norwich in the championship.
CONOR GALLAGHER'S REPLACEMENT
Conor Gallagher was one of the success stories of the past prem season as a creative box-to-box midfielder. He showed why the 4-3-3 system was right for Viera.
He scored 8 goals & 3 assists in the Prem while also averaging 3.56 tackles & interceptions p90.Competing 24 pressures p90 ranking in the 90th+ percentile per90 among midfielders in Europe's top five leagues for :
Non-Penalty goals: 96
NpXG:95
NpxG+xA:92
Dribble completed:92
Touches(Attack Pen): 93
While also ranking in 88th & 89th percentile for Shots total and progressive passes received respectively. Finding a like-for-like player of this caliber is costly and I doubt Palace has the financial means necessary to purchase one. He can either change the system and add an existing player in the squad to the XI or change the role of the 8's in the system to defend the wide spaces giving more space to the wings for the fullbacks to create.If reports are to believed that Palace are lining up a £20 million swoop for Cheick Doucoré, it will be interesting to see how he replaces Gallagher. Nonetheless a replacement is crucial.
Modern Keeper
Palace were solid defensively with only the top-four and Lage's stubborn Wolves posing a better defensive record.A goalkeeper would be crucial since neither of Butland & Guaita cemented their place as the undisputed number 1. Signing a goalkeeper would go a long way in keeping the solid defense as highlighted by José Sa at Wolves. The keeper must be comfortable with the ball on his feet while also being quick off his line and can claim crosses.
Luis Maximiano would be perfect for this role. Still only 23 & relegated with Granada. He will be a cheap option that will improve Palace in the short & Long term.
He ranks in the 89th percentile for PsXg + GA per 90.One might say his 58% save percentage is average but we must not forget he was playing for a relegated Granada.He ranks in the 90th percentile for Launch %,He also ranks for 99th percentile for Goal Kicks and 82th percentile for Avg.length of goal kicka among keepers in Europe's top five leagues.Highlighting how good on the ball he is.He is also a comfortable sweeper as shown by him ranking in:
Def.Actions outside pen.area: 90th percentile and 88th percentile Average Distance of Def.Actions.
He reportedly has a £7.25 million release clause which is cheap considering his great qualities.
All things considered I think Palace may improve from their 12th place finish if they keep their stars and get their recruitment right but its going to be tougher with teams like Everton getting back on track next season.
Find out later where I place Palace in my Premier League predictions and who do you think Palace should sign if they want to improve?
Ciao!!
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