Crystal Palace Will Go Down This Season

After a 4-0 defeat to fellow relegation battlers Sunderland on Matchday 24, Crystal Palace look down and out and destined to go down to the Championship.

Since Sam Allardyce has taken over as Palace boss the Eagles have won just 20% of their matches, 2 wins from 10 games. One of those wins came just last week against AFC Bournemouth so momentarily, things seemed to be on the up and up again for Allardyce’s team. But that all came crashing down when after just forty-five minutes of action against Sunderland, Crystal Palace went 4-0 down. Sunderland won every battle, Defoe ran riot, Moyes had a masterclass and Allardyce looked curfuffled. It was one of the worst first half displays of any side this season and if they continue to play like that, wins will certainly be hard to come by.

Crystal Palace should have never sacked Alan Pardew. In truth, the real problem began when Tony Pulis left the club but it was made much worse when the Eagles decided to sack the man that would have given everything to save the club he loves. Pardew often hasn’t had the best reputation among British fans but the Eagles were never in the relegation zone until they let go of the former Premier League Manager of the Season. Alan Pardew always had Palace looming dangerously close to the relegation zone, but always hovering above it which judging by Palace’s appointment of Sam Allardyce, is where they wanted to be. Selling Mile Jedinak was a terrible decision and losing Connor Wickham didn’t help but at times particularly last season, Pardew had Palace firing on all cylinders. They even made it all the way to FA Cup final and only lost in extra time. It seems as though Steve Parrish had lofty ambitions for the Eagles and thought that they should be challenging for a spot in Europe, which Pardew was clearly never going to achieve; but with the signing on of Big Sam that clearly went out the window as the priority became about survival. However, since Allardyce has come in as manager the club have gone backwards and now look destined to go down.

Sam Allardyce is a mess right now at Crystal Palace. The players don’t seem to be responding to him well and other than Wilfried Zaha not a single player seems to have any confidence in their game at the moment. He was often criticized at West Ham for playing “dinosaur like football” and with a peculiar 5-4-1 formation in recent weeks the former Blackburn and Bolton manager might find that criticism returning very soon. What he’s done in the transfer window hasn’t helped either. Patrick Van Aanholt’s a good player but not the type to save Palace’s season, at 12 million pounds Jeffrey Schlupp was horribly overpriced while the manager also seems to have alienated Andros Townsend and destroyed his confidence in the process as well. When you look in comparison to what the likes of Hull City and Sunderland have done in this window it’s hard not to bash Big Sam.

After a 4-0 defeat and a horribly lacklustre performance against David Moyes’ Sunderland, Crystal Palace now look practically destined to go down and even if they were to sack Sam Allardyce, there problems look nearly impossible for any man to fix.

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