In the aftermath of Crystal Palace’s defeat at home to Sunderland on Monday, 3rd November, or as I’d like to refer to it as Sundergeddon, the totally unthinkable crossed my mind… No, it’s not time for me to grow a beard in the vogue of Mile Jedinak or Joe Ledley (I wouldn’t want to wish that on anyone…), but the idea of replacing Joel Ward, yes Joel Ward, in this Palace side has started to pop up in my thought process. Now, before I’m hounded faster than Brighton & Hove Albion’s bank manager, hear me out…
I’m fully aware that Ward has been one of Palace’s best performing players over the past couple of seasons. Several Palace fans do not need to be reminded of this, but his displays last season under former Palace boss Tony Pulis earned rave reviews and led to the Emsworth-born player even gaining praise outside the SE25 circle. Calls for his inclusion in Roy Hodgson’s England squad seemed entirely justifiable thanks to Ward’s role in helping Palace ship as little as 20 goals in 24 games in Pulis’ short, but successful, tenure as Palace boss. With England’s circus of right-backs (Glen Johnson, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Kyle Walker I’m talking about you!) all flattering to deceive in the build-up to and during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Ward’s stock could not have been higher coming into the new season.
Fast forward to the new season and since the shock departure of Tony Pulis, Ward has been mainly used in a left-back role so far. He, like many others in this Palace side, has struggled to recreate the dizzy heights of last season. A victim of his own versatility and a victim of new £1.5 million signing Ezekiel Fryers, err, basically not being very good has led to Ward being unfairly pigeon-holed by new manager Neil Warnock in this role on the basis of his performances last season under Pulis.
Martin Kelly, another Palace acquisition in the summer, has essentially ruled out the possibility of Ward returning to his natural right-back position thanks to Warnock’s calls for Kelly’s return to the national side. And, with Fryers about a million years away from full fitness, there is certainly no way Ward should be dropped from Warnock’s eleven at this moment in time. But, with January’s shenanigans unfortunately on the horizon, the board and Warnock’s priority should be to bring in a match fit left-back to release the burden from one of the few gems in this rusty Palace crown.
Ward has the ability and the attributes to play anywhere across the back line and even in the middle of the park as he showed in games last season against Chelsea, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Manchester City (almost scoring a screamer in the process) giving me full faith that this is not the last we have seen of his marauding self in a red and blue shirt.
Follow Alex on Twitter – @APenge
