When Alan Pardew was initially linked with the Crystal Palace manager’s job I was surprised. It was not that I didn’t want him to join Palace, or that I was upset that Neil Warnock was leaving; it just didn’t seem like something “Palace would do”. Tony Pulis’ leaving when he did really set Palace’s plans for this season back. The timing was awful and it left Palace Chairman, Steve Parish scrambling for a replacement who could at least stabilize our start to the season. For me despite how it ended, I feel Warnock did help to stabilize us and he got us some players, got us some points and once things began to fall apart he was relieved of his managerial duties.
Super Alan Pardew has obvious ties to Palace, having played for us from 1987-1991 with “that winning headed goal” in the 1990 FA Cup Semi-Final vs. Liverpool being his highlight in a Palace shirt. His return to Palace makes sense. He has a relationship with Parish, he is a former player, his family still lives in the area, he is an established Premier League Manager and he was the overwhelming choice of our fan base to take over the job of keeping us in the Premier League. It was an extremely bold move by the Palace board, catching many of us by surprise.
The start to his Palace managerial career could not have been any better. As I write this Palace are undefeated under Pardew, having advanced to the 4th Round of the FA Cup and are in the lofty heights of 13th Place in the Premier League. His first match in charge was a 4-0 FA Cup 3rd Round win over Dover AFC. That match saw the return to the Palace lineup of fan favourites Wilfried Zaha, Barry Bannan, Glenn Murray and Dwight Gayle. Most that saw the lineup for this match were very happy, especially as there was the added bonus of Joel Ward being returned to his preferred right back position. The match saw two goals by Scott Dann, and one each by Dwight Gayle and Kevin Doyle which allowed the new “Pardew Palace” to avoid the upset over the Conference side. It was also what many described as a very professional, business-like performance with Dover AFC failing to register a single shot on the Palace goal, leaving keeper Wayne Hennessey with not only a clean sheet but a clean kit. During that match Pardew had his name sung, loudly and boisterously, by the Palace fans as soon as the match began and he replied with a nice salute to them at the end. Things were off to a great start.
Next was a league match against a very good Spurs side on a January Saturday evening and Pardew’s Selhurst Park debut as a home manager. He came out to rapturous applause, again hearing the fans singing his name loudly. A different looking Palace lineup that under previous manager Neil Warnock, saw players like Bannan, Murray and Adlene Guedioura get a chance to contribute to an exhilarating 2-1 come from behind victory on goals from Gayle and a seemingly rejuvenated Jason Puncheon. What was most interesting to me and others were the post match of Pardew where the phrase “maverick behaviour” was coined. It was his way of saying he wanted players with “flair and technique” to express themselves whenever they could. The introduction to the game of Guedioura and Zaha in the second half certainly added some “maverick behaviour” to Palace’s play in the second half as both helped contribute to the victory with some nice touches and pieces of skill.
It was now on to Burnley and Pardew’s first away league match as Palace manager. This match could not have started worse as the 4-4-2 formation that Pardew employed, with new Arsenal loanee signing Yaya Sanogo, up front with Dwight Gayle, was down 2-0 in the first 17 minutes. Questions begun to arise as to whether this formation choice was right as our midfield seemed to be getting over run. How would Pardew react? What he did was switch Zaha from the left side to the right, move Puncheon more central to team up with Joe Ledley and James McArthur and move Gayle to the left side with Sanogo left up top. The move proved to one of genius as Zaha would set up Gayle for a goal after 28 minutes, Puncheon would score just after the start of the second half from this new central midfield position and Gayle would score a tremendous match winner in the 88th minute to secure Pardew’s second come from behind with as a Palace manager in as many matches.
I have to admit I had my concerns with the Pardew appointment. Not so much with his record, as he was successful by most supporters’ standards in the Premier League with Newcastle, though many Newcastle fans would disagree with me. My concerns were more on his tactical approach as he seemed to favour the 4-4-2, a system that I personally feel has passed the Premier League by. In truth tactics are fluid as formations and the best managers adapt their tactics and formations to the players they have or acquire. The current Palace side seems a lot more comfortable in a 4-2-3-1 formation with our use of speedy outside players to catch teams on the counter attack, while sitting back and absorbing pressure. I don’t think this is a style Pardew is entirely comfortable with taking into account his “putting the ball at risk” comment he made only days after taking over Palace. In a very short sample Pardew has proved that he is flexible manager 1) see the Dover lineup 2) see the subs versus Spurs and 3) see the formation change vs. Burnley. Obviously Pardew will mould this team into “his team” but allow it to keep the character that has made it successful. It is early days but the beginning looks promising. Things are looking good in the Land of the Eagles and it looks like we may have found a new “Prince of the Palace.”
But it is early…
You can follow Patrick on Twitter over at @PatrickEagles
