First of all, when you talk about Marouane Chamakh, you have to look at how he came to be at Palace in the first place. Chamakh turned professional at French Club Bordeaux in the 2002-2003 season, scoring his first professional goal in May 2003 against Nice as an 18 year old.
Including his youth contract, Chamakh spent 10 years at Bordeaux, operating initially in a “support striker” role before moving up front. When used as a target man, the goals tended to dry up, but as the main forward, Chamakh found the net with regularity in both domestic and European competition.
In the 2009 – 2010 season, Arsenal made a bid of €7 million for the forward’s services, however the bid was considered too low and he remained at Bordeaux. It was widely reported soon after that an £18million bid and a significant contract offer was received from West Ham. Chamakh remained committed to his club and reiterated that he would stay put.
In his final season, Bordeaux had a superb Champions League run, ended by rivals Lyon, which was led by Chamakh’s goals. Perhaps overstretching themselves, they failed to qualify for Europe and on expiry of his contract, Chamakh was free to secure a move away.
Despite attention from Liverpool and Tottenham, both previously linked with bids for the Moroccan, it was Arsenal who won the race for his signature. His first season started brilliantly as his all round game and goalscoring seemed to fit his new club perfectly. At the turn of the year, however, a combination of burn-out and the return from injury of Robin Van Persie meant that Chamakh was regularly on the bench – resulting in over 3 months without scoring.
The next season saw him make just 11 appearances and scoring just once, with no real chance to build up a run of games. Chamakh’s reputation began to drift as he was considered a failure at Arsenal. The following season saw him score twice in Arsenal’s 7-5 win against Reading in the League Cup. The Gunners had been 4-0 down in the game and he was one of the catalysts for the recovery. In spite of this, he had very few minutes on the pitch and in January was loaned to West Ham for the rest of the season.
Despite being promised games, Chamakh made just 3 appearances for the East Londoners to end a miserable season. Chamakh returned to Arsenal for the next season in the final year of his contract.
In August 2013, Palace moved to bring him to Selhurst Park under then-manager Ian Holloway. By this time, rather than surprise at Palace being able to attract a player of such quality, the fans of most Premier League clubs were dismissive of the move and even laughed at the notion that Chamakh would be the man who could keep Palace up.
Many Palace fans were, at the very least, apprehensive about the signing, such was his reputation at the time. The deal, as later revealed by Steve Parish on Holmesdale Radio, involved Palace taking on Chamakh’s final year of his contract at Arsenal, but with Arsenal paying a proportion of the wage. Parish stating in fact that when Chamakh played against Arsenal, they were paying him more than Palace were.
The deal was soon shown to be one of the best in recent Palace history. Chamakh hit his first Palace goal against Stoke, showing anticipation, strength and a cool head to slot the ball home. It was clear he was a player who was short on confidence and who had simply not played enough football but the effort and ability shone through from day one.
As the main forward, however, it was clear that he did not shoot enough. When he did shoot, his conversion rate was incredible. In fact at one stage he had 4 goals from 5 shots on target. He really came alive on the appointment of Tony Pulis and a subsequent move to an attacking midfield role – the “No. 10” behind the striker. All of sudden, Palace had a link between midfield and attack. His strength in the air gave Palace a presence for a long “out” ball, but it was the intricate play when quickly counter-attacking that was so important. Chamakh could be relied upon to be given the ball and not waste it, which was key for the way the team played.
What became more and more noticeable was that a confident and settled Marounane Chamkah also gave something else – incredible work rate in defending from the front. Chasing down defenders, dropping into midfield and winning the ball or chasing back to make a last ditch challenge – he did it all. When he was out of the team, his presence was hugely missed.
The level of disbelief from away fans when they saw him shows just how much of a difference there had been . It also emphasised what a coup the signing was in the first place. To put it in perspective, when Chamakh signed for Arsenal he was valued in excess of £10million. At the start of the same season, Palace had George Burley in charge and the strikers for that season included Alan Lee (who was sold to Huddersfield), Steffan Iverson, Jermain Easter, Calvin Andrew, Pablo Counago, James Vaughan (loan) and Ibra Sekajja.
Palace finished that season in 20th place, with Vaughan and Neil Danns as joint top scorers with 9 apiece. The very idea that Marouane Chamakh would be a key Palace player 3 years on was preposterous and really shows how far the club has come in such a short space of time.
Fast forwarding to this season and Chamakh began well – scoring in his second game against West Ham after a good performance against former club Arsenal on the opening day. He was superb against Newcastle before going off injured – which led to a spell of Neil Warnock using him off the bench. Chamakh under Warnock can really be summed up as the games where he played well tended to be the games where the team played well. Looking back at the win against Liverpool and the 0-0 away at Spurs, Chamakh was excellent in both games, but did not seem to have the same level of influence as the team struggled for results.
An injury in the game against Stoke put him out of contention as Palace lost heavily to Man City and Southampton. Drab draws against QPR and Aston Villa followed before the appointment of Alan Pardew as manager.
Pardew’s influence in turning the side into a potent attacking force left many, myself included, forgetting the fact we had the talismanic Moroccan to return and when he was fit, it was deemed fit to argue that he’d have to wait to get back into a winning team.
His return, as alluded to in the title, was against Southampton in the FA Cup. Chamakh was quite simply head and shoulders above every player on the pitch. It was a masterful display that was full of the energy, technique and class we have come to love about his play, but he added goals to his game too. Brilliant anticipation and determination to be first to a spilled save – where from behind the goal I had assumed he’d get nowhere near the ball – to poke it into the net for his first. Coolness personified as he bent a run into the box perfectly to collect a magnificent pass from Joel Ward on his chest, before rounding Fraser Forster and stroking the ball home as the Palace support lost their minds.
Seeing Chamakh play like that, if only for an hour as he returns to full fitness, you can’t help but feel that at 31, playing in the No.10 role, he might be about to hit the peak of his powers. Under Pardew, the shackles are off going forward, so he will get more opportunities for goals and is playing with team-mates whose ability and confidence are giving him more options to link with. Puncheon, Zaha, Sanago, McArthur, Gayle and Bolasie are all capable of the kind of interplay he needs to function at his best.
It has been said by myself and others a number of times – but in terms of sheer technical ability, Marouane Chamakh is the best player we have had at Palace since Atilio Lombardo. He is happy and valued by players and fans alike and the result is that we have a player that just 4 years ago we’d have been accused of delusion for mentioning as a player to sign.
It is incredibly tough at the moment to find a place for all of our favourites in the team right now – but one thing the Southampton cup game has reminded me is that the first name on the team sheet should be that of the Moroccan Bergkamp – Marouane Chamakh.
