I think it is fair to say that the signing of Jordon Mutch came as a surprise in the window to many Palace supporters. Another midfield player didn’t feel like a priority at a time where all the attention was on whether we could convince a highly rated striker to join the attack.
Instead, it seems the regular injuries suffered by Marouane Chamakh convinced Alan Pardew and the scouting network that we needed another presence in that area. Mutch had emerged with genuine top division quality in that position in a struggling Cardiff side, providing a constant goal threat as well as excellent link up play.
Mutch began his youth Career at Derby County before a move to Birmingham City at the age of 15, making his first team debut at 16. Spells on loan at Hereford and Doncaster followed as he built experience, but it was a whist on loan at Watford in the 2010/2011 season that Mutch began to show that goals were a feature of his midfield play.
The 2011/2012 season saw an exodus of midfield players at Birmingham and gave Mutch a chance to fully establish himself. Then manager Chris Hughton was hugely impressed and described difficulty in establishing where to play Mutch – as his natural game is to get forward, but he has the passing range to play deeper. A broken ankle disrupted his season, but he finished it strongly, scoring some key goals.
Birmigham’s well documented financial troubles meant that Cardiff were able to swoop in and purchase him for a rumoured £1million. Recurring foot injury issues meant that once again it was a stuttering season, but Mutch played 22 games in Cardiff’s promotion campaign – mainly used in a deeper midfield role.
Mutch, now fully fit, really found his feet in the Premier League. Playing a more adventurous role at Cardiff he was soon scoring and creating chances for others. His link up play with current Palace striker Fraizer Campbell meant that both his goals and assists played a huge part in Cardiff’s best Premier League moments.
Their relegation saw QPR pay £6million for his services. He played in a total of 11 games but was unable to cement a place in the side. With much of the business done in the summer at QPR being aimed at operating in a 3-5-2 formation, which was quickly abandoned, it was apparent Mutch’s role had effectively been eliminated from the side.
Mutch made the move to Palace on deadline day and a couple of days later found himself on the Selhurst turf as a replacement for Marouane Chamakh against Everton, following an injury to the Moroccan. He clearly had some adjusting to do – and being judged against the mercurial talents of Chamakh did him no favours as Palace lost the game. It was a dominating performance in possession for The Eagles, but chance creation lacked a spark and Mutch was looked upon as one of those responsible.
With Chamakh still out, Mutch started the game away at Leicester, with Dwight Gayle ahead of him. A combination of Leicester pressure and Gayle struggling to hold up the ball meant once again Mutch found it tough to get involved, although had a couple of nice moments towards the end of the half before being withdrawn at half time. Palace went on to win with Yaya Sanogo, Mutch’s replacement, leading the line and holding the ball better, allowing the midfield and attack to link.
Arguably Mutch can consider himself unfortunate that the tactics were not right in the first half, but nevertheless, some fans are making quick judgements on the player and are saying he is not up to it.
A lot of other fans, myself included, consider that to be ludicrous. Of course not all signings work out and the end result of the Mutch transfer could be that he struggles to get in the side and have an impact – however you really need to consider the full reality of the situation.
Firstly – you cannot write players off in these circumstances. Some Palace fans have in the recent past written off Mile Jedinak, Jason Puncheon, Wilfried Zaha, Yannick Bolasie, Joel Ward and, going a little further back, Julian Speroni.
The idea that in two short appearences within a fortnight of signing, Jordon Mutch’s ability and worth to the side can already be decided is laughable. Moreover, look at where he came from. QPR has not been a positive and happy environment for some time – our own Andrew Johnson spoke about the general atmosphere and quality of training in very negative terms last year.
Mutch has simply not played enough football to have the sharpness that you see in the Palace side from those who play week-in, week-out – and the environment at Palace is one where togetherness and team spirit is vital. It’s a big adjustment for Mutch as he looks to play his way into form.
Whenever a player is short on games, there is no real cure other than the obvious – playing games. The game time Mutch has managed already will help – but it will take time and, as a result, fans will need patience. We have seen this season with Wilfried Zaha that it can take a fairly long time for a player to get the confidence and rhythm back in their game – and a sensible manager to know how to manage it.
Mutch is a young player still, despite his considerable experience, and you only have to look at his performances at Cardiff to know what a player he potentially is. The idea of him breaking from midfield and supplying Gayle with chances or smashing the ball in the top corner from range is precisely the kind of play we often lack from the midfield areas.
This season I feel any real contribution will be a bonus – Mutch is a player who we can look to in helping us add something that has been missing from our talented and committed squad as we look to push on to the next level in coming seasons.
He will be best equipped to do that with the full support of the Palace faithful.
