Dwight Gayle plucked from lower league obscurity and thrust into the big-time. The step up has been a steep learning curve. Playing away at Leyton Orient is nothing like playing away at Stamford Bridge and the adjustment has taken sometime but I think now Palace fans are reaping the rewards from an impressive Gayle.
Gayle has been different this year. Remarkably different. He is currently our top goal-scorer with 10 goals (in all competitions) and I’m sure there is more to come.
The question is what makes him deserving of this award?
Gayle has proved on numerous occasions that he knows where the net is, but it is his work-rate and willingness to adapt to different positions that has made him standout. Under Neil Warnock he was in and out of the side, but under Alan Pardew he has been a regular.
Recently, Gayle has played in a number of positions with this flexibility serving him well. It is not just Gayle but the whole team has been flexible and that is one reason why we have been successful in the opening months of the year.
It has always been a feature of Gayle’s; his finishing is probably the best out of the entire strikers we currently possess. It is that predatory instinct that sets him apart from other strikers at the club and it is what we have lacked for sometime; a striker that has the potential to score 10+ goals a season. All he needs now is a prolonged run in the team at centre-forward and then I feel the Selhurst Park faithful will see Gayle reach the heights we expect of him.
There is no doubting that he has matured since he joined the club at the start of last season, when he was a baby faced youngster filled with enthusiasm and eagerness. But under the tutelage of Tony Pulis, Warnock and now Pardew Gayle has added the quality that is needed to succeed in the Premier League.
The only thing left for Gayle to do now is to add consistency to his game. It is that vital ingredient that any player craves, it is one of the attributes that sets the great from the good.
If Gayle wants to become a goal-scoring legend like Andrew Johnson the only thing left for him to do is to score more goals on a weekly basis. Then I’m sure we will hear many more renditions of: Boom, Boom let me hear you say Gayle, Gayle…..
