It doesn’t take long to become a Palace cult hero and Andre Moritz was no exception, the Brazilian midfielder very quickly became a fans favourite in South London. Although he struggled to break into the starting 11 the Internacional youth product always made an impact off the bench. Moritz never failed to provide flair and chipped in with his fair share of goals, finishing the season on 5 goals.
The 28 year old joined Dougie Freedman’s Palace in 2012 after spending a vast amount of his career playing in Turkey. Moritz wasn’t your typical Brazilian player – granted he had attacking flair and technique in abundance and he never spent a moment in his own half defending he strangely for a Brazilian possessed power height and presence and I think that’s what made him such a hit in the Championship. I know people will argue with the fact he used to go down as if he had been shot after a challenge but you can’t get away from the fact the 6ft’1 attacker didn’t lack bite and aggression.
After promotion Mortiz sat down with manager Ian Holloway for crunch talks regarding a new contract, the former Rangers trialist made it clear he wanted assurances on his playing time and unfortunately struggling to get game time in the Championship didn’t bode well for getting consistent minutes in the Premier League and sadly he departed the club that summer. Most Palace fans were gutted to see one of their favourite players depart the club, especially when they heard the news he had partnered up with Dougie Freedman once again at Championship side Bolton.
I’m not sure if the fans were sad at the fact he had left or because they would be unable to sing one of my all time favourite songs of “Get Moritz out for the lads!”
I always seem to defend Ian Holloway after is complete destruction of Crystal Palace because as bad as he made us, he still managed to succeed in his task of taking us up and after all he is a really nice guy. On the other hand I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Holloway got a hell of a lot of things wrong at Palace and I for one believe letting Andre leave was a big mistake. Even at Bolton he proved a huge hit with the fans and was the shining light in what was a very poor side, he finished that season with 7 goals but his appearances were limited by injury.
That statement may surprise many Palace fans but I think Mortiz had the right attributes to thrive under the management of both Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew. The argument would be that he probably wouldn’t have had the work rate and discipline to become a success under Pulis but I think with a little guidance and dedication he almost becomes the perfect player for the Welshman. Pulis favoured a 4231 formation which suits Andre down to the ground as he could slot in comfortably in the ‘number 10 role’ and that height, power and presence I alluded to fits the requirements of the Tony Pulis criteria. If the current West Brom manager could have got Moritz working hard for him I think he could’ve been a revelation.
After Pulis ditched his players two days before the start of the season the club turned to Neil Warnock, I don’t think I can comment if Andre would’ve suited Warnock’s style as I don’t think even Neil knows what that is! Alan Pardew replaced the departing Warnock in January and I think Moritz would’ve had the flair to thrive under his stewardship. As we all know Pards is known for his expressive and expansive football and for a Brazilian player I don’t think he could hear his manager say two better words!
Moritz, who is represented by former Palace and England midfielder Andy Gray, is currently playing in South Korea and after leaving England he had a spell playing for Peter Reid in Mumbai.
Ultimately it’s hard to make a judgement in hindsight but I do believe had he been given a chance in England’s top division he could have gone down as an all time Palace great. Who knows what could have been, but for one last time I would like to write the words of “Get Mortiz out for the lads!”
