Crystal Palace latest: If only Wilfried Zaha was playing as well as Gary Cahill

Opposing form | Zaha has struggled to rekindle his best while Cahill has impressed since arriving from Chelsea
REUTERS/David Klein
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_19 November 2019

The Wilfried Zaha transfer saga dominated much of Crystal Palace’s pre-season, but it was the free signing

The story up to now

Palace’s bright start sparked talk of a push for European places, but a run of tough games has brought things back down to earth a little. Wins at West Ham and Manchester United have been the highlights while, after woeful form at home last season, the Eagles are beginning to look more confident at Selhurst Park. If Palace are to establish themselves in the top 10, things need to improve going forward. Only Watford, with eight goals, have scored fewer than Palace’s 10.

The season so far in one word

Promising.

How the manager is doing

The club and fans appear split on Roy Hodgson. While everyone can see the organisation he has brought, many are agitated by his approach to matches, especially at home. A reluctance to give chances to players such as Max Meyer and Victor Camarasa has brought frustration, with many keen to see him attempt a more adventurous style of play. The view in Palace’s boardroom is more favourable. Chairman Steve Parish has hailed Hodgson for bringing a “period of stability like no other” and discussions have started on a new deal.

Best player

Gary Cahill. The former Chelsea man has been one of the signings of the season in the Premier League.

Biggest let-down

Wilfried Zaha. The Palace talisman made his intentions to leave over the summer as public as possible, but insisted his focus remained on the club after moves to Arsenal and Everton fell through. On the pitch, that has hardly appeared the case. Zaha has registered just one assist this season and has continually looked off the pace.

Crystal Palace squad 2019-20 | Injuries, contracts and squad numbers

1/21

All they want in time for Christmas is...

A clean bill of health. Palace have been left short in a few positions due to a lack of summer business. They are well stocked at centre-half, but injuries to Joel Ward, Patrick van Aanholt or Jordan Ayew would prove costly.

Fan happiness rating 6/10
Overall achievement grade C+

A fan’s view (Alan Palmer)

The job that Roy does is remarkable as he’s working with limited resources. I accept he can be conservative, but I think he’s more about pragmatism. He’s trying to get the best out of the resources at his disposal and I would support him getting an extension to his contract. I’m not sure there is anybody who could do a better job

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in