January 1 2016

Holmesdale Road end at Selhurst Park (Photo: Andy Roberts)

Ever since Alan Pardew took over at Crystal Palace they have stopped worrying about the prospect of facing relegation in May, and are now aiming at a European spot.

The past two seasons have ended in two mid-table finishes and it’s only natural that the people at the club are now thinking of achieving even greater things, like finishing in the Top 6 or at least the Top 8 come May.

Together with the steady climb up the table there has been an obvious evolution in Crystal Palace's playing style. Fast counter attacks were Palace’s trademark last year, with Puncheon, Bolasie and Zaha bombing forward at the speed of light. This season Pardew hasn’t discarded this strategy, but he has noticeably insisted on more possession based playing style, where the players are required to maintain possession of the ball and slow down the tempo of the game.

This change has proven to be very popular amongst supporters and many of them found it as appealing as the latest casino bonuses, which in all honesty have been more than generous. This is arguably because Palace are no longer the underdog that is relying on a physical and direct approach in order to punish more attack minded opponents on the counter, but they are now the favourite and have to face teams which are basically utilizing their tactic from last season against them.

This evolution of their playing style has been really fun to watch, since they now enjoy more time on the ball, but there is one problem, and that’s the lack of goals. Ironically, at the beginning of the season Pardew was claiming that as long as his side could outscore the opponent, he won’t be worried if they couldn’t keep a clean sheet.

Since that statement was made (ahead of the Spurs game) Palace have kept 6 clean sheets and scored 15 goals in 14 games, 5 of which came in the win against a dreadful and out of confidence Newcastle side. That’s little more than a goal per game, and if we take away the Newcastle game, it equals to a goal per two hours of football being played. So why is this happening? Why is a side famous for outscoring opponents relying so heavily on keeping clean sheets to grind out wins?

Well, there are several reasons. First of all, Palace are probably victims to their new style of play. Ever since they switched to a more possession oriented game style, especially against lesser opposition, they are finding it more difficult to break down organized and narrowly packed defences. Pace and speed are pretty much useless when opposition teams are defending deep and Palace are finding this out the hard way.

Pacy wingers like Puncheon thrive when they face a high defensive line (his brilliant performance against Ivanovic at the start of the season instantly comes to mind), but once the full back is part of a deep and narrow defence, the service for the strikers will only be limited to lofted crosses, which are usually easily dealt with by most Premier League defences.

This brings us to the second reason for the lack of goals, and that’s Palace’s growing reputation of a favourite in most of the games they have played this season. As we mentioned earlier, Palace were mostly playing the role of the underdog and were relying on counter attacks in the past two seasons.

This season, however, teams are giving them a taste of their own medicine. Opposition teams are aware that they are playing an ambitious and high flying team with arguably the best manager in the Premier League and they are careful not to easily concede goals, so they are usually satisfied if the match ends in a goalless draw.

In addition, the added pressure of supporters’ expectations can make players over-commit to attack and leave themselves vulnerable to counter attacks (something Crystal Palace experienced firsthand when Defoe scored the winner for Sunderland in a game Palace dominated from start to finish).

And finally there is the issue of striker problems. Injuries, form and different types of opposition have forced Pardew to experiment with his striking options, and he has used no less than seven players in the striker position. Needless to say this hasn’t given the desired effect. Out of the seven strikers he used, Zaha has contributed with two, and Wickham and Chung-Yong with one goal, while players like Chamakh, Campbell and Bamford have all failed to score.

They have been so poor in front of goal that it felt like they were writing casino reviews for some new mobile casino games they’ve never even heard of, while at the same time they were trying to find the home of UK casino sites. Pardew has said that the injuries which have ravaged his strikers are the reason why they aren’t scoring, but the effect of their changing style of play and the switch to the mentality of a favourite shouldn’t be underestimated as well.

So what’s the solution? Pardew will probably delve in the transfer market in January and a quality striker is bound to come, while others, like Bamford, will leave. Players will slowly start to get used to the new playing style, and in the meantime they will probably be relying on keeping clean sheets as a safety net if the goal drought continues.

Finally, both players and manager will have to accept that if they want to be in the top half of the table they have to be more effective in the final third of the pitch, so a change in mentality is a must – they are no longer the underdog, they are now the favourite.