March 9 2012

Dougie Freedman

Dougie Freedman has divided many Palace fans so far this season, says Niall Walker.

His PETER TAYLOR-esque defensive football has lead to some critics overlooking our comfortable position in the league and cup run to claim that the Doug’s tactics are holding the team back.

Defensively, we conceded an astounding 22 goals in our first 24 league games; almost half of what we conceded under George Burley at the same stage last season, and we hold one of the best defensive records in the league.

However, just 35 goals in 34 league games have lead many to question whether our defensive solidity has come at too great a price.

We have to remember that this is a long term operation. At 37, Freedman is still very much a rookie, and for one so young, he has shown attributes to suggest that he will go far.

His prudency in the transfer market has been excellent, and Palace fans would be hard pushed to find one signing that could be deemed as wasteful.

Another promising quality is his adherence to youth. Just two players in the squad that drew to the Spammers recently were over 30, with three being academy graduates. Add the news of Reise Allessani signing a new professional contract a couple of weeks ago, and it is clear that youth is being given a chance under Freedman

But the major facet Freedman possesses is patience, writing in the Watford programme that: "We have worked ever so hard on our game and over the last seven or eight months we have had a lot of clean sheets and we are starting to build on the attacking side of our game."

Cynics may claim this final phrase to be hollow words to keep the fans on side, but for Dougie to back this up with a 4-0 win – our most convincing score line since there were forests in these parts – suggests that he is honing in on our attacking prowess.

Our defensive form under Burley highlights the issue of defending carelessly, and it is refreshing to see a manager who doesn’t panic if something is going wrong, but works steadily on the overall picture.

People in football often preach of consistency as the sign of a great team; however there is a great level of delusion with this concept. If we had been consistently scoring and not conceding since Dougie took over, we’d be looking forward to trips to the Nou Camp and San Siro next season.

We can’t expect consistency in results from a manager so new to the job. What we can expect is gradual progress and a sign of trying to solve deficiencies. Freedman has shown this in his first year in charge, and this is why we can still look to the future with cautious optimism.