August 7 2004

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace were beaten 1-0 by Sampdoria at Selhurst in their last test before the start of the Premiership next weekend, writes Simon Pophale.

I am going to dispense with my usual reporting style of the blow by blow account of the game. This was a preseason friendly after all, and as Dowie and many other managers have made quite clear, the performance is more important than the results. A good maxim,but one which will need to be reversed from next Saturday.

The facts are that we lost with a very dubiously awarded freekick, scored 9 minutes from time by Volpi, to give Sampdoria the BT Cup. However what the result does not say, was how well we played, and how dirty the Italians were.

Sampdoria are a club with a big history, but find themselves in a situation not too dissimilar from ourselves. Finanical difficulties after their best ever seasn in 1991, years in the wilderness of Serie B, plus a bunch of loan signings, a sprinkling of International players and some players have gone off the boil a little and are trying to resurrect their careers again. Other than the obvious diving and playacting (obvious to everyone except - Mr Andy D'urso, who in my opinion was a disgrace), Samp play a passing game and are a well organised unit. Not bad for a team that finished 8th last season, in their first season back in Serie A.

Maybe they are one year ahead of us, in that respect. But maybe we need to look a team like Sampdoria and although the English Premier is tougher than Serie A (Just look at the clubs now in Serie A from 10th downwards - not really going to set the world alight are they?), it gives me great optimism for the season ahead.

We had the chance to view Mark Hudson again, who did very little wrong in what was a tidy game from him and Popovic. Other than the 2nd minute, when Samp missed an open goal from about 2 yards out, did we look threatened. The real highlight for me though, was seeing Sandor Torghelle play his first game for us and he did not disgrace himself at all. He put in a very workman like performance before being replaced ni the 70th minute. He is good in the air, has a good first touch and is a real worker. He is not afraid to tackle back either (mind you, he will need to be more careful with some of those more, agricultural of challenges!). All the qualities that Iain Dowie is looking for.

Other than these highlights, we did find it difficult to carve out real chances, had Derry managed to squeeze home a chance late in the 2nd half, it could have been different. Kolkka was a constant threat all match. Fast and Intelligent, he seems to make things happen when he gets the ball. Sadly for us though, he is all to often stuck out on the wing and can be excluded from the play a little too easily. This is something that will have to change before next week.

Another great performance came from Emerson Boyce. If he does get the nod to start ahead of Leigertwood (who has hardly played much in the Preseason) then he could do a really good job. He won all the player of the year awards last season at Luton and has fitted in to the side and looks like he has been playing there for a couple of seasons. Didn't really put a foot wrong yesterday and he is impressing with every game.

Man of the match for me was Micheal Hughes, who looks fitter than ever. His tackling was well timed, passing simple and effective and he drives the team on. Aki too had a good game, but Hughes bossed the midfield like a man of 24, not 32. He clearly wants to prove to Dowie that he can do the business this season, after settling for the one year contract offered, rather than getting the 2 year deal he was holding out for.

As soon as the goal went in, Dowie made numerous subsitutions and the 11 which finished the game, did not resemble the 11 that started it. Again, the peformance was the factor under scrutiny here, so the result immaterial. It was certainly a good performance, we passed the ball around with accuracy, some of it very slick and Routledge and Kolkka could get in a steam of crosses, which AJ and Sandor on another day, would have got a better return out of.

It is visible to see what Dowie is building, and it is an exciting team with lots of purpose going forward. There is no doubt about it, you need to score goals to stay up. In AJ,DOUGIE and Shipperley we have players that can score goals and AJ aside, have done it in the Premiership before. AJ and Torghelle are real unknowns and in the first few games, could give teams a real scare. This could be the secret weapon to our success. You don't score 32 goals in the league and be a bad striker. He may not get 32 goals this season, but AJ will be hitting the net regularly. His pace yesterday worried Sampdoria, who fouled him time after time, especially throughout the first half. If nothing else, yesterday showed that AJ is a tough character, resilient and robust.

Something the team as a whole will need to be this season.

CRYSTAL PALACE Speroni; Butterfield, Popovic, Powell, Boyce; Routledge, Riihilahti, Hughes, Johnson; FREEDMAN, Kolkka.