That same quote struck me too. Another thing I saw said Favre went from a high pressing game to a quick counter attacking one in his time at dortmund - both need great mobility across the side.

I simply cannot see us becoming a more mobile side without major surgery. We know our defence is painfully slow due to age, and whilst the pundits talk of our pace on the break, that's just lazy journalism - Benteke has long lost any serious pace he might have once had, as I fear has Wilf, who will always check back and retain the ball when he has a chance to knock it past the defender and race him, so much so I wondered if he was carrying a hamstring injury for large parts of last season. Townsend has never been quick, and whilst Eze carries the ball beautifully I'm not sure he's much of a sprinter. As for getting that lot to press effectively from the front, well, let's just say Favre would have his work cut out.

Regarding the youngsters I can only repeat the point I and others have made for some time - the careers (including loan spells) of the players Roy didn't give game time to have hardly cast doubt on his decisions. We are all hoping that the u18s are a higher standard than the u23s (certainly the club seem to think they are, hence references to promoting youth being one of the new managers apparent priorities) but even if that happens we can only say Roy was wrong if Favre gets Premier league performances out of youth players that Roy ignored.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (24 Jun 2021 8.05pm)

No you can’t. You can compare him to all the other managers who worked in the Premier League during his time. There’s a reason he was there for 4 years. We can also compare the amount of academy players Palace have given PL debuts to in comparison to other clubs during his time. And yes, the circumstances are relevant, hence me mentioning our circumstances and why that made his efforts with the academy even more impressive.

The charges levelled at Roy when it comes to the academy follow the theme of the charges levelled at Roy when it comes to the football he played (as if he was given the tools to play any other way and keep us up) - insulting caricatures with very little substance.

This doesn’t even take into account the fact that this was prior to us obtaining CAT-1 status. If we say he managed for 3 full seasons, averaging an academy player per season getting their Premier League debut would be a good return for any club in the Premier League, even those nowhere near relegation & with far more developed academies than ours. This isn’t the Championship and his first task was to keep us in the league.

The claim he didn’t integrate our academy, relative to the club he was managing, the managers that came before him & his fellow managers in the Premier League, is baseless on every single level.

I’m all for warranted critique of Roy or any manager - but the vitriol that was thrown in his direction towards the tail end of his time was a very poor show, from people who simply wanted him out at all costs.

Edited by Mstrobez (24 Jun 2021 5.51pm)

Agreed and good post. We have only just reclaimed the Academy level so it will take a season or two to bring through youngsters but hopefully Rak Sakyi could be needed if Eze and Wilf are both unavailable.

If he comes very interested to see what team he brings. Perhaps just his assistant?

This is a major step for us.

Reported by Ed Aaron’s now

It’s my understanding that Lucien Favre has decided not to take up Crystal Palace’s offer of a three-year contract. The Swiss manager had been due to sign a three-year contract today #cpfc