Which is why I asked if you'd read the article becuase nothing in it made me fear we'd give up defensive structure far from it. FdB seems to understand the importance of defensive structure and direct attacking play.

Mention Barcelona and everyone assumes we won't defend but I personally think that's a lazy connection.

He's not I hope thinking he going to turn us in to Barcelona over night but does seem very adept at coaching football systems. Looking at his success first at Ajax academy and then with the first team makes me think we will be in very good hands.

He'll want our defends to be able to find our wingers and the midfield will need to learn to move to create that space. He'll want diagonal passing rather than horizontal.

Sam done wonders for our defence but FdB is a defender through and through he understands it and that's the reason we shouldn't be worried.

I don't expect him to think he'll have us playing like Pep wants Man City to play. When they and us clearly haven't the players.

Well as long as it covers "I avoid relegation, therefore I am' he'll fit in quite nicely.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

If what I've read is true - that he likes to transition quickly from 4-5-1 in defence to 4-3-3 in attack - then I think he'll still be using Big Chris as a pivot man, just with better service as he'll be receiving balls he can play from the midfield, not hoofs from the back.

The other part is, though, that he likes to defend from the front, so Benteke will have to be more aware of his duties when we don't have the abll.

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

Those type of articles have their value, but should also be taken with a pinch of salt.

Firstly, the idea that you can show exactly how a team plays through a few photos is obviously not right, but in any event how any team plays is conditioned by the standard and style of the opposition, and your own available players every bit as much as, if not far more than, the coaches philosophy.

Even if FDB brings the exact same set of training drills to Palace and doesn't adapt them at all, its only a framework, and will look very different when carried out by our squad against premier league opponents. Playing football just doesn't come with that type of instruction manual.

Secondly, who's to say that FDB is stuck in his ways? He'd be a fool not to say that he believes in the Ajax way when he's the Ajax coach, but pressing from the front doesn't suit our players at all. Thats why Benteke didn't suit Klopp at Liverpool. I can't see it suiting Wilf or Townsend either, whose increased workrate under Allardyce was noticeable, but not the same as pressing.

Given the clubs clear desire to get much more out of what we have already got at the club, I would expect FDB to cut his cloth accordingly, and whilst that may well result in us playing better stuff than we did under Allardyce, its not going result in us doing what Ajax did under him.

you are joking right? If anyone is good with the ball on his feet it's him. He needs to play far more direct the he often does.

Regular players not comfortable in possession:Ward, Tomkins, Kelly come to mind first.

However: I hope that FdB will adjust to English football more then he will want English Football to adjust to him. I saw a lot of Ajax under him and many games were boring as f***. I dread traveling across for any uneventful game you have forgotten about 3 days later.

Mind you: one of us Dutchies biggest downfalls is possession. It was brutally exposed with ManU under van Gaal. And even in the UEFA league final the statistics seem to indicate Ajax was on top when in real life they had no single chance whatsoever.

I maybe old fashioned but I do think football is about entertainment.

The good times are coming, I just think if this happens we will remember this guy for a long time!

The Red and Blue never leaves our Palace empire,!