Just wrong. The reason Wilf plays up front in a Roy 442 is to give him license to roam & not place the burden on him to track back.

in a Roy 442, out of possession, it's 2 banks of 4 and the wingers are expected to double up with the full backs. Whilst attacking, it would be less rigid & often Eze or Ayew would drift inside from the flanks to form a 3 up top, which would essentially allow Wilf to occupy pretty much any space across the front line (including the wing).

Whenever we went 433, it would effectively be a 451 out o possession - he'd play out wide and this would usually result in him having his moments in games (because he's a top player) but playing far too defensively for a player of his quality relative to our team.

I think Palace fans just like hammering people in all honesty. Roy has gone so hammering one of our greatest ever players & top scorer now seems to be the order of the day. It's quite pathetic, really.

We'd be nuts to actively try and push him out the door. And I don't think he'll be overly desperate to join Everton.

Edited by Mstrobez (26 May 2021 3.11pm)

We're the Arthur over ere!

Yeah that’ll be it Mstrobez - I love hammering the most talented player I’ve ever seen in a palace shirt. Nothing to do with a fair or balanced assessment of his overall performance and body language backed up by his open expression of a continued desire for bigger and better things. Nobody’s pushing out - he wants to go!
I think we should give him what he wants and get the best deal we can.

I just happen to hold a different opinion to yours - on this issue anyway.

Exactly. And even with less game time, Eze got most palace fans twice as excited as Wilf did. He started well, but for the last 2/3 of the season, I'd say Eze, Benteke and even Townsend were more influential.

Great post.

No one is pushing him out the door. He submitted a transfer request for his own reasons, remember?

The Zaha conundrum hasn't really changed, and probably won't: His value to us remains higher than the fee anyone will pay.

It's not madness to entertain the idea of selling Zaha for a sum that will enable us to strengthen the team, or at least prevent it from being weaker, and his desire to leave is a factor, but I do feel there is a slightly childish tone in a good few posts advocating his sale. If you've got to the point that you're checking whether his celebrations when someone else scores are sufficient for your tastes then you've probably gone too far.

The fact is that even at his (alleged) sulkiest and most disinterested, he has been our top scorer and most likely source of points through goals, chances created and defenders occupied. Again.

Even if we all agree (and I don't really) that his performances have declined, that, along with his increasing age and reducing contract length, simply means that the fee we could get reduces too. That leads him back to where he started - his value to us is greater than the fee we would get, even if both have reduced in line with each other.

It remains very, very risky to take the money and lose the player. £40m (if we can even get that post-covid) can disappear like a puff of smoke in this league. West Ham spent nearly that on Haller. Newcastle spent it on Joelinton. Even if you come down a step to around £25m - £30m you are not getting Zaha quality very often. Ayoze Perez, Pablo Fornals and Alex Iwobi for instance are all decent, but cost the bulk of the sum we'd get for Zaha without touching the sides of his influence.

Do not underestimate how hard it would be to replace even a half-steam Zaha, which is the most important part of any prospective deal.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (27 May 2021 11.25am)