His doing fine and not allowing for the players to burn out too soon plus for his first attempt at managing in the premier league this is brilliant.

The main difference in our style this season is that we close down much better. We conceded ground far too easily before. Our passing from the back is also much improved. The back four has been the same every week, so far, and that has helped a lot.

The improvements are largely about having better players and better coaching staff.

PV can take some credit for encouraging more energetic football, but it is not just about him. We actually spent money, and that is something that has been needed for several years.

For a relative young manager i like the way he is handling himself in the press conferences. He could have taken credit for the Olise substitution against City but gave the credit to his team. It is a team game and he was also very specific in his praise for how everyone defended as a team against City.
I like as well the improvement that is showing in our existing players. 3 that spring to my mind are particularly Joel Ward but also Tyrick Mitchell and Christian Benteke. I saw Mitchell lose the ball against Brentford when he was forced to come inside on his right foot but this has been addressed. Ward looks like he has got a yard extra pace from somewhere and Benteke looks back to his best.

While it's true we have some very good new players, I would say almost an equal factor in our improvement has been the revelation that our remaining players from last season are able to dominate matches through a close control and passing game. Who knew that a team with Guaita, Ward, Mitchell, Milivojevic, McArthur, Ayew and Benteke could pass Arsenal off of the pitch?! The only one who still can't trap a bag of cement is Kouyate, but even he now has a role to play in certain situations like against Citeh.

I actually think Nuno would have done better here (on a relative scale) than he did at Spurs, but it would have been through enhancements to the Hodgson model and approach only. He certainly doesn't seem to have the chops to have done what PV has managed to do in a very short time indeed.

Irrespective of position in the table, this is the most exciting start to a season for decades: I can't wait for the next match each week, confident that we will give anyone a run for their money, even if we don't end up with the win. Long may it continue!

Edited by antipodeagle (02 Nov 2021 7.30am)

It might be that PV sees us as a stepping stone but maybe he’s looking at Palace as a project that he wants to succeed.
It’s been shown many times that it’s not necessary for a top manager to have been a notable player but in his case it may well make a difference to the younger players who can see how good he was.
So far he’s done everything we could hope and also seems to have recruited some very good coaches.

fair play to you mate. I do wonder, whether the bunch of fans who were absolutely adamant that we had reached our limit as a club under Roy, and could expect no better in terms of quality of football or a higher finish up the table, are able to take a step back and see that we are raising the bar again. That's not necessarily aimed at you, but there was a vocal group who just could not imagine a world where we're playing the sort of football that we are now. I know there's still a long way to go, but even the most ardent cynic must see that we're onto something here with PV. Even if they wouldn't admit it to anyone.

Not to bang on (but I am) but when we're next faced with a crossroads or some adversity, will the experience of something better that we're seeing now dampen their cynicism, or can they just not imagine things ever being better despite evidence showing that there is always a way to improve things within our means.