OPPOSITION VIEW: PALACE

With Sunderland coming off the back of penalty heroics and Crystal Palace recovering from a historic defeat to Macclesfield, we spoke to the Team Called Palace Podcast to discuss their rollercoaster of a season...

Palace are 13th in the Premier League with seven wins, seven draws and seven losses - the epitome of mid-table! What's been the story of your season so far?

The first four months of the season were great! We were 4th in the Premier League, on course for a top eight finish in the Conference League and still in both domestic cup competitions. Unfortunately, the last month or so has been an unmitigated disaster!

Including last weekend's major shock in the FA Cup, you've not won in your last nine games in all competitions. What's gone wrong recently?

We’re paying a high price for a combination of our success on the pitch and our failures off the pitch - particularly in the summer window. We’ve already played 34 games this season (for a bit of context, Man United will only play 40), but the squad isn’t anywhere near big enough to cope with all of these games. Our best XI is very good, but our second XI is probably one of the poorest in the league. Injuries to the likes of Daniel Munoz and Daichi Kamada have hit us hard - as has Ismaïla Sarr going to AFCON. Between 1st December and 10th January, we played 12 games in four competitions. Our best players have had to play 11 or 12 of those games so, unsurprisingly, they weren’t able to maintain their levels and too many of our squad players simply aren’t good enough.

What are your thoughts on manager Oliver Glasner?

Based on what he’s achieved at the club, he is arguably the greatest manager in our history (there’s a conversation to be had between Steve Coppell and Oliver Glasner). Ultimately, Glasner is the manager who delivered our first piece of major silverware. He’s also won a Community Shield, taken us on our longest ever unbeaten run and led us into the main draw of a European competition for the first time in our history. On top of all of that, he’s also just a really nice, incredibly genuine guy. Unfortunately, we are now at a point where we could do with some clarity over his future. He’s out of contact in the summer and he’s been linked with a number of top jobs. Obviously, I would love him to stay, but I think it’s more likely that he moves on.

Jean-Philippe Mateta is your top Prem scorer with eight goals in 21 games, what kind of player is he?

At his best, he’s a real handful. Physically, he’s imposing and his instinctive finishing is very good. Unfortunately, he’s been playing with a knee injury, so he’s been a shadow of the player who has, at times, terrorised Premier League defences. Like Oliver Glasner and Marc Guehi, there is also some uncertainty over JP’s future. He has 18 months left on his current deal and it sounds like he wants one last big pay day - something that Palace aren’t willing to give him.

Other than the Frenchman, which players should we be wary of?

There haven’t been many players who have come out of the last month which much credit, but Tyrick Mitchell has gone from strength to strength on the left. He’s always been a quality defender, but he’s getting better going forward. Despite his travails on the plastic pitch at Macclesfield, Marc Guehi is an outstanding footballer. In a couple of years, I think he will be widely regarded as one of the best centre backs in the world. Adam Wharton is also a serious talent. His ability to play through the lines is a joy to behold. Brennan Johnson’s pace should also keep your defence honest.

On the other hand, which Sunderland player stands out to you or worries you the most?

We’ve been dreadful at defending set pieces recently, so anyone over 6’2! Granit Xhaka is having an excellent season, but he’s been getting plenty of praise, so that feels like a boring answer. The decision to bring in Robin Roefs was an excellent bit of recruitment - as was the signing of Nordi Mukiele.

What have you made of Sunderland's return to life in the Premier League?

I’ve been impressed. Having seen quite a lot of Sunderland last season, I always thought that you would need to spend big if you were going to have any chance of staying up. That being said, it’s very easy for Premier League teams to spend a lot of money and achieve very little. I think that your recruitment in the summer was very good, but the most impressive part was how quickly all of the new players were integrated and turned into a really effective team. I also find it interesting that two of the newly-promoted teams - Sunderland and Leeds - seem to have prioritised dramatically increasing the physicality in their squads and it seems to be working.

What's your score prediction? Who will get the goals?

I would like to think that we’ll see a reaction from Palace, but I’m not convinced. I’ll go 1-0 Sunderland - Dan Ballard from a set piece.

Are you going to the game?

I’m not, I’m afraid. I’ve got a seven-month-old, so I don’t think my better half would appreciate me spending my weekend in/travelling to and from Sunderland! I’m also going to be covering other games over the weekend. Someone’s got to put food on the table/in the dog’s bowl!

Finally, where do you think both sides will finish this year?

We often finish 12th, so I’ll let you have 11th. In all seriousness, I do think that the second half of the season will be tougher for you guys. You’re more of a known quantity now and I think that you’ve overachieved so far this season. That being said, your home form is formidable and you’ve got quite a nice little run coming up (Palace, West Ham and Burnley).