How good are Crystal Palace?

[MarkA333]

We won the FA cup, the Community Shield and the UEFA Conference league in one year.
Our players are valued at the same numbers as the top squads. We have 12 players in the World Cup, only Man Utd have more players appearing and I wouldn’t take any of theirs even their horrible captain. Isn’t it time we actually realised that we have a potentially great team. Let’s keep it going. One more good year, then another good year.

 

[silvertop]

Not bad.

 

[PalazioVecchio]

measuring it by 'number of players in the WC' is a dodgy methodology. You could have that amazing Georgian from PSG and maybe sometimes the Small country doesnt get into the WC.

Then we got Tyrick Mitchell....my favourite Eagle...not at the WC at all.

Then you get clown countries into the WC cos its easy to qualify where they come from. Samoa.... not really a very pacey squad of marathon runners ? More like a bunch of Sumo wrestlers.

Then you get the Fergie effect, great players are not really encouraged to do much International Duty.

Scotland & Ireland sometimes qualify for the WC even if half their squad play in League One, or worse, the SPL.

but i agree with the OP, for the last 18 months we have been on fire.

 

[MarkA333]

measuring it by 'number of players in the WC' is a dodgy methodology. You could have that amazing Georgian from PSG and maybe sometimes the Small country doesnt get into the WC.

Then we got Tyrick Mitchell....my favourite Eagle...not at the WC at all.

 

[MarkA333]

Or Wharton

 

[RubinsCube]

We won the FA cup, the Community Shield and the UEFA Conference league in one year.
Our players are valued at the same numbers as the top squads. We have 12 players in the World Cup, only Man Utd have more players appearing and I wouldn’t take any of theirs even their horrible captain. Isn’t it time we actually realised that we have a potentially great team. Let’s keep it going. One more good year, then another good year.

We have had in the recent past (so at the start of the previous 12 months to now) a very talented and unpredictable starting XI. That's hot off the heels of having Olise and Zaha.

It was this starting XI which, when hot, was superb: hence the FA Cup run, the barnstorming finishes to recent seasons before this one, and the 17 or so unbeaten run this season including the Community Shield. But let's not forget when cold it was moribund (Larnaka in the Conference league stage; Macclesfield).

During the last 12 months we sold two of the better players and most of the incoming players have not shone yet. Even so this was enough to win the third rung European Cup when you look at the teams we had to beat. Not knocking it at all, just putting it in context compared to who Aston Villa and Arsenal had to face to win/get to the final.

So how good are we? Our starting XI is still very good. There are players joining and likely to leave which may affect that judgement. We have been and still are inconsistent. We were excellently organized and coached with a winning mindset. But we seem to be tactically inflexible and reliant/over reliant on a small number of players: when Munoz, Sarr or Lacroix has a bad game we generally struggle. When Wharton has a bad game we generally create little.

The future is unclear (cf West Ham) but with one or two astute transfer windows and a good coach we could very much consolidate.

 

[MarkA333]

I had the fortune to be able to chat to John Salako about this after the Shakhtar game at Selhurst Park…he said we need to sustain our intensity for longer and more consistently.we are two great signings away from a great squad. And not for a billion like Chelsea. I it is Sage, he is no muppet, to run PSG a close second is nothing to be sneezed at.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

We won the FA cup, the Community Shield and the UEFA Conference league in one year.
Our players are valued at the same numbers as the top squads. We have 12 players in the World Cup....

Not sure what you mean by this? We have had, and continue to have, a small number of players who have a high transfer market value, but the value of our squad overall is nowhere near that of the big clubs.

 

[MarkA333]

We have pound for pound a first eleven that can win against any team in in the Premier League. Not against Bayern or PSG though.

 

[StandbyPalace]

Agreed and since the turn of the century we have won the 6th highest amount of trophies, only the Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have won more.

 

[MarkA333]

Some strange answers…our players don’t play for remote no hoper countries. And we don’t have a small number of great players, we have 11 or 12 great players. More than most clubs.

 

[Jimenez]

We won the FA cup, the Community Shield and the UEFA Conference league in one year.
Our players are valued at the same numbers as the top squads. We have 12 players in the World Cup, only Man Utd have more players appearing and I wouldn’t take any of theirs even their horrible captain. Isn’t it time we actually realised that we have a potentially great team. Let’s keep it going. One more good year, then another good year.

According to Google Man City have 19 & Arsenal 16 as do PSG with Bayern have 18 players in 2nd place on the list.

 

[mileend]

According to Google Man City have 19 & Arsenal 16 as do PSG with Bayern have 18 players in 2nd place on the list.

The same stats on the BBC - we're fourth most represented in the premier league

Which is pretty amazing - especially as two others have recently left Palace and most would have Wharton over Henderson and or Mainoo

World Cup 2026: Who has the oldest players? Which leagues are most represented? Squads in numbers

BBC Sport look at all of the World Cup 2026 squads and answer some of the key questions.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[MrRobbo]

Clearly we are in a very good place.

The overhaul of the squad over the last 5-10 years has been nothing short of remarkable.

 

[BromleyMonkey]

We can look pretty laboured and lacking in ideas sometimes in the premier league, but when we’ve got everyone fit and Sarrs pace up front, Munoz and Mitchell bombing forward we can look a decent side.
It might be more of the same in the premier league next season with another European campaign, but I’ll take that all day long. Europe started off as a nice little distraction from the sometimes mundane premier league battle, but ended in glory.
Another 17 games(as it ended up) was always going to affect our league form, so no complaints from me, we did well(to put it mildly) to juggle it all last season. So I’ll definitely take being sucked in down the bottom for another long European run next season

 

[MarkA333]

I think John Salako made a good point about our inability to sustain intensity, when we do, we slice through butter like a hot knife. Think the Villa FA Cup semi final, for example. However, we simply do not have the resources to be a consistent top 6 Premier league side so we should concentrate on ensuring safety, ideally with a good start to the season then grow into the three cup competitions. We get a bye in the league cup because we are in Europe apparently. We should not sell anyone unless they are adamant that they want to leave in which case, they can.
I think Johnson will come good this season and hopefully a couple of our younger players can break through. This is something I think OG was not great at and he only trusted a few players. I know Borna Sosa and feel sorry for him that he was so little used. We need an excellent midfielder like the Middlesbrough guy that was player of the year and also cover at right back. Apart from that not too bad, just hope we get on and appoint Sage, it’s gonna be a short pre season and not much rest for a dozen of our first team players.

It will take the new manager some time to get his specific concepts about strategy across, the more time he has with the players pre-season, the better.

 

[Eaglehamster]

I think we can't be considered that good with our PL performance. Our home record is depressing.
If we'd won 3 of the six we lost we'd all be ecstatic.

Much of that is down to missed chances. We need a confident striker. It'd be great if he came from within the ranks.

 

[ASCPFC]

Don't count your chickens. We're ok. But we're nearly always a manager or one or two players away from 17th/18th. We still skirt that at some stage every season.
We seem to manage to get away from it every time so far but the liklehood is one year we won't.
It's just the way it is.

 

[JHB]

We are an inconsistent side. We have great runs and periods in games and can hurt anyone. However, we have runs where we drift and even in games we never maintain intensity and rarely win convincingly. The worrying thing that has crept in this season in the league is we have often been a bit of a soft touch and lack leadership. Our back three is shaky and poor in the air. They conceded too often and easily from set pieces.

 

[palace99]

We are an inconsistent side. We have great runs and periods in games and can hurt anyone. However, we have runs where we drift and even in games we never maintain intensity and rarely win convincingly. The worrying thing that has crept in this season in the league is we have often been a bit of a soft touch and lack leadership. Our back three is shaky and poor in the air. They conceded too often and easily from set pieces.

good points.

Yes, other than Lacriox, there are few natural leaders.

Defending/heading is a massive problem IMHO, however, luckily few teams play with a big target man.
Lacriox reminds me a bit of Andersen in that regard - good in the air but should be better given his height. Canvot is very weak with his head - rarely attacks the ball and timing of jumps is poor. Riad looks quite small and is not dominant in the air. Richards has some days where he's great in the air, others where he is all over the place.