Trepidation for the 26/27 Prem season ?

[PalazioVecchio]

So the defence is not as strong? This was said when Andersen left and then we won our first trophy. It was said when Guehi waked out (for a measly £20m) and our exhausted team won another trophy. Now Lacroix has gone and we are left with:

Munoz - Columbia international regular (second best team in South America);
Mingueza - Came through the Barcelona Academy and 4 full Spanish caps;
Richards - Seasoned USA international and former Bayern Munich player;
Riad - Came through the Barcelona Academy and 10 Morocco caps;
Canvot - French U21 international;
Tomiyasu - Capped 46 times for Japan (Asia’s top team) and ex-Arsenal regular;
Mitchell - Experienced with two England caps and arguably the best left back in EPL;
Sosa - Seasoned Croatia international with 26 caps.

I cannot remember us having such an array of defensive talent with four playing
in the World Cup. Nor have I included Cardines who seems to be getting better and better. It seems we are after another central defender so Sage has got his work cut out to keep them all happy.

i broadly agree with you but with 2 caveats.

1. World Cups are not a good measure for the Prem and European club competitions. There were some real donkeys playing at the World Cup.

2. Us Not Scoring goals has been our weakness, for at least 12 months. And i am still not convinced we will do better in the Prem this Autumn. Your list of players contains proven-good defenders and other 'question mark' players.
Strand Larson, Brennan, Pino...others........all not really set the World alight.

 

[silvertop]

i broadly agree with you but with 2 caveats.

1. World Cups are not a good measure for the Prem and European club competitions. There were some real donkeys playing at the World Cup.

2. Us Not Scoring goals has been our weakness, for at least 12 months. And i am still not convinced we will do better in the Prem this Autumn. Your list of players contains proven-good defenders and other 'question mark' players.
Strand Larson, Brennan, Pino...others........all not really set the World alight.

He did better in Europe, to the extent that he looked better than other Palace players around him.

 

[elgin eeagle]

Moving on and back to the subject of the thread, do I sense a change of wind amongst my fellow Palace doomsters?

Are we beginning to feel that things may be just about ok this season?

Still a way to go before the transfer window closes but if and it's still a big if, if we can hold on to our remaining key players (the likes of Wharton, Sarr, Henderson, Munoz and even Mateta), can we approach what will be the remainder of the season with some modicum of hope that we'll still be a PL club come June 2027?

Since the end of last season we've lost Lacroix and Clyne, kept Kamada, and gained Mingueza and Tomiyasu on so-called "frees" along with possibly a returning Doucoure and possibly an improved França, which IMO makes us marginally stronger than we were back in May.

If we do bring in the lad from Salt Lake and another CB will that be enough?

The level of the water in my glass has increased slightly over the past couple of weeks.

I’m definitely more positive now than i was a few weeks ago after losing Lacroix. Im now quite excited by the changes - Gozo, Khalaili and Guen look like exciting prospects while McNeil, Tomiyasu and Mingueza look like good fit signings for our squad. Johnson never performed and even if we lose Munoz hopefully we will have enough time to strengthen further before the window ends. Itll then be down to Sage and his team to show what they can do on another long season with many competitive games. Does anyone one know what he is like on squad rotation? I feel like we will need to be better at it than Glasner was. As good as he was in certain areas rotation was not a strength.

 

[Jacey]

Some useful signings together with further planned additions,give me belief that we will stay up with ease,although probably achieving 14th/15th in the league,very much our usual placing,given our extra European games.

 

[Elwissthebest]

On the red wine tonight ?

Have a closer look. The autocorrect was remedied immediately.

 

[Elwissthebest]

Some useful signings together with further planned additions,give me belief that we will stay up with ease,although probably achieving 14th/15th in the league,very much our usual placing,given our extra European games.

Sounds about right, if I may say so. Would you trade the European involvement for a top ten Premiership finish? The Europa League is a considerable step up from the Conference and involvement in the latter certainly took its toll last season, pleasing though the trophy was.

 

[MrRobbo]

Sounds about right, if I may say so. Would you trade the European involvement for a top ten Premiership finish? The Europa League is a considerable step up from the Conference and involvement in the latter certainly took its toll last season, pleasing though the trophy was.

Nah, we need to enjoy the European ride. Hopefully we can go deep his year.

Top 10 finish next year

 

[sprites]

As people have noticed, for some time now we've seen people walking through our defence. Every team has had plenty of chances against us for a while now, bar a couple of games. Fulham could have scored at least two or three more. The defence aren't working hard enough in transition as a back five. It's putting our midfield under pressure to turn and get back. Hence we lack our ability to break quickly. It's becoming less regular that you see us break. There were maybe two breaks against Fulham - we were clearly trying that. The three central defenders need to be closer together when out of possession. And the two wing backs are slow to slot in. It's our main problem currently. Losing Lacroix is a very poor piece of business. We all know defences keep you up.
Combine that with our usual inability to convert chances and the way we look at defending set pieces and we look like a continuation of the team since January. One that had around the worst Premier League for for a lot of the second half of the season.
Will Europe be our salvation again? Hard to know. Could be very tight at the bottom of the league.

It is not necessarily the fault of our defence. Recently we have moved away from the solidity of Lerma or Hughes as a partner for Wharton...making us much easier to play through. I am hoping this can be rectified by Mr Sage. The defence is solid enough.

 

[madcap_v2]

I'm feeling a lot better about this season now given some shrewd signings. 1 or 2 more including a midfielder and I'm happy (unless Doucoure comes back at at least 70% the player he was)

 

[eaglesdare]

Sounds about right, if I may say so. Would you trade the European involvement for a top ten Premiership finish? The Europa League is a considerable step up from the Conference and involvement in the latter certainly took its toll last season, pleasing though the trophy was.

I wouldnt mind getting to the QFs and then getting conference league through the league again 😀

 

[sprites]

I'm feeling a lot better about this season now given some shrewd signings. 1 or 2 more including a midfielder and I'm happy (unless Doucoure comes back at at least 70% the player he was)

Agree entirely. We need a top CM to come in and partner Wharton in case Doucoure can't get back to his levels. That aside, we're looking okay.

 

[Ouzo Dan]

 

[Mark B]

I think we stay up but there will be an unhealthy amount of TUMS and alcohol consumed, especially come Spring if we haven't solved out offensive issues. That being said, the bulk order of antacids has been purchased and lets get the show started!

 

[Lanzo-Ad]

The time is approaching now as to whether Sage will sink or swim, he will be assessed by his in game tactics, can he change a game by a clever change of tactics or subs, or let the game drift without changing, can he read the game and react, he has plenty of options, a classic meeting of the old school Moyes and the new kid on the Block, Sage.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

Take a step back and look at the big picture. The team Glasner inherited was just on the cusp of being probably our most talented ever, certainly the most talented we've had in the modern era. We were never going to keep that team together, and we were never going to be able to replace the outgoing stars with the same calibre of player.

In other words, there was always going to be a drop off across last season and now.

We have brilliant memories of a historic high point and the prospect of hard-earned games against faded but proper European aristocrats to look forward to, but none of that was capable of changing our status overall.

For all but two or three seasons of our current stay in the top flight, we have been a stubborn, pragmatic team with a style of play that reflects realistic expectations of a limited squad. That's what is normal. We were always going to revert to type.

The club is moving forward as best it can with the academy and the new stand. These things have become possible for the same reason the historic on-field purple patch was possible: we had previously hung in there for years on end.

I think that's what we should expect, not forever, but for the foreseeable future. Lower mid table, take a draw in most games if it's available, be hard to beat first and foremost. As much as Sage has talked of continuing the success of the last 18 months, he doesn't have remotely the same quality of players; the team had actually gone backwards under Glasner, as you'd expect after losing Eze, then Guehi. Europe papered over a fair bit.

Now is not the time to come out swinging, leaving our chin exposed. Now is the time to keep our guard up, and avoid getting knocked out. Who knows what will happen in the years to come? Maybe we'll get lucky and unearth another couple of gems, or the academy will produce another Zaha, and then everything can change.

That's not happening right now, though. This will be tough, and a bit drab. I suspect Sage already knows it.

 

[PatrickA]

It's difficult to see us getting any points from the first two games.

I don't anticipate our being able to defend Everton's set pieces featuring Tarkowski, Keane, Branthwaite, O'Brien. Beto etc.
It's the land of giants and we look frail defending these.

I also don't see us keeping out Haaland, Doku and Semenyo with our likely defensive unit.

Not a crisis.
Glasner and Hodgson both had losing spells for considerably longer.

But if we do lose both games it will be interesting to see how the players and the manager react.
Players rarely take responsibility ( unless you're McArthur) and tend to look at others for perceived failings, particularly when there's new players/ manager e.g 'that wouldn't have happened with Lacroix', 'Glasner would have prepared us for that.'
Sage is new to the players and the League and it's demands.

Hopefully cool heads with prevail, new leaders will emerge in the changing room, and in time a new solid team will emerge with a sprinkling of stardust.

 

[Lanzo-Ad]

Take a step back and look at the big picture. The team Glasner inherited was just on the cusp of being probably our most talented ever, certainly the most talented we've had in the modern era. We were never going to keep that team together, and we were never going to be able to replace the outgoing stars with the same calibre of player.

In other words, there was always going to be a drop off across last season and now.

We have brilliant memories of a historic high point and the prospect of hard-earned games against faded but proper European aristocrats to look forward to, but none of that was capable of changing our status overall.

For all but two or three seasons of our current stay in the top flight, we have been a stubborn, pragmatic team with a style of play that reflects realistic expectations of a limited squad. That's what is normal. We were always going to revert to type.

The club is moving forward as best it can with the academy and the new stand. These things have become possible for the same reason the historic on-field purple patch was possible: we had previously hung in there for years on end.

I think that's what we should expect, not forever, but for the foreseeable future. Lower mid table, take a draw in most games if it's available, be hard to beat first and foremost. As much as Sage has talked of continuing the success of the last 18 months, he doesn't have remotely the same quality of players; the team had actually gone backwards under Glasner, as you'd expect after losing Eze, then Guehi. Europe papered over a fair bit.

Now is not the time to come out swinging, leaving our chin exposed. Now is the time to keep our guard up, and avoid getting knocked out. Who knows what will happen in the years to come? Maybe we'll get lucky and unearth another couple of gems, or the academy will produce another Zaha, and then everything can change.

That's not happening right now, though. This will be tough, and a bit drab. I suspect Sage already knows it.

Very good post

 

[daven]

I think that we will have a struggle first half of the season. The first games could rival Van de burgh, but patience will be needed this season. Hopefully we pick up the points needed to be just above bottom 3 by Christmas and still in the Europe.

 

[NEILLO]

Bit of a funny one at the moment.

My perception is that Palace have pragmatically been improving the squad. Which will hopefully mitigate the challenges that another season in Europe will bring. So far so good. But…. I think we need another centre back and I still think we will sign one. I suppose a concern for me is that we sign another player with ‘ potential ‘ rather than a more experienced player - which I think is what is needed.

Performances in the friendlies have been mixed to say the least. When you lose them it’s “ just a fitness exercise “ - when you win them “ shaping up nicely for the new season “ !

Historically Palace have suffered immediately post World Cup / Euros - that’s a source of trepidation for me

 

[dg1937]

As supporters we tend to celebrate new signings and regard each one as a sign of progress. But most of us have never heard of the people we are signing unless they come from another Premier League club. There is always the risk that they won’t live up to expectations. New players, however good, will take time to gel with their teammates and develop an understanding of the manager’s system. I agree with sentiments already expressed that we can expect a rocky start to the season. How quickly we turn things around will depend on many factors. For now ‘trepidation’ is a good way of describing my feelings.