First half of the season

[CrazyBadger]

I disagree.

Completing transfers is a complex affair and the market so dynamic that it's hard to get business done to a set timetable. In a perfect world you get your deals done early in the window, but it doesn't always work out.

I do agree though that players coming and going is disruptive, but not necessarily down to '' poor planning ''.

I think the main contributors to the poor start were actually ;

* having six players involved in internationals in the summer in which their respective countries were involved until the very end ( England and Colombia )
* Andersen and Mateta were also on international duty - culminating in a less than effective pre season.
* we missed Olise ! Eze in particular has suffered by his absence
* injuries to Wharton and Eze

Players such as Lerma and Munoz have started to rediscover their form. The back three are now functioning well as a unit. Hughes has stepped his game up and Henderson has started to show why he commanded the fee paid for him. Additionally Sarr is starting to show why Dougie was so keen on him. So progress although slow, is now being made.

I think Palace will dip into the transfer market in January, and hopefully give the squad more strength in depth.

I'd add the timing of the Riad injury to this. He arrived early and had a full preseason. It was his Injury that meant Lacroix was played 'too soon' after his arrival, and probably led to him starting on the right, and Guehi in the middle to ease him into the team.

 

[DenTyler]

No. This season we will finally top 50 points with a plus GD and comfy top half finish.

I would love that and really hope you’re right

 

[doombear]

We can now reflect on the title of this thread as we are literally halfway through the season and, unusually, have played all 19 of the other PL teams.

It has been a half of two uneven (nearly) quarters:

W D L F A Pts
First 8 games 0 3 5 5 11 3
Last 11 games 4 5 2 15 16 17

December 3 2 1 9 9 11

Recent results are pointing towards a better second half than first half of the season.

A lot has been said about how much we miss Olise, and indeed we do. However, for me an equally big loss has been an unfit and injured Wharton. Whilst Mateta, Olise and Eze were banging in the goals after Glasner arrived, I believe much of the success was down to Wharton's ability to spot a telling forward pass which enabled the forwards to exploit the spaces and find a killer pass for a colleague to score. We have missed his vision this season. We have rarely attacked with the precision and speed of that end of season run in this new season.

Hopefully, Wharton will be back and up to speed at some point in February and I am confident that his vision will enable our front 3 to function more effectively than hitherto.

A major issue, though, as we look forward to the second half is the limited quality on the bench. There will, inevitably be more injuries to come and we really don't want to have to rely on Schlupp, Clyne, Ward, Kamada or even Nketiah to fill in for those injuries. I know I am stating the obvious but we need to strengthen in this coming window.

PS. Sorry, haven't worked out how to align the stats properly.