Franca and Doucouré

[HKOwen]

Last time I saw Franca play was a cup game against Everton in shocking weather and he hardly touched the ball , to be fair it looked like he had offended everyone and no one wanted to pass to him.

In the pre season games, for me, has matured physically and has more strength, also his demeanour looks better.

If CD keeps fit it will be like having two new signings

 

[Stirlingsays]

Last time I saw Franca play was a cup game against Everton in shocking weather and he hardly touched the ball , to be fair it looked like he had offended everyone and no one wanted to pass to him.

In the pre season games, for me, has matured physically and has more strength, also his demeanour looks better.

If CD keeps fit it will be like having two new signings

I agree, Franca is talented and it's always been an adaption and mental issue in my view.

 

[Save Dwindlehurst]

Last time I saw Franca play was a cup game against Everton in shocking weather and he hardly touched the ball , to be fair it looked like he had offended everyone and no one wanted to pass to him.

In the pre season games, for me, has matured physically and has more strength, also his demeanour looks better.

If CD keeps fit it will be like having two new signings

If one of them has a good season it will be a result.If it’s both then it would be terrific.

 

[Goal Machine]

Last time I saw Franca play was a cup game against Everton in shocking weather and he hardly touched the ball , to be fair it looked like he had offended everyone and no one wanted to pass to him.

In the pre season games, for me, has matured physically and has more strength, also his demeanour looks better.

If CD keeps fit it will be like having two new signings

Hope you're right. With young wingers, it's often about confidence. Same goes for Esse - I think there's a decent player in there. I felt he got treated harshly by Glasner after the Liverpool away incident.

Cheick was class before his injury at Luton. He's been out for almost 3 years. I'll be amazed if he can reach his previous standard.

With the lack of transfer activity, perhaps the club are putting their faith in youngsters coming through this season - Cardines and Ozoh included.

 

[Save Dwindlehurst]

Hope you're right. With young wingers, it's often about confidence. Same goes for Esse - I think there's a decent player in there. I felt he got treated harshly by Glasner after the Liverpool away incident.

Cheick was class before his injury at Luton. He's been out for almost 3 years. I'll be amazed if he can reach his previous standard.

With the lack of transfer activity, perhaps the club are putting their faith in youngsters coming through this season - Cardines and Ozoh included.

Doucoure had his knee injury in Jan of last year so nowhere near 3 years out. Plenty of players have come back from similar lay offs in the past.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

Doucoure is proven, it's a matter of whether he can regain the physical sharpness and mobility he once had. I would not be surprised if he could not, as many players never do after so long out. Moreover, he will only have a chance to regain his sharpness through games, so the question then becomes whether we play him through any rustiness, or loan him out. Could all go either way.

Franca I'm afraid I just cannot see. To be a match-winning, or even an effective, premier league forward you have to have really, really good levels of ability. Whatever changes he has made to his body and mind, I saw no suggestion he had the technique, awareness, or skill required for so important a role at so demanding a level. I say the same about Esse. I would love them to prove me wrong, of course, but for me they both just show the risks of trying to find, and buy, the next big thing very early.

 

[eritheagle]

When we were about to sign frança tim vickery spoke about him on talksport. He described him as having a playing style close to debruyne bit did warn that he very much blows hot and cold and didn't start much for his previous club.

 

[BromleyMonkey]

Franca does look like he’s filled out a bit and not like a little boy lost anymore, so it’s promising
And Doucoure is fit, which is a good start where he’s concerned, so yes, hopefully it’ll be like two new signings if they perform well

 

[Save Dwindlehurst]

Doucoure had his knee injury in Jan of last year so nowhere near 3 years out. Plenty of players have come back from similar lay offs in the past.

Our own John Salako is a case in point. Terrible knee injury in 1991 then out for nearly a year. Came back for a while until the injury flared up again and a further year out. After all that came back the same player.

 

[eritheagle]

Last time I saw Franca play was a cup game against Everton in shocking weather and he hardly touched the ball , to be fair it looked like he had offended everyone and no one wanted to pass to him.

In the pre season games, for me, has matured physically and has more strength, also his demeanour looks better.

If CD keeps fit it will be like having two new signings

França came off the bench against burnley in og's first home game. He won a penalty but sulked when he wasn't allowed to take it. I think he may have also assisted as well that game.

 

[Plumpton eagle]

I would think that a season loan with a recall clause might be best for Doucoure. Perhaps in the championship. Hopefully, he would get lots of games and come back to us "good to go". As most of us pretty much agree, he might again be a big player for us.

Franca certainly seems to have beefed up. He might have a battle to get a squad place and maybe a similar loan might work.

 

[PatrickA]

Doucoure is proven, it's a matter of whether he can regain the physical sharpness and mobility he once had. I would not be surprised if he could not, as many players never do after so long out. Moreover, he will only have a chance to regain his sharpness though games, so the question then becomes whether we play him through any rustiness, or loan him out. Could all go either way.

Franca I'm afraid I just cannot see. To be a match-winning, or even an effective, premier league forward you have to have really, really good levels of ability. Whatever changes he has made to his body and mind, I saw no suggestion he had the technique, awareness, or skill required for so important a role at so demanding a level. I say the same about Esse. I would love them to prove me wrong, of course, but for me they both just show the risks of trying to find, and buy, the next big thing very early.

I agree with this summary.
I don't see Franca or Doucoure featuring much in the first team.
Franca has Sarr, Mateta, Larsen,Pino, Nketiah and Johnson ahead of him as things stand.
If a couple of the above are sold he may get a chance, but I think it's more likely we'd bring in replacements for the players sold.
If Doucoure comes back at anything like his former self I'd be delighted, but sadly I'm dubious that this will happen.

It also has to be factored in whether Doucoure would suit the Glasner system , assuming Sage persists with it.
Doucoure excelled as a deep midfield player for us with shrewd reading of the game, collecting the ball from the back four and accurately distributing the ball forward.
This role becomes redundant with a back 3 who pass the ball between themselves before trying to progress down the sides.

Some may argue that Doucoure could easily play the Kamada or Wharton role, but for me there would have to be evidence of this at Premier League level.
I'm not saying he's not a good player, just querying if he would suit the system.

 

[palace99]

Doucoure had his knee injury in Jan of last year so nowhere near 3 years out. Plenty of players have come back from similar lay offs in the past.

wishful thinking? He ruptured his achilles in Nov 2023 and although he came back for the next pre-season was massively off the pace in the few games he played in Aug/Sept 2024.

He then did his ACL (i think) in Jan 2025.

We are now in Aug 2026 so 3 years not not far off the mark.

 

[Norbury Old Git]

I would think that a season loan with a recall clause might be best for Doucoure. Perhaps in the championship. Hopefully, he would get lots of games and come back to us "good to go". As most of us pretty much agree, he might again be a big player for us.

Franca certainly seems to have beefed up. He might have a battle to get a squad place and maybe a similar loan might work.

Last season proved that we are going to need a larger squad so there is no point in letting Doucoure out on loan. Our midfield is weak enough as it is. On top of the minimum 48 matches we have to play there are also international call ups to cover. We don’t want any more Macclesfield type defeats so even with a mediocre cup experience Palace are going to be playing 50 plus matches. Only Academy players should be sent out on loan and definitely not Drakes-Thomas or Cardines.

 

[sprites]

If Doucoure regains 75% of his effectiveness he comes straight back into the team alongside Wharton. Fingers crossed.

 

[doombear]

França came off the bench against burnley in og's first home game. He won a penalty but sulked when he wasn't allowed to take it. I think he may have also assisted as well

It seems people are keen to loan out or sell our fringe players. I suspect the club doesn't have the money to replace them in the 1st team squad.

I'm not surprised that they're still here as I would have thought that the first priority was to see if Sage can use them. He supposedly likes to give young players their chance and if he thinks he can get a tune out of one or more of Franca, Esse, Ozoh and Cardines then the club will keep their powder dry and review in January. If he feels he can use all 4 then all I see us buying or loaning is an experienced CB especially if Tomiyasu is signed.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

It also has to be factored in whether Doucoure would suit the Glasner system , assuming Sage persists with it.
Doucoure excelled as a deep midfield player for us with shrewd reading of the game, collecting the ball from the back four and accurately distributing the ball forward.
This role becomes redundant with a back 3 who pass the ball between themselves before trying to progress down the sides.

Some may argue that Doucoure could easily play the Kamada or Wharton role, but for me there would have to be evidence of this at Premier League level.
I'm not saying he's not a good player, just querying if he would suit the system.

I think this is especially true given the ground a central two have to cover compared to playing with a three. It would help Doucoure reintegrate far more if he could sit behind Wharton and Kamada in a 433.

I still cannot get to the bottom of whether Sage has always played a 343, or changed to different systems. It might be that he is simply being shrewd in not changing a successful formation from the outset, but is open to changing it later if appropriate. If so, it would help Doucoure's chances of playing. Not only would a 433 create a role than suits him, it would also require an extra midfielder.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

When we were about to sign frança tim vickery spoke about him on talksport. He described him as having a playing style close to debruyne bit did warn that he very much blows hot and cold and didn't start much for his previous club.

I presume he was thinking of Gary DeBruyne?

 

[ASCPFC]

Unless we buy more, we're going to be forced to play Doucoure and Franca. And the jury's out as to whether they're good enough. I suppose they could at least play cup games or be squad members against weak European sides. Without being too rude, neither will really last the rigours of being regular Premier League players currently.