Wilfried Zaha return

[CPFCSaturn]

i'm not knocking Wilf but i think he only had 2 or maybe 3 top seasons, and of course was massively rewarded for those efforts when he signed a £130k a week 5 year contract.

After excelling in our promotion season and getting his move to Man U he came back in 2014/15.

His performances were erratic and he was not a regular starter. The same with 2015/16 although he got stronger as the season went on and played well in the cup semi and final.

With Bolaise leaving he did start pushing on in 2016/17 but for me it was 2017/18 and 2018/19 when he was almost unplayable. Those are the 2 years i will remember most fondly.

in 19/20 with his move to Arsenal and Everton blocked he sulked all season and only scored 4 goals. I think his attitude and performances that season put off all the big clubs. I think Palace were careful never to publicly criticise him that season.

That summer Roy switched to 442 and gave him a free role upfront. Whilst he did get a little better in 20/2021 and scored more goals he was becoming a bit of a luxury player.

After that he did move back to the left and with penalties continued scoring but had clearly lost a yard or two.

I wish the guy well but for me let's take the red and blue tinted glasses off a little too.

I think this is harsh - he won POTY in 15/16!

I think we would have gone down every year from 15/16 - 20/21 without him and I certainly don't think we get promoted without him.

In terms of his seemingly early decline - unfortunately you see it a lot with players who play hundreds of games in their teenage years; see Rooney, Owen, Fabregas, Sterling, Alexis Sanchez, Hazard, Ozil - all of them were moreorless done by their early 30s.

Will be interesting to see how the likes of Saka and Pedri fare as they get older.

There are obviously other factors to it, but there is definitely a trend that overloading teenagers catches up with them further down the line - I think Wilf is certainly in that category.

 

[ASCPFC]

I think this is harsh - he won POTY in 15/16!

I think we would have gone down every year from 15/16 - 20/21 without him and I certainly don't think we get promoted without him.

In terms of his seemingly early decline - unfortunately you see it a lot with players who play hundreds of games in their teenage years; see Rooney, Owen, Fabregas, Sterling, Alexis Sanchez, Hazard, Ozil - all of them were moreorless done by their early 30s.

Will be interesting to see how the likes of Saka and Pedri fare as they get older.

There are obviously other factors to it, but there is definitely a trend that overloading teenagers catches up with them further down the line - I think Wilf is certainly in that category.

All those grass burns from diving eventually catch up on you.

 

[Jim_Cannon]

I think this is harsh - he won POTY in 15/16!

I think we would have gone down every year from 15/16 - 20/21 without him and I certainly don't think we get promoted without him.

In terms of his seemingly early decline - unfortunately you see it a lot with players who play hundreds of games in their teenage years; see Rooney, Owen, Fabregas, Sterling, Alexis Sanchez, Hazard, Ozil - all of them were moreorless done by their early 30s.

Will be interesting to see how the likes of Saka and Pedri fare as they get older.

There are obviously other factors to it, but there is definitely a trend that overloading teenagers catches up with them further down the line - I think Wilf is certainly in that category.

Agree would have struggled in number of those seasons without Wilf.

Not sure Fabregas had an early decline. He never relied on pace and had a long career at the top level

 

[Willo]

Agree would have struggled in number of those seasons without Wilf.

Not sure Fabregas had an early decline. He never relied on pace and had a long career at the top level

Fabregas retired at the age of 36 after plying his trade at the top level for about 17 years.
He was an accomplished player but was never blessed with pace.

 

[Teddy Eagle]

Fabregas retired at the age of 36 after plying his trade at the top level for about 17 years.
He was an accomplished player but was never blessed with pace.

Teddy Sheringham was another whose lack of pace let him play on for years.

 

[CPFCSaturn]

Agree would have struggled in number of those seasons without Wilf.

Not sure Fabregas had an early decline. He never relied on pace and had a long career at the top level

He left Chelsea aged 31 and that was pretty much the end of his career at the top.

Joined Monaco on a free and only managed 54 league games over 4 seasons due to a range of injury problems.

100+ caps for Spain but the last of those was in 2016 when he was just 29.

 

[NMPalace]

I think this is harsh - he won POTY in 15/16!

I think we would have gone down every year from 15/16 - 20/21 without him and I certainly don't think we get promoted without him.

In terms of his seemingly early decline - unfortunately you see it a lot with players who play hundreds of games in their teenage years; see Rooney, Owen, Fabregas, Sterling, Alexis Sanchez, Hazard, Ozil - all of them were moreorless done by their early 30s.

Will be interesting to see how the likes of Saka and Pedri fare as they get older.

There are obviously other factors to it, but there is definitely a trend that overloading teenagers catches up with them further down the line - I think Wilf is certainly in that category.

Football's all about opinions, but in 2015/16 he was often second fiddle to Bolasie and played 34 games and scored 2 league goals. He did do well in FA cup games though, which probably helped with the POTY.

In 19/20 he essentially sulked the whole season and scored 4 goals. there were many games, especially away from home when it was like we were playing with 10 men.

In neither of those seasons could anyone reasonable argue he kept us up, unlike 2017 to 19 when he was at his peak and definitely over performed.

 

[CPFCSaturn]

Football's all about opinions, but in 2015/16 he was often second fiddle to Bolasie and played 34 games and scored 2 league goals. He did do well in FA cup games though, which probably helped with the POTY.

In 19/20 he essentially sulked the whole season and scored 4 goals. there were many games, especially away from home when it was like we were playing with 10 men.

In neither of those seasons could anyone reasonable argue he kept us up, unlike 2017 to 19 when he was at his peak and definitely over performed.

So you can't make a reasonable argument that our POTY in 15/16 kept us up..?

Bolasie made 23 league starts in 15/16, compared to Zaha's 34 (2075 minutes for Bolasie v 2488 mins for Zaha) and Zaha won POTY... I'm not sure Zaha was the second fiddle.

 

[Eagleman13]

Baby has been born & is called Zuri Zaha whether it's a boy or girl, no idea, tho tbf, it wasn't waving it's arms around or screaming nor pulling socks up. Congrats to Wilf & Paige.

 

[NEILLO]

Aside for what he did for Palace, which was a lot, I wonder how things would have turned out for him had he not been priced out of that move to Arsenal under Unai Emery.

Things could have been so different at Arsenal for Emery as well.