Crystal Palace became the second team to get rid of their manager after Swansea City had relieved Francesco Guidolin of his duties after a dire start to the season. Incidentally, they have fired his successor Bob Bradley too after the American oversaw a horrendous run of results which sees Swansea City firmly dumped in the relegation mire.
Alan Pardew’s sack was foreseeable with the former Newcastle United manager overseeing just 6 wins in this calendar year. With the team littered with competent players and with the board having backed him with sufficient funds to bolster the team, the results were unacceptable.
The Eagles moved swiftly and announced Sam Allardyce as the replacement, who oversaw a draw in his first game in charge. Big Sam himself has had a turbulent season so far. Resigning from his Sunderland job to take over as the England manager, he got busted in a sting operation involving backdoor transactions which were a direct misuse of his position and was stripped of his duties. All in a matter of a couple of months.
Allardyce has got teams out of more difficult situations before this and the challenge in front of him will be to get the players playing at their levels. The likes of Cabaye, Townsend, Puncheon, Zaha and Benteke in attack form one of the most lethal groups but they haven’t fired in unison.
Allardyce will look to shore up at the back and install some steel in midfield. Scott Dann needs support as more often than not he has had to do it all by himself.
While defence and midfield are the areas which evidently needs strengthening, the first name being linked with the Eagles is that of Jermain Defoe.
Palace have Conor Wickham and Loic Remy as long-term absentees. The Chelsea loanee might return soon but it is unsure of the impact he will have after recovering from the injury. Fraizer Campbell is their only other option other than Benteke and an injury to either of them will leave their cupboard dry of any potent option up top.
Defoe already has had a successful partnership with the manager after both of them pulled Sunderland out of the rut and saw them to safety last season. Defoe has again been immense for the struggling Black Cats and is their highest scorer with 8 goals.
He will provide a proven and a lethal goalscoring option from the off and is used to playing under pressure. He likes to run in behind the defence and can prove to be the perfect foil to Benteke who has a more static style.
But there are doubts (obviously, duh!) whether Sunderland will be willing to let go of their brightest hope of avoiding relegation. But Allardyce’s relationship with the player and the fact that Palace will probably finish much higher than Sunderland and the surety of playing Premier League next season might make it difficult for Sunderland to keep hold of him.
