Crystal Palace’s struggle to close out games costing them vital points

Crystal Palace’s struggle to close out games costing them vital points

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Crystal Palace have gone on the worst winless run in recent memory in the Premier League, having not won since they defeated Stoke back in December.

That was 12 games ago. Since then they have only picked up four points out of a possible 36 which has seen them drop from a possible fight to secure a place in Europe to now having to be concerned about a potential relegation battle. Palace now sit in 15th place level with Swansea on 33 points and only 9 points away from 18th placed Norwich.

To begin with it seemed as if this slump was the result of the absence of instrumental winger Yannick Bolasie. However, even with him back in the team for the last three league games they have still struggled to arrest this alarming slump. The other potentially good sign is that in the last few games Connor Wickham, who was struggling in front of goal this season before the game against West Bromwich, has now scored four goals in three games.

The most frustrating thing for a Palace supporter is that they have shown they have the quality to beat some of the better teams having defeated Tottenham who are currently second in the league. But they have struggled to beat the weaker teams such as Aston Villa, who are destined for the drop following a disastrous campaign.


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In the last few weeks, Palace have had games where they have had the upper hand when approaching the final stages of the match, however they have not been able to see out the game. In the clash against Sunderland they found themselves 2-1 up after Wickham scored two quick goals and it looked like the first win of the year was in reach. That was until the 90th minute when Fabio Borini scored from the edge of the area. The Italian’s shot that should have been easily dealt with by the defence as it went across the box, but it found the back-of-the-net.

In their most recent encounter they held a 1-0 lead over Liverpool when James Milner was sent off. It seemed as if it should have been an easier job to hold on to that winning position given Jurgen Klopp’s men were struggling to get any momentum before that happened. The momentum did change, however, after a mistake from Alex McCarthy in the Palace goal when his failed clearance landed straight to Roberto Firmino who took full advantage to score. At that stage the Eagles would have taken the point, but after conceding a rather soft penalty they suffered yet another defeat.

The frustration from not only that result, but the lack of good results in general is starting to show on Alan Pardew. The manager vented his anger on the bench and then again in the post-match press conference where he criticised the role that Christian Benteke played in winning the penalty, implying that he felt the Belgian striker took a dive.

The pressure is beginning to mount on Pardew whose team is not only struggling to get results, but the performance of record signing Yohan Cabaye has also endured a troubling last few matches. The Frenchman has found it difficult to make an impact on games where Pardew would have been hoping his experience would prove beneficial.

If Pardew was recording these type of results at his previous club Newcastle United, the fans would be calling for his sacking. However, the Palace faithful may be willing to give the manager more time because of the impact he had during his playing days at Palace.

Given that the previous managers at Palace over the last few years have been given less chances than this by the board it remains to be seen how long this side can continue without any intervention from the Crystal Palace hierarchy. Having said that, with the side moving from sixth to now being situated in 15th place it may need to come sooner rather than later.

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