Ian Wright: Crystal Palace flops need to pull their fingers out or not even Sam Allardyce will be able to keep them up
Sadly I would have to say my old club are destined for the Championship based on their current poor form
WHEN Sam Allardyce took over at Crystal Palace just before Christmas, I’m sure some people expected him to arrive with a magic wand.
The way his players have performed in his eight league games to date, it’s as though some of them believed it too.
It was like they thought: “We’ll be OK now, Sam’s sides never go down.
Keep up to date with ALL the Crystal Palace news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary
“It’s only a matter of time before he turns it around.”
Well, I’ve got a message for them — unless they pull their fingers out pretty sharpish, this survival job is going to prove beyond even Big Sam. Allardyce, as all of us know, has become the go-to man for teams in trouble.
After keeping Bolton, Newcastle, West Ham and Sunderland in the top flight, we can all see why.
But there was a big difference between what he did with those clubs and what is happening at Palace.
Namely that he is two months into the job and still no one has stepped up to the mark.
Results have not improved and there is no hint of the team finding any momentum.
When a side is struggling, all too often fingers are pointed at the manager — and obviously the buck always stops there.
It happened with Alan Pardew, who took them to the FA Cup final in May, and if things continue as they are it will happen with Sam.
When you look at the squad, there is no way Palace should be stuck in the bottom three.
Not with the likes of Christian Benteke, Wilfried Zaha, Andros Townsend and Yohan Cabaye in there.
Related Stories
But Benteke has hit ONE Prem goal since mid-December, which is a shocking return for a £32million striker. The other three have hardly set the world on fire. And the one thing you expected under Sam — a more solid defence — just hasn’t materialised.
In fact, very little has changed since he took over and you cannot keep blaming the manager for that.
You have to look at the players and question them.
They’re the ones making the same mistakes. They’re the ones conceding four goals at home to Sunderland. They’re the ones consistently failing to deliver.
When a new manager arrives, it generally puts a rocket up everyone and sees a wave of optimism through the place.
Just look how Swansea have taken off since Paul Clement was appointed — four wins already and players working their guts out all over the place.
We hear so much about how vital it is to have momentum at this stage, and it’s true. They have certainly got it right now.
Palace, though, have the opposite and if they lose again to Middlesbrough this weekend, they are in danger of steadily being cut adrift.
Much of the focus at the bottom has been about Leicester and how they could follow a title-winning season with a relegation one.
Yet these are just as worrying times for my old club Palace and it’s hard to see how they will stop the rot.
Given the great times I had there, and the affection I’ll always have for the place, that pains me more than you can imagine.
But if I had to say now whether Palace are heading for the Championship, with a heavy heart I’d have to answer ‘yes’.