Following their shock FA Cup exit, Crystal Palace fan Luke fills us in on what we can expect from Sunderland’s opponents.
We have to start with your shock FA Cup defeat to non-league Macclesfield. Even with the mass changes, that must have been disappointing for fans?
Yes massively disappointing, but it’s what the magic of the FA Cup is all about!
We produced our moment of magic in May and I can imagine how great it feels for Macclesfield after a deserved win. The performance was horrible from a Palace perspective, but all will be forgotten if we can go all the way in the Conference League.
Without a win in six league matches, the club’s dip in form is on the back of a very busy European schedule. Do fans understand injury have caused this or this their a feeling the club should have recruited more depth?
It’s definitely a bit of both, perhaps we would have less injuries if we signed adequate depth in the summer.
We knew about the fixture chaos, we knew Sarr was going to AFCON and we knew we didn’t have good enough cover for Munoz, so it definitely feels like the poor run could have been prevented.
We have already played 36 games this season, so injuries and a dip in form was always bound to happen, but the dip could definitely have been smaller with a better summer window.
It does feel very unlucky however to lose your whole right hand side (Sarr, Kamada, Munoz and Richards) at the same time over the worst period possible.
To add to the on-field issues, it has been reported that Oliver Glasner will not be signing a new contract at Palace. How has this gone down with the fanbase?
Well I have had to rewrite this answer as news breaking on Friday confirming his departure has caused mayhem in the Palace fan base.
There’s huge confusion at the timing of Glasner revealing his future, but a lot of us thought that him leaving was inevitable, so it’s not a shock in that sense.
Gutted, sad and disappointed, but we move on as football fans always do and try to rebuild in the summer. What a manager, what a gentleman as well and he will be solely missed.
Palace made an excellent start to the transfer window by beating other PL clubs to signing Brennan Johnson, what has he brought to the table?
Johnson (hopefully) brings a goalscoring ability that some of our other attackers don’t possess, as well as a strong attacking awareness of where to be in the box at the right time.
He also brings European experience and with him only 24 years old, he has the potential to get even better.
Given your lack of depth, are you expecting the club to do further deals and which positions would you expect?
The club desperately needs a RWB and a CM, so hopefully that happens, but January is such a tough transfer window, so it’s never certain what will happen.
Out of contract in six months, Marc Guehi looks set to join Manchester City following their defensive injury crisis. Are you sad to lose him given January is such a difficult period to replace players?
Well another we have had to change! I have had better Friday’s…. I was confident, but now he’s gone and not even in the squad to play Sunderland and that’s a huge worry.
We are losing our captain mid-season, with no replacement ready to be signed or come into the team. It leaves us with no CB cover for the time being, apart from a CM who can play there, but it just emphasises our lack of depth.
Guehi wanted to go, there’s no much you can do, but awful timing really and we shouldn’t be going through this when we have our best ever chance of winning a European trophy.. I would have kept him and accepted the financial hit as we have a lot of players we can make good profit on.
Now we’re halfway into the season, who has impressed you most this season and who are your unsung heroes?
Tyrick Mitchell is massively underrated by a lot of fans both inside and outside of Palace. He’s defensively superb and improving a lot in attack.
Marc Guehi has been his usual world class self most of the season so gets the plaudits, but Mitchell and Maxence Lacroix have also had very good campaigns.
How do you expect Glasner to set up tactically at the Stadium of Light?
Defence will take priority for the start and I believe we will have a press on occasions, but will primarily setup to counter attack.
The focus will also be on attacking set pieces as well, so expect both sides to compete for who can take the most long throw-ins!
Which players are out injured and what do you think the starting XI will be?
Munoz, Kamada, Nketiah, Clyne are definitely injured, whilst Richards is returning from injury. It looks like our CM will have to play RWB again and I believe Lerma is back from his concussion injury.
Henderson (GK), Devenny, Richards, Canvot, Lacroix, Mitchell, Wharton, Lerma, Johnson, Mateta, Pino.
The two sides played out a bore 0-0 draw earlier this season – what is your score prediction for this time around?
I’m going 2-2!
Category: General Sports
