Luke's Football blog

The Eagles are still yet to win a game in 2023, and it’s nearly April, and with their third loss in a row and third game without a goal, questions are being asked of Palace Manager Patrick Vieira as his club are getting dragged even closer to the relegation zone.

Yesterday was a much better performance from the eagles, but they still struggled to take chances, which has been their story of the season for the eagles as they have failed to take their chances that have been given to them and it has shown with others taking their chances and scoring which the eagles haven’t managed to do, which has been a struggle for them.

He isn’t just at fault though as the board hasn’t backed him to his ability, which has shown as the lack of depth and leaders are showing throughout the squad. That is a key problem to why they are in the relegation battle at the moment, and if things change soon they could face the fear of relegation.

The only bright spark of yesterday’s game is Academy goalkeeper Joe Whitworth, who was thrown in at the deep end and did himself proud by making crucial saves that were needed as it could’ve been 3 or 4 nil on the night, but once again they were lacklustre and were punished for it as Solly March scored in the first half, which was the only goal of the game.

This team has seemed to get worse as they have been out of form. Losing experienced players like Kouyate and Benteke, who have over 200 Premier League appearances between them, and not adding more experienced players has been the problem, as the lack of leaders on the pitch has taken a huge toll on the club, and it doesn’t look like it will get any better.

Vieira is kind of to blame as he hasn’t been able to coach these players properly, as they have all made little progress from last season where they got to an FA Cup semi-final and a solid 12th place finish in the Premier League, and there were promising signs, but now it is getting to the point where we will ever win a game, which is not what he wanted, and his lack of tactical nouse has failed him and put the club where they are.

I don’t know if a new manager would be able to help this team, but I feel his time is up and someone new should come to steady the ship for the rest of the season till we hire a replacement in the summer, as I feel getting a new manager this late in the season is a risk as they don’t have much time to implement their tactics onto the team and I feel it wouldn’t work at all.

Overall, something needs to change, whether it’s the manager or the board, as things are getting worse, not better, and it’s going to be hard to get out of this, but I’m sure with more easier fixtures coming up, the light at the end of the tunnel is there, and it will be a smooth ride till the end of the season.