Crystal Palace

August 30, 2017 at 2:01 am

Crystal Palace  The Club

Crystal Palace have always been a perennial strugglers club. Known for decent youth production and always trying to play football the right way, Palace rarely have the ability to compete at the top end of the table. Financial instability, too, has regularly been a problem for one of the smaller London clubs.

In their classic red and blue kit, though, The Eagles have always been a club that people respect. Their famous FA Cup final appearances against Manchester United have always earned them a ‘neutral’s favourite’ tag.

16-17 – How Was It?

Challenging. Club legend Alan Pardew rightfully moved on, before Sam Allardyce returned from disgrace to take the club to safety. Impressive wins – again, with a win at Anfield – helped to seal the clubs safety and they managed to stay up. A lack of movement on and off the pitch since, though, has seen a rather stressful summer come together.

A lack of improvement on a rather imbalanced playing staff could see major problems for Palace, who while they managed to finish 14th in the league never really looked particularly safe, with some big name signings never truly settling in.

17-18 – What Lies Ahead?

A battle. The hiring of Frank de Boer seems ambitious but also misguided. A good coach, he managed to lose it with Ajax in the end (despite rebuilding them) and also managed to fall apart at Internazionale in a record space of time. A good coach, he lacks the right kind of profile for a club like Palace – he’s too ambitious in playing style for it to likely work, and not pragmatic enough to make it stick.

Either way, it’s going to be interesting. We expect Palace to be battling relegation, although we expect them to stay up – just about.

Swansea City

August 2, 2017 at 3:42 am

Swansea City  The Club

The Swans are the sole representative in the Premier League outside of England, having been joined be eternal rivals Cardiff in 2013/14. Swansea were in regular trouble for many years, bar a rather wild time under John Toshack in the 80s. Once the residents of the charismatically awful Vetch Field, they moved to the Liberty Stadium and done very well. Now, they are one of the more established clubs, having lifted the League Cup in 2013, culminating years of work from chairman Huw Jenkins. Now under manager Paul Clement, The Jacks want to take another step forward.

16-17 – How Was It?

Poor. The sacking of several coaches, including US coach Bob Bradley, seen the club go through a period of relative flux. Under Paul Clement, though, the club maintained a decent run of things after a crazy 3-2 win at Anfield vs Liverpool. They went on to finish an impressive 15th, given the relative mess of the club that season. The season, though, was one of serious issues for the clubs fans.

Fallouts and a lack of trust in the new ownership meant things went wrong, with survival only achieved late on.

17-18 – What Lies Ahead?

More stress, we suggest. Summer moves have been slow and a lack of quality in the market could see them struggle further. Coach Paul Clement is very good at his job but can only do what he can with the squad he has. With an ageing team and everyone a year older, doubts exist as to whether they can survive again without more intelligent investment.

Either way, the season is not likely to be one that is memorable for the right seasons. Swans fans should be ready for another battle at the bottom: not enough progress looks to be made in summer.