Crystal Palace Season Review – Pardew Flies With Eagles

Crystal Palace finished 10th after an uneven season that was framed by the influence of three different managers. The key figure will undoubtedly be remembered as manager Alan Pardew and his masterful work helping Palace recover from the doldrums of the opening half of the season. The truth is that Pardew only adapted and made better the tactics of his predecessor, Tony Pulis.

When last season’s savior, Tony Pulis, left on the eve of the opening fixture last August, Crystal Palace were right to ask themselves some questions about the coming season. Pulis, after all, righted a severely listing ship when he was replaced Ian Holloway as manager in November of 2013. Were it not for Pulis’ Premier League Manager of the Year-caliber guidance, Palace in all likelihood would have been relegated back to the Championship from which they had just risen.

More from Crystal Palace FC

• Patrick Vieira got an absolute steal with Odsonne Edouard
• Crystal Palace secure signature of Championship star Eze
• Crystal Palace takeover set to be complete before Christmas
• Wilfried Zaha wants out of Crystal Palace
• Three positives Crystal Palace can take from Liverpool defeat

Now, if you’re resorting to Pulis’ particular brand of simple-but-effective, just-good-enough-to-survive leadership, clearly something has gone terribly wrong. It’s not that Pulis is a bad manager; far from it: he performed a similar miraculous rescue operation for West Brom this season. Rather, it’s that turning to him means that your club is willing to throw all methodology and strategy out and simply focus on staying in the game. For most clubs that’s hardly sufficient, particularly for a club boasting as much talent as Crystal Palace.

Palace initially felt the best option for replacing Pulis was former manager Neil Warnock. His previous residency at the club had been more admirable than successful: the club was plagued with financial difficulties at the time and he did the best he could with the resources available. Unfortunately for Palace, it would be hard to defend Warnock’s second stint in the same way. He tried and failed to implement what made Pulis’ Palace a passable Premier League team. Faced with the prospect of relegation for the second time in two years, the club was forced to move on from Warnock in late December.

In what proved to be something of a masterstroke, the club was able to pry former Palace player Alan Pardew away from his embattled position at Newcastle. The move at the time seemed underwhelming; Pardew had done great things with the northeastern club in 2011/12, earning them a fifth place finish and himself a Premier League Manager of the Year award, but had failed to build on that success in subsequent years. He quickly became a scapegoat for many Geordies and was likely anxious to move on when Palace came calling.

Pardew’s influence was immediately felt. Any manager can expect some kind of bump in performance, particularly after the departure of a lame duck like Warnock, but Pardew gave Palace something more. He recognized that the side he had at his disposal had been in part crafted over two transfer windows by Tony Pulis. That meant that the club featured robust defenders, a preference for long balls, and pacey wingers to chase down said passes from deep. Under Pulis this combination often resembled a slightly classier first of rugby. Pardew would tweak that system and build something more dynamic.

A look at two vital stats from ESPN FC tells us volumes about which of Pulis’ tactics Palace built his team around:

Percentage of passes that are long balls:

• Burnley 24 percent
• Queens Park Rangers 23.4 percent
• Crystal Palace 22.7 percent
• Leicester 22.0 percent

Lowest pass completion:

• Crystal Palace 66.8 percent
• Leicester 68.4 percent
• Burnley 68.8 percent
• Queens Park Rangers 68.9 percent

Notice the other teams in those two stat samples: relegation victims or candidates prone to blindly punting balls upfield if only to distance them from their own nets. Palace, of course, finished 10th, and while they did spend half the season toward the bottom of the table, their appearance amongst such illustrious company comes down to Pardew’s continued reliance on the long ball. It’s not effective in every way: clearly it in part contributed to Palace’s worst-in-the-league passing completion rate. When it does work though, it works extremely well.

More from Playing for 90

• Barcelona kick off Champions League against Royal Antwerp
• Alexia Putellas reaches 400 games with Barcelona
• Everything you need to know ahead of the 250th ‘Super Clásico’
• Barcelona put five past Real Betis
• Manchester City suffer but come away with win over West Ham

All four of Palace’s goals in their performance-of-the-season against Sunderland in April came as a direct result of a long ball. When long balls failed, Palace could still rely on another Pulis favorite: set pieces. Their 19 goals from dead balls were joint top this Premier League season.

All of which partly vindicates Pulis’ methods while also affirming Pardew as one of the best managers in the Premier League. He could have retooled Palace and attempted to replicate the success of his 2012 Newcastle side. Instead, he took what he was given – namely, a team built on another coach’s ideals – and improved it. Where Pulis’ methods can be stale and smell vaguely of gamesmanship, Pardew’s felt like a revitalization. Often at times it felt like he played something like a 4-2-4, an all-out attacking blitz that beat Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and Southampton. Crystal Palace might have been built on Pulis.

What to Expect Next Season: Pardew will likely further refine Pulis’ tactics, perhaps attempting to build around a central striker as Glenn Murray is aging and Marouane Chamakh is Marouane Chamakh.

Verdict: B. It’s difficult to rate a season of two distinct halves, but Pardew’s management and pragmatic style far outshine the lifeless half-season under Neil Warnock.