The Premier League’s Newest Faces
By Ryan Wrenn
Yohan Cabaye at Crystal Palace
In our season review for Crystal Palace, we emphasized the fact that Neil Warnock’s midseason replacement Alan Pardew had embraced his predecessor’s penchant for long balls. Warnock had, of course, only adopted that penchant after taking over for Tony Pulis at the beginning of the season. Under Pardew, though, that long ball play had become more refined and, most importantly of all, potent.
So potent, in fact, that it seemed that it might be a strategy Pardew would persist with this season. It appears as if Pardew will be able to hold on to the players that thrived most in this system as well, notably Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha. So why, then, does Crystal Palace seem intent on acquiring the Paris Saint Germain midfield creator Yohan Cabaye?
Part of Cabaye’s imminent transfer stems from the fact that he and Pardew worked together at Newcastle. It’s hard to beat a good working relationship when it comes to building a squad, and that alone might be enough to compel Pardew to change his system slightly to accommodate the playmaker. It could also be, though, that last season’s long ball was simply pragmatism, and that Pardew had always ultimately dreamed of recreating his Newcastle success in south London.
The height of Pardew’s success at Newcastle came in the 2011/12 season. The northeastern club finished 5th that year and Pardew earned himself a Premier League Manager of the Year award for his efforts. Cabaye played a key role there, pairing well in central midfield with hard tackler and yellow card generator Cheik Tiote.
The problem Pardew faces, assuming all this is his plan, is that there are very few analogs at Palace of that successful Newcastle side. They lack a midfield battler like Tiote and a physical center forward like Demba Ba. Instead, they have arguably one of the best holding midfielders – and long ball experts, incidentally – in the league in Mile Jedinak and the aforementioned talented winger pair of Bolasie and Zaha. How well Cabaye will translate into these new conditions is still up in the air. For Pardew to sustain Palace’s meteoric rise under his leadership, he’ll have to hope he settles in early.
Next: Loanees at Chelsea