The opening few months of Pierre Sage’s time as Crystal Palace boss have felt like the definitionof feast or famine football.
We may well be back to our usual mid-table position following Sunday’s 3-1 win at home to Nottingham Forest, but supporters are all a little dazed and confused by the journey taken to get there.
It was never going to be a straightforward task stepping into the sizeable shoes that OliverGlasner vacated in May.
Signing off in Leipzig with a victory over Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final meant he had delivered three pieces of silverware for the club in 12 months, a feat put into perspective when you realise that we had no major honours to our name before his arrival.
Sage himself arrived in SE25 with trophy winning pedigree, having secured a first ever Coupe deFrance for Lens in a season which saw them run the all-powerful Paris Saint-Germain as close as anyone in the league.
But taking on his first Premier League role at a club with such a glut of recent successes would be a daunting task for any coach.
Pierre Sage must get better at rotating his squad with so many games coming up (Photo: Getty)The football Palace are playing is full throttle – we have created the second most “big chances” in theleague with 21, but also have the highest expected goals conceded (if you are into that sort of thing) at 12.8.
The result is a migraine-inducing mixture of blistering attacking play and all hands-on-deck defensivescrambles.
I am sure it is tremendous fun for neutrals who happen to tune in, but when you are theones being put through the emotional wringer, it leaves you with a feeling of unease.
Prior to Sunday, our only win of the Premier League this term came away at rock bottomFulham, a clash in which we had twice fallen behind, only to win it 3-2, thanks, rather ridiculously,to a trio of strikes from left-backs Tyrick Mitchell and Ben Chilwell.
There is no question about the team’s resilience.
It was on show in that outing at Craven Cottage, at home to Ipswich Town, where we fought back to level despite playing with 10 men and Sunday, with the early concession of a breakaway goal only appearing to strengthen our resolve.
It just doesn’t feel sustainable in the long-term.
To Sage’s credit, he is not attempting to paper over any cracks in post-match interviews, directlyaddressing the need for a greater sense of defensive organisation to limit the mind-bogglingnumber of chances we are giving the sides we face.
It will have to come quickly, with Palace travelling out to face Lyon, a former club of his, in the Europa League this Thursday, before an away game at high-flying Brighton on Sunday and then another away trip in Europe, this time at Besiktas the Thursday after that.
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Crystal Palace: This cricket club survived a WWII rocket – now Palace threaten its survival Explained: Crystal Palace’s FFP latest, how it affects January and if they risk sanctionBy anyone’s standards, that is a run of games that could see a team come unstuck very quickly,particularly when you factor in the need for squad rotation, something we are yet to see Sageimplement successfully.
In an idyllic future paradise, we return from Istanbul with four wins from four, toasting theFrenchman as a tactical genius and dreaming of the potential for more European glory in May.
Sadly, the nature of almost all of our displays under to him to date could easily see the completeopposite occur, adding fuel to fires that naysayers are already stoking.
That Jekyll and Hyde seesaw is where I fear we as a fanbase are going to be forced to reside forthe rest of the campaign, a sense of eternal hope tinged with a nagging worry that the worst ofour traits may come and halt the party without a moment’s notice.
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