After just four games of the Premier League season, Crystal
Palace’s Frank De Boer has become the first managerial casualty. A record of
played four, lost four, scored none does not make comfortable reading for the
Dutchman, but it is nonetheless staggering how quickly the Palace board have
opted to pull the trigger. Roy Hodgson is being touted as heavy favourite to
take over; aside from shared managerial stints at Inter Milan, the two coaches
could hardly be more different. That he is their go-to replacement suggests
Palace were never all that invested in rebranding their style of play – De Boer
may well feel in hindsight that he was doomed from the start – but the
appointment of the one-time England boss could nonetheless prove successful for
the London outfit.
Many failed relationships have ‘compatibility issues’ cited
as the reason for the breakdown, and in the case of Palace and De Boer this
rings true. The Dutch tactician built his considerable success at Ajax around
possession – they dominated by stroking the ball around with precision and
purpose, transitioning seamlessly from one phase of play to another. How, then,
must he have felt upon first walking into the dressing room and seeing the
likes of McArthur, Tomkins and Benteke staring back at him? All are good
players in their own right, but to ask them to make up the spine of a De Boer
team is absurd. Still, the manager was brought in before pre-season had begun:
there was clearly time to mould the squad a little more into his image and
likeness. However, it appears that the powers that be lacked the inclination,
or perhaps the resources, to do so: Mamadou Sakho and Jairo Riedewald were the
only permanent additions to the squad. Both of these are good defensive
additions, particularly Sakho, and both are far more ball-playing than any of
the centre-backs already at the club. Nevertheless, they are not
transformative. Riedewald was not a definite starter in De Boer’s brief reign,
and Sakho may not even have been a choice of the manager; the former Liverpool
man had enjoyed a successful loan spell at the club in the latter half of last
season, and following this the club board were set on getting him. In a
Trump-esque tweet storm, club chairman Steve Parish admitted that acquiring
Sakho blew most of the budget – if this is indeed the case, De Boer was left
stranded with a squad completely incapable of executing his philosophy. This
was damaging to both club and manager: Parish will need a lot more than 140
characters to explain himself.
Given all of this, the sacking actually appears to be a
sensible decision. Granted, it is the first good call in a string of terrible
ones by the Palace hierarchy, but it was probably wise to step in now and
attempt damage limitation rather than persevere with a manager they never
equipped with the tools to succeed. Hodgson as the replacement places a
considerable ceiling on the ambitions of the team, having proved at Liverpool
and then at England that he is utterly useless when entrusted with any squad
even vaguely capable of challenging for trophies, but he is more likely to
succeed with the current squad than De Boer was. Prior to his catastrophic
spell on Merseyside he had impressed with Fulham, and his poor showing with
England was preceded by a solid stint with West Brom – it must be conceded that
he has some expertise in taking relegation-threatened squads to mid-table
safety. This will hardly enamour Palace fans, but priorities must surely have
shifted to staying up after the sacking of De Boer brought the sorry attempt at
a rebrand to an abrupt end. Hodgson is not one for the future at the ripe old
age of seventy, but he has as good a chance as any of steadying the ship: if he
does this, Palace can try properly investing in a progressive vision in a year
or two. For the time-being, Benteke represents an ideal focal point for a coach
who is essentially a relic of a bygone era. Combined with traditional wingers
in the shape of Zaha and Townsend, the materials are all there for Hodgson to
create a goal-scoring outfit that can stay afloat in the top flight.
All that said, Hodgson essentially represents admitting
defeat for Palace. The best he can achieve with the squad is good damage
limitation, as opposed to positive steps for the future – with De Boer the club
had a chance to put building blocks in place going forward, but the chance was
comprehensively blown. The board was right to let De Boer go, but for all the
wrong reasons: Palace can now only hope that Hodgson does well as a stopgap,
and that another promising coach is waiting to join them on the other side. If
the board are fortunate enough to see this come to pass, then they must fully
invest in the new man – a lesson learned is perhaps the only potential positive
to come out of this sorry saga.
-
James Martin (@JamesMartin013)
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