Tony Pulis – The Saviour

At the beginning of the Premier League season many football fans envisaged Crystal Palace returning to the Championship next season, not finishing four points behind a top-ten finish. In fact, every Scout at the beginning of the season predicted that Crystal Palace would finish in the bottom five. The Eagles acquired seven points from their first twelve games, and this reflected where they sat in the league; 19th. They looked certain to be relegated; even the bookies had written them off! And then in stepped Tony Pulis, the saviour, and they defied the odds…

Crystal Palace – Season Summary

Pulis wasn’t successful in his first game in charge as they lost 1-0 away at Norwich, but he was quick to change things around and pick up back to back wins against West Ham and Cardiff, beating both teams to nil. Six games down the way, and Pulis had already managed to acquire more points than what Palace had after their first twelve games. He even managed to keep an extra clean sheet. This was the first time Crystal Palace had climbed out of the relegation zone since their third game, and gave fans a glimmer of hope.

The next match saw Palace up against Man City at the Etihad, the place where teams journeyed to get slaughtered. At this point, Man City had scored at least 2 goals in every Premier League home match, and was averaging 4.11 goals at home. Pulis was able to lead his team to a respectable 1-0 defeat. Norwich were their next opponents, who held them to a draw, which saw Palace slump back into the relegation zone. This was followed by a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham, placing them at the bottom of the table.

Bottom of the league for the fifth time of the season, the Eagles prepared for a home clash with Mark Hughes’ Stoke. Jason Puncheon scored the only goal of the match, and this took Palace out of the relegation zone…for the very last time! The highlight of any Palace fan’s season would be what started on the 29th March. Back-to-back wins against Chelsea, Cardiff, Aston Villa, Everton and West Ham ensured that Tony Pulis’ side would remain in the Premier League. This feat of five back-to-back wins in the top flight hadn’t been witnessed by Palace fans for over a decade (December 1992.)

Tony Pulis had achieved what was once seen as the impossible. But how did he manage this?

The Defence – Players and Tactics

The Eagles’ gaffer’s well known for his defensive tactics and this proved to be a key element for their survival. Throughout his time in charge he managed to lead them to ten clean sheets and concede only 27 goals.

Pulis’ favoured back line, which kept 5 clean sheets, is; Ward-Delaney-Dann-Mariappa, with Speroni in between the sticks. Scott Dann was the last piece of the puzzle for Pulis, after Palace signed him on the last day of the January transfer window from Blackburn for £1.6m.

Under Pulis, Palace had the second best stats in the league for each of the following; tackles won, aerial duels won and clearances, and first in the league for interceptions. All of these are key elements in order for a team to perform well defensively. Delaney was the key centre-back, being dominant in the air, winning 71 aerial duels, and totalling up the most clearances, 260. Throughout the whole season, Delaney managed a massive 349 clearances, the second most in the league. Left-back Joel Ward excelled in interceptions (64), recoveries (148) and tackles (86, winning 63). Once again, if we look at the season as a whole, Ward has the second highest stats for recoveries (200) and the highest for tackles won (102).

Another notable member of the defence is Argentinian goalkeeper Julian Speroni. In his 37 games for the club he managed 86 saves; the 5th highest in the league.

And the last player who’s been a key man is defensive midfielder Mile Jedinak. The Australian tops the members table for the entire season for midfielders for tackles won (102), clearances (156), duels won (319) and interceptions (140).

Under Pulis’ management, those six players have achieved remarkable things for the club.

Pulis likes his side to play very narrow football, defend as a unit and counter attack using the pace of wide men Puncheon and Bolasie. Using these tactics has shown that they are a solid unit defensively, but are rather poor in other areas. The team have the worst pass completion rate in the league under Pulis, with only 69% of their passes reaching their intended target. January signing Joe Ledley is the only man whose passes have reached their intended destinations over 80% of the time out of all the players from the club who have played at least a quarter of the season. Their possession is awful as well, having just 37.4% all season, along with taking just 10.9 shots per game, both of these stats being the worst in the league. These areas need addressing in the summer in order for the club to move forward.

Next season Crystal Palace defenders won’t be as cheap as this season, but will still offer a very good value for money, and I for one will be investing in their back-line.