If you ask any Crystal Palace what their worst nightmare is, chances are it will involve the absence of Wilfried Zaha. After his injury against Newcastle, the Palace youth graduate was ruled out for six weeks after he started the season well with six goals making him the Eagles top scorer by some distance. Given Zaha’s record of returning early from the treatment table in the past, it’s likely he’ll only miss two or three matches. But given he has only six months remaining on his current contract and still hasn’t committed to signing a new one, this could be a window into how Palace set up without their talisman in the future. With a better core of attacking young players than previous seasons, and a manager who has the intelligence and fortitude to improve and adapt Palaces style of play, will Palace sink or swim without their Ivory Coast international?
Zaha has often been described as one of the best players outside of the traditional Premier League top six, and it’s easy to see why with his devastating dribbling and keen eye for a goal often making the difference for his side. He had the best scoring season in his career in 2021-22 with 14 Premier League Goals under the stewardship of Patrick Vieira and is often the player Palace look to in difficult situations such as his excellent breakaway goal against Liverpool at Anfield in August. Having a player you look to on every occasion can be a double edged sword though, with the lack of a game plan when Zaha isn’t there apparent. Palace have lost 18 of the last 20 games Zaha has missed and their lack of threat when his runs and directness are missing a clear issue.
It’s always going to be difficult to replace a player of his quality, especially on the kind of budget Palace have to operate on, not that Vieira hasn’t tried. In his first season Vieira brought in three attackers, Odsonne Edouard, Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta, whose loan was made permanent. So far however none have come close to replicating Zaha’s influence on the team with all three scoring a combined 19 goals in the League under Vieira whilst Zaha has scored 20 on his own in that same period. Perhaps then the answer is not in finding one individual to take the burden of replicating Wilf but in organizing the team into a collective that can score goals together and spread the responsibility throughout the squad. After all, all three of the players mentioned above are 25 or under with Olise in particular having only just turned 21 and could conceivably kick on this season and perhaps start to influence games on his own as we saw against United at Selhurst Park this season.
It’s not just about players and transfers though, Vieira has strived to move his team towards a more possession based style of play than they were previously used to and it hasn’t always come off this season. Palace have only had the majority of possession in seven of their 21 games played this season with wins coming in four of those fixtures. Viera has always shown, though, a willingness to adapt when the situation demands it and can and will change the style he demands depending on the opposition. Palace have secured two of their six wins this season playing with a more counter attacking style against Bournemouth and Southampton, with both goals against the Cherries coming from clever set-piece routines. Of course it has to be said that in the past, Zaha’s successes have always come in counter attacking scenarios with space ahead of him. He can sometimes look lost with a settled defence ahead of him and his side having to have the impetus to break down a stubborn low block with theories abound that this might be the reason his often theorised big move has never materialised.
Whilst there weren’t any attacking additions in January, the signings the manager did make point to an acceptance that the midfield in particular might need better technical quality to carry out the possession style that Vieira is moving towards. Naouirou Ahamada from Stuttgart and Albert Sambi Lokonga on a loan from Arsenal are both tidy technical midfielders, if a little raw. These midfield enforcements might also point to the idea of moving Ebere Eze or Olise into Zaha’s position which they have both played in the past.
Looking at Palace’s Possession Value, which measures how likely a team is to score when they have the ball, they have had four strong performances in this respect. Only in two of those games have they had the most possession and of those two, they won just one which was against Villa in August. The three other fixtures were against Arsenal where Palace had 56% possession but lost 2-0, Liverpool where they only had 28% possession but drew 1-1, and the win against Bournemouth where they had the ball for 41% of the 90 minutes and won 2-0. To have more possession in 50% of your most threatening performances probably points to a team still figuring out how they should play and what suits them best. Given that Vieira has only been there for 18 months this should improve but how likely is it that Zaha will be there to see it or have an impact?
With a trip to Old Trafford on Saturday, it was a good opportunity to see how Vieira would reorganize his frontline in the absence of Zaha. Did he play Eze on the left hand side? Was it an exciting youthful attack? Not exactly. In a tough away fixture against an in-form United, Vieira chose to entrust the left-hand-side to 30-year-old defensive stalwart Jeffrey Schlupp. With Edouard leading the line and Olise in the 10 slot as well as Jordan Ayew playing off the right, the shape was a pretty orthodox 442 out of position with Olise taking up Zaha’s usual role of staying further forward alongside the striker, so did it work? No. Again this was a very good, in-form Man Utd side at home so even if Zaha had been fit it’s unlikely the South London side could have taken anything from the game, however the lack of threat in behind given Schlupp’s lack of pace and Olise’s playmaking, rather than as a direct threat, role meant that United had no issues pushing their forward line high in order to put The Eagles under pressure. Casemiro’s red card and a clever finish from Schlupp after a corner in the second half made for an uncomfortable finish for United but in truth it was a relatively comfortable win despite the scoreline.
It would take a brave or stupid man to suggest that Crystal Palace would be better without Wilfried Zaha in their side. He is a top class player who has the ability to win a game on his own and that can be invaluable to a side like Crystal Palace. However, with it being unlikely he will be back in time to play in Palace’s next three tricky games against Brighton, Brentford and Liverpool, as well as the fact that his contract is up in the summer, it may be the case that Palace fans will have to put their trust in the manager and the rest of the team for the time being.
By Tom Haddock
