Alan Pardew's Crystal Palace Survival Bid Starts with Plenty of Headaches

While the rest of Crystal Palace’s squad were just about to start going through some final preparations for Saturday’s Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur, club captain Mile Jedinak was on the other side of the world converting a penalty as Australia beat Kuwait 4-1 to kick off the Asian Cup.

If Alan Pardew was to draw up a list of players he would want to be available for his first league game as Palace manager, Jedinak would almost certainly be at the very top. As it is Jedinak will be missing for nearly a month, along with Yannick Bolasie (who is off to the Africa Cup of Nations) and, perhaps for a shorter period, Marouane Chamakh (who is recovering from injury)—two players who would also surely feature near the top of Pardew’s proverbial list.

The ex-Newcastle manager might have been relieved to have been offered an escape route from St James' Park, but if his switch has hardly seen him jump into the fire, it has certainly shifted him into another frying pan. Palace have not exactly looked like a side capable of retaining their top-flight status in the months since Tony Pulis departed, which is the predominant reason why Pardew has now been parachuted in to try and find a solution.

But Pardew now starts what is effectively an 18-game survival bid without two of his key players and with doubts about the quality of much of the rest of the squad. No wonder he is already talking about needing to make a few additions this month.

The focus will be in attack, as Jedinak, the club’s top league goalscorer to date, has just five goals.

“I can’t say anything about the financial side—I think that’s unfair on any club we’re talking to,” Pardew said on Friday, per the Press Association (h/t The Guardian). “But the chairman and the board are keen to try to bring a player or two, and I know they’re working hard towards that.

“We have to wait and see; it’s complicated securing any player and particularly a striker.”

The club have been linked with Bafetimbi Gomis, although Swansea City are surely unlikely to let the forward leave if they are on the verge of selling Wilfried Bony to Manchester City. Another target might have to be identified, although in the interim Glenn Murray—back after a loan spell at Reading—could well be given a chance to show he has the game to play at this level.

With eight goals at Championship level, Murray at least has shown a recent goalscoring touch, although it does not sound like Pardew anticipates his proving to be either the short- or long-term answer.

Pardew added: “I spoke to Steve [Parish, Palace co-chairman] on my arrival here. ... I told him we’re going to need some funding because we need to get new players, and he gave me the assurances that he would do his very, very best to do that.”

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

It will be interesting to see who Palace, and Pardew, identify. Pardew leaves a Newcastle United side that have gained a widespread reputation for astute recruitment in the transfer market, with Ayoze Perez (the former Tenerife striker) the latest bargain acquisition that has gained the Magpies a lot of plaudits from journalists and fans alike. However, questions remain about exactly how much input Pardew really had into transfer activity on Tyneside; during his tenure the club tended to look to the continent (particularly France) for reinforcements, an approach that differed significantly from Pardew’s operating methods when at Southampton, West Ham or Charlton.

That is not to say Pardew cannot identify talent, of course: When at Southampton he signed Rickie Lambert for £1 million, a figure that seemed expensive at the time but soon proved to be a bargain. Palace would love it if Pardew could find a similar deal over the next few weeks.

Palace have other areas of need—a left-back is a priority, so Joel Ward can return to his preferred right-back role, while a mobile centre-back to partner Scott Dann would solidify things further—but none of those can be addressed before Saturday’s game against Spurs.

Pardew will have to use his coaching smarts to get a result against one of the league’s in-form sides, perhaps looking to build on the momentum created by last weekend’s 4-0 FA Cup victory over non-league Dover Athletic.

Spurs, meanwhile, drew away to Burnley, but in the league they are finally starting to look solid and settled under Mauricio Pochettino, with the New Year’s Day 5-3 win over Chelsea a huge marker heading into 2015. Slowly but surely, the Argentine’s assertions that the players would always need a few months to adjust to his preferred methods have been validated.

Unfortunately for all concerned, Pardew does not have the luxury of that same amount of time to impose his own vision on his new club. Palace could theoretically sit bottom of the table by the time the game kicks off (although admittedly Leicester City would have to win handsomely against Aston Villa for that to happen), which would only underline the gravity of the club’s situation.

“It’s important when you’re fighting relegation you don’t hit teams in red-hot form, and Tottenham are, so it’s not the greatest of starts,” Pardew acknowledged. “They were terrific against Chelsea.

“The fact the Europa League campaign has closed down has helped them because that’s a huge factor, which we suffered with at Newcastle.

“This is a great period for them, and we’re going to have to try to knock them out of their stride.”

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The game might come too soon for Pardew to really put his own stamp on the squad, but at least the return of the man who scored Palace’s winning goal in the famous 1990 FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool should ensure the return of the famous Selhurst Park atmosphere: the intimidating wall of noise that earned such plaudits during the club’s first season in the Premier League but flagged somewhat at the start of this campaign, as it quickly became evident the Warnock era was not going to bring the same highs.

“What I do know is from the welcome I’ve had, the place will be jumping for us,” Pardew noted. “We need to exploit that.”

Without their on-pitch leader, Jedinak, and main creative spark, Bolasie, Pardew starts his Palace tenure without all the weapons he might want at his disposal. Palace will be hoping his arrival alone can help overcome that, but it might not be until reinforcements are brought in that the club and their new manager can really start to turn their season around.