Passion, and Good Fortune, See Crystal Palace and Alan Pardew to Perfect Start

LONDON — “Our season starts now,” announced the banner unfurled by the most prominent collection of Crystal Palace supporters, the Holmesdale Fanatics, before kick-off on Saturday at Selhurst Park.

Ninety minutes later, the banner was hoisted for an encore, Palace’s hard-fought 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur meaning what was initially intended as a message of encouragement now read much more like a statement of intent.

New manager Alan Pardew arrived at Selhurst Park asked to save a flagging Premier League campaign, 18 games to save a season, and a come-from-behind three points was nothing less than a perfect start in that regard.

“An eventful 90 minutes,” was how Pardew would surmise it later. It was a careful statement, but it felt like an important 90 minutes, too. His new team started the game 19th in the table; they finished it in 15th—out of the relegation zone already.

Most Palace managers have to earn the adulation at Selhurst Park, have to achieve something of note before they hear the song’s about it being their “red and blue army.” Pardew, by virtue of his achievements during his time as a player at the club, has already earned that honour—making Selhurst Park a world away from St James’ Park, where the Newcastle United fans would not hesitate to make their opinion of the 53-year-old known whenever things were not going to plan.

Pardew had just over four, often successful, years on Tyneside, but he perhaps never received the same uniformly rapturous reception as he did when he walked out onto the pitch as Palace boss for the first time, a reception he deferred with a few meek waves.

Only at the final whistle, when Dwight Gayle’s penalty and Jason Puncheon’s precise finish had turned the tide following Harry Kane’s fine opener, did he really interact with the crowd, punching the air in delight as the three points immediately lifted the club out of the bottom three.

“The start of the game, with all due respect, doesn’t mean much,” Pardew noted, when asked why his entrance had been slightly subdued. “It’s nice to get a warm welcome—but you need to win.”

For the 25,000 fans drifting away from Selhurst Park late in the evening it was a day to savour, but Pardew was keen to acknowledge that not everything had gone to plan. Palace, perhaps frozen by the occasion, struggled to even get out of their half in the opening 20 minutes, only growing into the contest as half-time approached.

At the break, Pardew swapped the lightweight Barry Bannan for Adlene Guedioura, the latter a player he admitted afterwards he knew little about beforehand but, having seen glimpses of a raw physicality in training, one he thought his side now needed.

The switch had a subtle but significant impact, shifting the midfield battle, although it was Benjamin Stambouli’s rash tackle on Joe Ledley in the penalty area that truly changed the tide. It was a rare correct decision from referee Anthony Taylor, who bemused both sides with some questionable calls.

This one went for Palace, and Gayle duly stepped up and beat Lloris—who had previously made a couple of world-class saves—before another Pardew substitution, Wilfried Zaha, finally gave Palace a real attacking threat, a creative spark who would end up creating Puncheon’s winner with his trickery down the right.

“All the boys thought it was a penalty,” Gayle said. “Luckily it was given, and I tucked it away.”

Pardew would say of Zaha’s impact: “I left him out because I wanted to see what his reaction would be like. This is a boy who really needs his confidence rekindled, and that 20 minutes will do him the world of good.”

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The result will also do Palace a world of good—with Pardew keen to point out that “momentum can be a great leveler.” But next week’s visit to Burnley remains a hugely significant fixture, and Pardew knows his side will not be able to get by on adrenaline and good fortune as they perhaps did on this occasion.

“[He had] a lot of positive things to say about the team,” Gayle said, when asked what Pardew had said to the team after the game. “But the important thing is next week we continue it against Burnley.”

Pardew already seems settled on what needs to change at Palace to turn things around, albeit still trying to work out exactly how to achieve those changes. After the final whistle he spoke repeatedly about the need for more “maverick” behaviour from his side: While he was keen to pay huge credit to the regimented structure installed by Tony Pulis (and then continued, in inferior fashion, by Neil Warnock), he clearly feels adopting that approach for so long has robbed the squad of some of its flair, some of its unpredictability and, perhaps, some of its self-belief.

Restoring that at Selhurst Park, while retaining the solid back line that was the hallmark of Pulis’ success, is Pardew’s initial ambition.

By playing the tricky Bannan in central midfield, the new boss tried to get that from the off against Spurs, but it actually was not until the Scot was removed, and then Zaha was added, that he got a taste of what he was trying to attain.

Guedioura injected some more steal, and then Zaha—doing his best impression of the absent Yannick Bolasie—petrified Tottenham’s back line with his quick feet.

“Maybe Crystal Palace pushed more than us, were more fresh than us,” Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said. “We scored, and then after that we cannot manage the game.”

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The penalty changed the tone, although both managers hinted that perhaps Harry Kane was unlucky to be denied a decision at the other end following a very similar challenge not long after. Once Palace got on top, however, Pardew saw signs of last season’s team in the way they held on for victory.

“I tried to take the shackles off the team a bit in training, but that didn’t really work,” the new manager acknowledged. “We were organized and disciplined without really carrying that much of a threat. We grew into it, at the end of the first half we began to move up the pitch. In the second half we shaded it.”

He added: “In the end it was our discipline that saw us home. One unbelievable tackle from [Damien] Delaney, and a brilliant save from [Mousa] Dembele [by Julian Speroni]. I was behind that shot, it went everywhere.”

Leaving a club where he was often loathed for one he has long been loved, Pardew now wants his team to start enjoying the same feeling of freedom. That did not quite go to plan the first time around—it was passion, and a certain amount of luck, that ultimately delivered the victory—but for now that is just fine with everybody connected to the Eagles.

“An eventful 90 minutes,” as Pardew noted, “that has kind of worked out really well for us.”

A fresh start, a winning start. Crystal Palace's season starts now.

All quotes obtained first-hand unless otherwise stated.