Jason Puncheon the Star Centre Piece as Crystal Palace Build for Next Season

SELHURST PARK — Manchester United squeezed out a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday. Juan Mata netted a contentious penalty in the first half before Jason Puncheon equalised in the second, but Marouane Fellaini scored the winner 12 minutes from time by heading home an Ashley Young cross.

It's at this stage of the season you'd have expected Palace to be fighting tooth and nail for every point and every position, but that's not how the 2014-15 campaign has panned out at all. With safety secured long ago following a remarkable run of form, there's not an awful lot left for Alan Pardew to glean from these end-of-season showings.

What he will be doing, though, is taking a breather after being parachuted in on a rescue mission and stopping to take stock of what he has at his disposal.

The Eagles are in the rare, luxurious position of being able to cool off and start planning for next season before this one has even finished. Pardew will review the tape of this match and look for nuggets of information in the summer, and one such nugget presented itself clear as day, once again, in the form of Jason Puncheon.

Puncheon's introduction at half-time changed the very complexion of this game; his set-piece goal, a free-kick from the edge of the box, reaffirmed what Pardew and every Palace fan in the ground already knows: He is central—literally central—to this team's fortunes, having converted to a central midfield role and taken to controlling games.

He's carved out a modest career, dropping down the leagues with the likes of Southampton, Millwall and Queens Park Rangers, but has returned to his hometown club and thrives off the love the crowd supply. He's a hero, a heartbeat in midfield and a fan favourite.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

During the first-half warm-up runs, Puncheon garnered by far the loudest cheer from the spectators on his side. A few called out to him and pointed out their "42. Puncheon" Palace shirts, and he grinned with approval, pointing at them and engaging.

Pardew opted to bring him off the bench at just the right moment—and in doing so corrected a formula that wasn't working. Joe Ledley departed and James McArthur settled back into a deeper role, allowing Puncheon the LCM position in a 4-3-3-esque midfield.

Within 10 minutes, his name was on the scoresheet, levelling proceedings in his side's favour, and he was initiating attacks from deep with a calm, measured stroke of the ball. All of a sudden, team-mates found Glenn Murray quicker and with more accuracy, allowing Palace to fling Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha forward and play into space.

When Puncheon plays, orchestrating from a central midfield position, Palace play their best football.

"In the first half Man Utd played well," Pardew admitted to journalists after the game. "They dominated possession, rotated in midfield and we just couldn't get to grips [with it].

"But second half, we changed our shape, that helped us, [and we] started to boss the game; [we had] a lot more control, more possession and got the equaliser, then had a great moment to take [the] lead. It was a fabulous save from goalkeeper. Outstanding."

Puncheon served as the source for the turning of the tide in this game, and although Palace couldn't hold out for the draw or go on to win the game—largely thanks to David De Gea's excellence in the United goal—he was the clear catalyst in a better second half. He's the man to build around; any signing Pardew makes should be with a view to playing with Puncheon.

Pardew has multiple areas of the squad to address this summer, with goalkeeper, left-back, central defence and striker all positions that could tempt him to spend in. They need depth or an alternative to Murray, and they need to find a left-back they're comfortable enough with so that Joel Ward can play 38 games a season at right-back—his actual position.

One conclusion has already been drawn, though, and that's that Puncheon should be the sparkling centre piece of this team moving forward.

All quotes obtained first-hand.

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