- Jul 7, 2003
- 47,641
I'm fascinated (when I say fascinated, I of course mean amused) to see how Vieira has transformed that Palace squad from one which looked quite decent for the first half of last season, to where they are now. After Uncle Roy retired, they knew they had to have a massive rebuild, so got rid of a lot of the old codgers from the squad and invested in talented younger players like Eze and Elise. The future was bright, we were told. Eze was supposedly on the fringes of the England squad before he did his Achilles and Olise was lighting up games and beating defenders with ease.
Now look at them. Eze hasn't been the same player since coming back from the injury. Olise just strolls around looking pretty with the ball and takes a nice free kick, but he's not exactly busting his backside to chase opponents down. Zaha is nowhere near the winger he used to be, and although he still chips in with a few goals, seems to spend more of every game throwing his arms in the air and whining at his teammates for failing to recognise his greatness in their passing or at referees for seeing through his petulant rolling around. Tyrick Mitchell, having laughably been given his England opportunity under Southgate's Every Palace Player Gets A Cap scheme, is now showing himself up for the weak defender and uninspiring attacker that he is. Is anybody genuinely going to be queuing up to buy these players from Palace in the summer?
I just want to show my appreciation for Vieira for taking what was, on paper, a talented squad of flair players and turning them into the 2023 reincarnation of Roy Hodgson's Bus-Parking Bad Boys. It takes a lot to suck the life out of a player like Eze (who I quite admired, despite his obvious affiliation) and turn him into a journeyman, so here's to you, Super Pat, and may you keep on doing exactly what you're doing
Now look at them. Eze hasn't been the same player since coming back from the injury. Olise just strolls around looking pretty with the ball and takes a nice free kick, but he's not exactly busting his backside to chase opponents down. Zaha is nowhere near the winger he used to be, and although he still chips in with a few goals, seems to spend more of every game throwing his arms in the air and whining at his teammates for failing to recognise his greatness in their passing or at referees for seeing through his petulant rolling around. Tyrick Mitchell, having laughably been given his England opportunity under Southgate's Every Palace Player Gets A Cap scheme, is now showing himself up for the weak defender and uninspiring attacker that he is. Is anybody genuinely going to be queuing up to buy these players from Palace in the summer?
I just want to show my appreciation for Vieira for taking what was, on paper, a talented squad of flair players and turning them into the 2023 reincarnation of Roy Hodgson's Bus-Parking Bad Boys. It takes a lot to suck the life out of a player like Eze (who I quite admired, despite his obvious affiliation) and turn him into a journeyman, so here's to you, Super Pat, and may you keep on doing exactly what you're doing