HomeTeams - PLCrystal PalaceCrystal Palace: The Season So Far | Stats Analysis

Crystal Palace: The Season So Far | Stats Analysis

To say life for Crystal Palace on their return to the Premier League has been difficult would be an understatement. Currently sitting bottom of the Premier League with one win and no manager, the Eagles would have hoped for a much better start to the campaign. Ian Holloway brought in a raft of new players in the summer; something he later claimed had ruined the dynamics of the team. Many names have been linked with the vacant manager’s role, and a new man is expected to come in by this weekend. Whoever is given the task, will need to bring organisation to Crystal Palace’s team. Palace have lost nine of their eleven opening fixtures, but a draw against Everton in their previous game showed a glimmer of hope defensively.

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Defence

Crystal Palace’s defence has been part of the reason for the clubs bad start. Before the 0-0 draw with Everton, Palace had conceded in every fixture. Their goals against stands at 21, joint second in the league with Norwich City. This gives them a goals conceded per game ratio of 1.91, which coupled with their lack of goals, has made it hard to win games. Palace’s best defender this season has been Damien Delaney. The Irishman has started all but one of the Eagles’ eleven games and has had the highest number of clearances (72) as well as the most headed clearances, (37) all of which have been successful.  He is also second in outfield blocks with (8), only bettered by Danny Gabbidon with 11. Gabbidon has also won the highest percentage of his aerial duels (81%) followed by Delaney and Jedinak at 78%. Palace’s captain Mile Jedinak has the most interceptions in the Premier League, showing how busy Palace have been defensively.

Passing

Passing is an area that has let Palace down this season. Probably the most telling statistic is that the Eagles have only managed four passes per minute this season. The Eagles have favoured a more direct style, which has meant their long balls forward become a 50/50 for their players to win. As a team their pass completion has been at 75%. In defensive areas it has been at 87%, attacking areas 67% and in the final third 60%. This shows why Palace have found it difficult to score as their passing becomes significantly less successful further up the field. For a defensive midfielder, Jedinak’s passing accuracy has been poor at 75%. Again this reflects the direct nature of the game Palace have been playing. He has hit the most long balls (89) with a success rate of only 60%. Jedinak is Palace’s most involved player, making the most passes at 585. The next player with the most passes is the impressive Joel Ward, with 353 passes. Although he plays at right back, Ward is important player for the Eagles often involved much of their play.

Creativity

Crystal Palace have created 85 chances this season, seven of which have been clear cut. Striker Marouane Chamakh has been Palace’s most creative player, creating 13 chances, all from open play, but none of which were clear cut.  Winger Jerome Thomas has created the most clear cut chances (2) from only six appearances. Only Damien Delaney and Jose Campana have registered assists for Palace this season with one each. This summarises Palace’s creativity troubles and is the reason they have not scored many goals.  Midfielder Jason Puncheon has embarked on the most dribbles (27) with a success rate of 52%. Puncheon was expected to be a good signing for the Eagles and bring quality going forward. He is yet to register and assist or score in his loan-spell and has suffered by being dropped from the starting line-up in recent weeks.

Attack

Goal scoring is the area that Crystal Palace have struggled the most. Palace have scored the least goals in the Premier League (6), only scoring in four of their eleven games this season. The Eagles’ top scorer is Dwight Gayle, who has also had the most shots (16) and the joint most shots on target (3). Gayle is Palace’s most active attacking player, and his shot accuracy of 27% shows that Palace have not been clinical enough in the final third. Adlene Guedioura and Yannick Bolasie have also had 3 shots on target, but are yet to score. Last season’s top scorer Glenn Murray has been out with an injury suffered in the Play-off Semi-Final, and Palace have struggled to replace the goals he contributed. As a team, Crystal Palace have only managed 87 shots, with a shot accuracy of 37%. Another alarming statistics is that Palace have missed 10 of their 11 clear cut chances. This indicates the final third is where they have been struggling, and the return of Murray will be eagerly awaited by many of the fans.

With a new manager and new ideas to come in the coming weeks, Palace fans may be more optimistic going into the next few weeks. The Christmas period will be very important for Crystal Palace if they are to have a chance of staying up, and it is clear that they will have to improve in all aspects of their game if they are to do well.

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