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Planned position of Guardian authors: 16th (NB: this is not necessarily the prediction of Dominic Fifield, but the average of the tricks of our writers)
Position of last season: 12th
Chances of winning the championship (via Oddschecker): 1000-1
The season is in little more than a week and Crystal Palace is in an all too familiar position. A disturbing summer was spent to deflect Wilfried Zaha's interest, as well as to negotiate and ultimately accept the loss of last year's star artist Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The plot surrounds the property and, with an onerous payroll requiring an imaginative reinforcement approach, the management and fans look forward to the usual late trolley ride reinforcing the first group and the team.
Most of the transfer spending has not yet reached an unprecedented seventh consecutive year, but as the deadline is approaching, it has been possible to respond to growing concerns expressed in Roy Hodgson's comments after the match. In the friendly match against Barnet, where a young age-old channel was humiliated in mid-July, there was talk of a very small group and the desire for "more players", but also of trust in recruitment. team to add depth. Fast forward to Ashton Gate last Saturday, after Bristol City was ruthlessly dismantled by Max Meyer and the tone changed slightly.
"I thought we were all pretty much on the same page: we definitely need players, we definitely need a body, because our team is very small," Hodgson said, the Zaha issue coming into contact. "But I'm afraid we're always there with those who started pre-season training. Doug Freedman, our athletic director, and our president Steve Parish … I know they're working hard to find the right people to bring. So I'm confident that before the start of the season, this team will look bigger in terms of numbers and hopefully stronger in terms of player quality. "
From a normally diplomatic manager, it was a warning. Much remains to be done in the last week of the window to ensure Palace, a mid-table team whose worst performance of the last six years was ranked 15th, to retain the aura of a team that does not risk not worry about his Premier League status. This is an aging team that needs succession planning, especially since Wan-Bissaka – a talent as remarkable as the one he sees in his first full season of senior football – has been lured to Manchester United. There was no great desire to sell, but a £ 50 million market was too good to be refused. Hodgson wants additions in both back positions, as well as more rhythm and invention in the last third. He will also want his captain, Luka Milivojevic, to be badured of new conditions. The Serb, like the manager, entered the last year of his contract.
Palace should have the means to satisfy Hodgson, even though the payroll is already heavy, although the late-coming wave of receipts means that newcomers will have to fit on their feet. It is arguable that other aspects of a difficult summer have escaped the control of the President. The progress made on and off the field – the redevelopment of Selhurst Park's main stand on the ice – seems to be stalled with Josh Harris and David Blitzer, the main US shareholders of the club, looking to sell their stakes after re-evaluating the lure of investment. Premier League Football. Some interested parties have apparently emerged, although the whole process continues to take time.
Parish, which does not wish to dilute its stake in the club which it oversees growth since 2010, has also had to deal with the hustle and bustle of Zaha's entourage. The Ivorian winger is apparently represented by Unique Sports Management, with whom the palace has close relations, and has clearly stated willing to leave one of those two summers to sign lucrative new contracts. Duration of five years. This time, with the African Cup of Nations striker, his desire to taste European football, especially with Arsenal, was expressed with much greater force by his family.
The ensuing saga was tedious, a daily drip of alleged agitations while the suitors were concocting increasingly fanciful offers that could bring down their man. Yet none has lived up to the reputation of a player's Palace on which they rely so strongly. If Arsenal deemed him worth less than 40 million pounds or if he was ready to play the role of a sweetener – it seems like the implication of Shkodran Mustafi and Carl Jenkinson was supposed to make a market more attractive – was unimportant. For Palace, Zaha is probably the difference between a Premier League place and a relegation. In this context, it would be cheap at £ 100m. The 26-year-old is not expected in Beckenham until next week. His body language at workout will intrigue, but he will be very well received.
It might be useful not to have to start it right away at the start of the season, but this team tends to start slowly. Last year was no exception. Christian Benteke's knee injury denied them a point of contact. Without a natural lender until Michy Batshuayi arrived on loan, their form during the first half of the campaign was desperately heavy. Once in six years in the elite, they have accumulated more than 15 points in 16 games. They had only won two league games before last December before the usual restart. We will remember the campaign for the heights of these superb 3-2 victories at Manchester City and Arsenal, rather than for the terrible defeats against Brighton, at home and away.
Photography: Martin Rickett / PA
Hodgson needs to improve his form at home – Palace only won five at Selhurst Park last season and kept his score under goal until generous Bournemouth is rewarded five times in the last afternoon – and hopes that Meyer's encouraging form is a pre-season revealing a player better equipped to thrive against the rigors of the Premier League. The German has the clbad to excel but was too peripheral last time. Perhaps also, the team will provide Benteke, an attacker who has four league goals in two seasons, with more centers to attack. The Belgian scored twice during the summer and Palace can hardly afford to leave his talent untapped. If this is to be his last year at the club, with his contract in 2020, he will be eager to go out with a bang.
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The same thing will apply to Hodgson. The 71-year-old has a lot of work ahead of him and is not looking into the future, but it could be the last season of an illustrious coaching career. He may be criticized at times for being stuck in his habit, but hoisting this club to eleventh place in 2018 after the team was useless and scoreless after seven matches remains one of his finest achievements. Last season, he led them to their best points total in the new Premier League. His presence at the Palace rebadures a more and more tempestuous division.
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