Crystal Palace have to be one of the most underresourced sides in the Premier League.
During the summer transfer window, they spent less than £10m on signing James McCarthy, Jordan Ayew and Victor Camarasa. Their only other notable signing was astutely securing Gary Cahill on a free transfer when the rest of the league presumably thought he was long past his best.
Yet despite such a stale squad, in which its best player, Wilfred Zaha, has consistently murmured he wants out, experienced manager Roy Hodgson had his side sixth after ten games. It was an astonishing feat he has unfortunately not been able to uphold, after going five games without a win to leave the Eagles 13th.
Even so, a squad that contains a defence of Cahill, James Tomkins, Joel Ward, Scott Dann, Martin Kelly and Mamadou Sakho should not be as challenging to break down as Hodgson has made them.
Meanwhile, in attack, they have been desperately lacking players who can convert chances into goals. Christian Benteke is yet to score this season, while he only managed a single goal and assist last season, he is a painfully blunt tool Hodgson has resigned to a place on the substitutes bench at Selhurst.
Therefore he drafted in Jordan Ayew, who is only one club away from completing a relegation hat-trick after going down with Swansea City and Aston Villa. It worked tremendously as the Ghanian has scored four in 12 appearances, compared to one in 20 last season.
But it still feels like the ex-England manager is masking over the cracks of a squad which has been chronically underinvested in. Their reliance on Zaha has dwindled this season, who scored his first goal of the campaign against Chelsea. Therefore it is worth asking the question, would they not be better off taking the money for their star man and reinvest it across the squad?
If Hodgson can work miracles with what he currently has and can stave off relegation for his boyhood club, imagine what £52m could do to go along with the profit from Aaron Wan-Bissaka. There is every possibility that the Eagles would be back in sixth wondering what all the relegation fuss is about; instead, they are right in the thick of it.
For Hodgson to have led Palace’s impressive start to the season, despite a recent drop in form, is admirable. Amidst a backdrop of Wan-Bissaka departing south London and the club’s talisman Zaha seemingly itching for a move away from his boyhood club, to then utlilise minimal financial resources and galvanise this Palace side is impressive.
The veteran coach is due huge credit, and with his contract expiring this summer, the Eagles will be keen to give their manager a potentially fitting send-off from the realms of Selhurst Park.
