I questioned (think a lot of did) whether sam had the stomach for a cpfc relegation battle, his chevy chase in his early games appeared to say he did not, that was wrong- he was calmly analysing what needed to done,rightfully he was disgusted with sunderland and reckon he tore into the players.

Sam is a more that competent,self assured,knowledgable manager, that is learning what is to be cpfc.

Think hes enjoying it now!

The most important thing he did was get the players fit. Clearly, under Pardew, this was lacking, so Sam set about bringing up the stamina levels so they'd last the full 90 (100?) minutes without collapsing at the ends of halves. He did this without a big song and dance, without calling out players or even his predecessor. It took time to do this, which is why the new manager bounce never really materialised.

It was always a talented squad (that he improved notably in the January window), so it seems pretty clear now that fitness was the difference between them playing up to their potential and them looking like a ragged bunch of Sunday leaguers for the last 10 minutes of every game.

I think he knew this, which is why he wasn't ripping out seats when they shipped 3 goals at the end of the first half against Sunderland. He expected it, because he knew the players were not (yet) physically up to the challenge of a full half of Premier League football. No point in crying over milk that was spilled by Pardew.

Edited by Ray in Houston (03 Apr 2017 3.42pm)

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

Quite amusing to see Mouinho throwing his players wbo cost ten times as much under the 'bus and wondering why they're not winning the league for him.

The building we're doing now looks lasting and solid. Hopefully the toilet around us will run out of new manager bounce soon and the real investment and developent Sam and Sam are putting into the squad will see us overhaul a few of them. And with that we won't sink back into s***e next season either. Excellent.

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The Ferret
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He even said as much after analysing the squad. Said we wouldn't see the fruits of his labor until May time. And he was spot bollock on with that prediction wasn't he.

"We love you Palace, we f@cking hate Man U, We love you Palace, we hate the brighton too, We love you Palace we play in red 'n' blue, so f@ck you, and you ...

I'll stick my hand up now, and say I didn't want him. He is tainted. Confirmed dodgy. Not illegal, but seriously needs to be watched. I have been pleasantly surprised by our spirit lately though. So if the team believe in him, that is all that matters. He can stay. For a bit...

Systematically dragged down by the lawmakers

Who better to have in our position than Allardyce? Just the manager you need in a relegation battle.