Could this be a blessing in disguise? I remember on Talksport yesterday a fan calling in and saying how players like Mitchell and Wan Bissaka Palace were forced to play them due to injury.

It does make you think sometimes RB is a position that everyone knows Palace need. Why not play Dan Imray? He is someone we need an attacking minded RB. Also have Adaramola who would be decent cover for Mitchell and could even break in to the first XI.

We keep hearing how good are academy is which is true (Ozoh, Wells Morrison, Rodney, Adaramola, Imray, Ola Adebomi, Whitworth etc)

Ola Adebomi has been playing very well with players like Franca, Eze and Olise on the ball he could become a prolific goal scorer. What is the point of the academy if we very few make it to the first team?

Some decisions make you scratch your head. Buying Rob Holding. Buying Franca but he gets very limited minutes. Buying Henderson when you have Johnstone (yes there were rumours about Johnstone leaving but Palace should have offered him reassurance at the time plus he was under contract till 2026 so Palace did have power to keep him) Whitworth is a good number 2 having someone like Henderson and Johnstone just causes a bigger headache.

We know Palace will not be big spenders. If the board know that is the case why are they not pushing more players from the academy to train with the first team and be a part of squad. There is potential that never gets used.

Edited by Zaha127 (08 Dec 2023 3.57pm)

The one thing I would say about Academy players coming in, is that the PL is more based towards skills and movement whilst lower divisions can have more of an emphasis on physicality.

They could prosper if they have the skill and footballing intelligence. They will need to be able to make quick decisions with the ball otherwise they will be caught in possession too much and/or lose the ball.

This is a good way of looking at it, maybe we need to turn to the academy. If the management knows there is no money and nobody likely coming in then if I were the manager I would have a good look at what is already on the books and make it work. Time now training with the first team, sub appearances followed by a few starts has got to be better than what we have. We are losing anyway. Might as well lose trying something new and maybe uncovering another AWB or Wilf (a man can dream)

Plenty of young players have been blooded in cup games in recent seasons with poor results followed by the inevitable whines that the club / manager don't take the cups seriously. Can't have it all ways.

One can appeal a straight Red but not two Yellows.

Why all the panic, I wonder, especially from the Parish-lovers.
Our saviour Steve is going to spend big in January on players who will actually be used this time in the starting XI - there's a thought and Roy's going to wake up on January 1st with a New Years' resolution to play the odd young player.
Oh hang on .......