Absolutely. His drive to get numbers (goals) to his game was engineer a move to a big club.

But IMO that slowly unpicked all that was great about him. This childlike desire to just run at people and embarrass at will. Taking joy at beating a man, to then wait for them to catch up and beat them again.

I didnt even care about the end product, I just wanted him to take the piss out of people.

As you said having him and Bolasie was really special. Both lacking any real end product, but boy was it fun

Yes was thinking that it won't be long before we never really hear anything about him - unless we look specifically. I guess owning Croydon might mean the local news will cover him every so often.

Red and Blue Army!

I am sure it's already been said but until I see whether we spend the money (by which I mean bring somebody in as a result of the reduced wage bill) I am yet to decide how I feel.

Obviously Zaha was a huge hero and I will never be upset with him personally, but situationally I don't think I will be upset until I see us buy nobody of note and bring in a useless streak of p*ss on loan from Arsenal or Chelsea.

I totally agree. The only thing I would add is that I think he changed his game in part as a result of persistent injury, especially to his hamstrings. In recent years I just don't think he could do the high number of sprints per game he used to when he played out wide and tormented full backs.

Zaha was not quite as drastically altered by injury as the likes of John Barnes or Alan Shearer, both of whom had to practically reinvent themselves in their mid to late twenties following significant loss of speed and acceleration, but there was certainly a Wilf v1.0 and v2.0.

Wilf v2.0 was probably more effective, statistically speaking at least, but v1.0 is the greatest player to play for Palace.

In the 90s someone asked an old Dutch winger from the 60s what he thought of the possession-heavy tactics employed by Ajax. He said it bored him to tears, and that he was especially baffled by seeing their wingers retain possession rather than take on opposing defenders. He said 'I played for fifteen years and not once did I pass the ball back to my own fullback. What would have been the point? That's not what I was there for'. Zaha thought that way. He was a glorious throwback.

Prime Wilf had the athleticism of Chris Armstrong, the skill of Lombardo, the gaul of Sasa Curcic and the heart, desire and drive of Ian Wright, all turned up to ten, all the time. The most exciting player imaginable.

As you say, his 'numbers' were never the point.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (25 Jul 2023 11.19pm)

If only we had retained Bakary Sako.

Not a criticism of Wilf per se but...we will all have worked with people who moan all the time and how often is that put down to them just wanting the best for everybody rather than being a miserable git? It feels like an excuse like when a Man City player kicks someone up in the air and it's because of "frustration" that they're not winning their 20th game on the bounce.