Crystal Palace Fan View: Eagles send Hull City down with barely a whimper

Finally.

For what seems like weeks I’ve been trotting out the same line, maintaining that although we were yet to secure mathematical safety Crystal Palace had effectively sealed our Premier League status by beating Liverpool.

The argument was logical, even if Hull had beaten us today we would still have been responsible for our own destiny on the final day with the only scenario in which we would go down still highly improbable.

That being said, for all my attempts to convince you, and myself, that this was the case it still feels special to say the following words.

Crystal Palace are safe.

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Now, to the game.

I thought that the returning duo of Yohan Cabaye and James Tomkins could swing the odds in our favour and so it proved. We looked like a different outfit with them in the team, they collectively brought a stability and cohesiveness that we haven’t seen in a few weeks. Yohan Cabaye in particular made a huge difference, he acts as the gel linking the midfield and attack and we always look a more potent force with him in the side. He makes runs in behind, he drops off to receive the ball – he’s a classy player for whom there is no real alternative in our current squad.

Hull were unlucky to a degree but were hamstrung by their own incompetence to a greater degree. They should have had a penalty, Jason Puncheon handballed a free kick well within the area and there’s no getting around that. As for the supposed handball leading up to Palace’s second goal, I’m not convinced Hull were particularly unlucky in that instance – Wilfried was as surprised as anyone when he knocked the ball on with his arm.

What was a bigger factor was the mistakes they made. Hull had warnings that zonal marking was a dangerous game to play when Tomkins nodded goalwards from a corner. Alas, minutes later Christian Benteke made it 2-0 and with that goal Hull’s hopes of getting back into the game promptly disappeared. Hull had all the possession but no bite, apart from Wayne Hennessey doing his best bird impression when a cross came in they didn’t pose a genuine goal threat in the whole 90 minutes.

No shots on target in a game that they knew they simply had to win tells the story much better than I could ever do. Hull didn’t so much roar as they did let out a soft purr – that’s the reason (along with the mid-season trouble) they find themselves a Championship team this evening, not because of one handball decision. It’s a shame, after their revival under Marco Silva they deserved better than that today.

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The players deserve credit for turning in hinge performances against Chelsea and others but if there’s one man responsible for our safety, it’s Sam Allardyce.

In the process of ensuring we remain a Premier League club Sam Allardyce has done his reputation no harm, his methods have proved as effective as they ever were. I doubted him when he joined, not on a moral level (as so many of the footballing high-horse brigade did) but on a footballing one.

I was wrong.

When he came into the club we were in a bad place. At risk of repeating myself, a culture of failure had manifested itself under Alan Pardew and had the players firmly in its grip. He fought against that, restoring confidence to not only the team but the club as a whole, going back to the basics and incrementally working upwards from there until we once again had a team capable of mixing it with the best in the league. There were hiccups along the way, of course there were, the Sunderland result was particularly gutting but Sam Allardyce turned it around and here we are, safe from relegation with a game to spare.

He’s proved he can get the best out of the players already at the club, he’s proved he can identify weaknesses and bring in reinforcements to plug those deficiencies and he’s proved that he will do what Alan Pardew failed to do: be pragmatic. That’s why Crystal Palace fans across the world are now looking forward to next season with childish enthusiasm, eager to see the improvements we can make over the summer and excited for what next season holds.

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As the dust settles this afternoon we can look ahead to the solitary remaining game of the season, away at Old Trafford. It will be a game that both teams can relax and enjoy, the overarching fight is now done for Palace and will be a matter of days away for Manchester United.

Both teams will be physically there but will inevitably be absent in spirit – the game will be nothing more than a procession. Nevertheless, it will be a procession we can all now look forward to, and enjoy when it comes, safe in the knowledge that Crystal Palace will be playing Premier League again football next season.