Crystal Palace Fan View: Pardew’s fate is sealed

I said that a loss against Swansea would seal Pardew’s fate.Whether this result will actually see Pardew depart from SE25 is conjecture, but I never imagined the loss would come in the fashion it did.

We didn’t just lose the game once, we lost the game twice. We didn’t just lose the game twice, we lost the game twice to a Swansea side that seemed intent on throwing all three points away as soon as they went 3-1 up. Unbelievable.

Once again I feel like I’m repeating myself, but it was the same old failings that came to the fore and ultimately lost us the game. Even if we’d held on for a 4-3 win the problems were clear and the nature of the result would have perhaps glossed over the defensive frailties which have plagued our play for months now. Alas, we didn’t hold on to win 4-3, two more Swansea goals followed and we lost the game – that means I can let rip about our defensive display. Again.

Ironically, in Alan Pardew’s press conference this week he stressed how the first priority was achieving a clean sheet this weekend. Then we concede four. Our defensive display against Swansea once again he demonstrated that he is either incapable or unwilling to make the changes that every single fan that’s watched Palace could have told you was necessary. The fact he has identified the problem and we managed to defend worse than before is even more troubling…

That was epitomised by our shocking defensive display and it’s far from the first time it’s happened this year. I am so sick of talking about conceding from set-pieces but, once again, conceding three or four from them means I can hardly skip over the issue.

Swansea’s second goal came from a poorly defended corner – the ball dropped in the area and even Yohan Cabaye on the line couldn’t prevent it ultimately being bundled over the line. The third goal was even worse. We outnumbered Swansea by two or three players from the free kick but we missed the first and second headers from the whipped ball from Sigurdsson and Fer tapped it in at the back post.

Always eager to impress though, just when you thought we couldn’t defend any worse, the fifth goal goes in. It was six against four in our favour and a simple looped free kick was all it took to fox the Palace defence. We didn’t drop quickly enough, everyone watched the ball sail over their heads and I think it was an unmarked Fer who knocked it back to an unmarked Llorente to smash home from 5 yards. In the 94^th minute of the game, defending like that is just unforgivable and while the players must take the lion’s share of responsibility, they do not become a poor defensive unit on their own.

I honestly believe that this squad is one of, if not the most, talented first eleven we have ever had. There are a few people to thank for that: Ian Holloway for getting us into the league, Tony Pulis for keeping us there and Steve Parish for providing the financial backing that made it possible.

We cannot ignore the contribution of Pardew to furthering our cause in this league – his initial impact was spectacular and his reputation have helped bring quality players like Christian Benteke and Andros Townsend into the club. However, the evidence so far suggests that Pardew is incapable of marrying defensive astuteness with attacking flair in a way which can bring consistent success and results.

I don’t like to campaign for the sacking of managers, I really don’t, but his ‘boom and bust’ management has led to the disillusionment of so many fans and ultimately isn’t doing much for our points tally either. I think we have the squad to stay up but the question for me is how far he can realistically take us. He has had sufficient time to make an impression on the team and while the squad could still benefit from one or two more, his first eleven is by no means short of quality.

There are no excuses to hide behind: he has had nearly two full years at the club, Parish has backed him in successive transfer windows and we are still struggling in such a fundamental way. We look a much better attacking outfit but inexplicably he has managed to coach the defending out of the team and now we find ourselves in a hole, questioning whether Pardew can make the changes that are necessary to dig us out of it. For me, the time for a change is now.

As I write this Alan Pardew is still the manager of Crystal Palace but it he goes who should we look to as a replacement? Ryan Giggs.

You heard it here first.