Crystal Palace have had some excellent players on the books at Copers Cope over the past few years.
With all the talent Steve Parish and Dougie Freedman managed to accumulate at Selhurst Park, it was almost a waste to have Roy Hodgson in charge – and now Oliver Glasner is paying the price.
For Glasner’s first-ever full season, he saw Michael Olise leave for Bayern Munich and then Joachim Andersen head to Fulham – two moves which definitely weakened the squad.
Due to this, Crystal Palace find themselves now in the relegation zone and winless in the opening seven games of the Premier League season.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 16 |  EvertonEverton | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 5 |
| 17 |  IpswichIpswich | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 14 | -8 | 4 |
| 18 |  Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 3 |
| 19 |  SouthamptonSouthampton | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 15 | -11 | 1 |
| 20 |  WolvesWolves | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 21 | -12 | 1 |
The new additions have faced early struggles which has also led to the poor run of results the Eagles have faced.
Joachim Andersen is the player the Eagles are missing most
Olise’s absence has been the most obvious issue for Crystal Palace, with goals being hard to come by for the Eagles – forcing Glasner’s side to have an unproportional amount of shots from outside the box.
However, the Frenchman’s exit is not the one impacting Crystal Palace most, at least according to club insiders.
This is according to I News, which explains that observers around the club are pointing to the loss of Andersen rather than Olise as the exit that is felt more keenly.
The offer from Fulham was simply too good to refuse though and amounts to £25 up front and as much as another £8m in add-ons.
The absence of Andersen’s experience, organisational skills and passing range is said to have destabilised a system which was so impressive at the back end of last season.
The I quoted a ‘well-placed source’, who said: “Palace have lost two exceptional players and you’re not going to replace them easily.
“You go backwards – unfortunately that’s a bit of a trait of Palace. At the end of last season, they looked like a really good team. If they’d bought two really good players I think they would’ve been exceptional. Typical Palace, in their way, they end up selling two.”
Crystal Palace have two players stepping up in Andersen absence
Despite the argument that Andersen has played a key role in the struggles of Glasner’s Crystal Palace this season, two central defenders have stepped up in his absence.
Maxence Lacroix was signed as the replacement for Andersen and so far has been minimising the impact of the Dane being gone.
Lacroix has replaced the passing quality of Andersen and also has been very encouraging during a spell which has seen the team really struggle – so he should improve when the team improves.
Meanwhile, Marc Guehi has represented the club with the armband and has also done a fine job of doing so – impressing through this tough period with his long passing.
That being said, it seems that Crystal Palace will have to replace him next summer if reports on Guehi’s future are to be believed.
So the players are certainly there to replace the impact Andersen had – once it all clicks things should really improve.
