Crystal Palace have now released a new, albeit brief, video from Copers Cope as pre-season continues under Pierre Sage.
With the 12 who jetted off for World Cup duty still on holiday, these sessions give fringe players such as Matheus Franca and Romain Esse a fantastic chance to impress the new coaching staff.
In the latest round of footage, there was – however – a concerning sight involving the latter.
Are you worried about our (lack of) transfer activity? 🤔
Romain Esse seen with strapping around his knee
28 seconds into a video posted by Crystal Palace earlier on Friday, Esse can be seen with quite a lot of strapping around his right knee.
The England U21 international did not miss a game for the Eagles last term – nor for Coventry after signing on loan for the second half of last season – due to any knee injuries, so it appears to be a new issue.
It did not prevent Esse – who has been working with a private coach – from taking part in training, but it does remain to be seen if the former Millwall star is fit enough to play in the friendly against Bromley on Saturday.
Just before Esse enters the scene at the 28-second mark of the video, some praise for Tyrick Mitchell could be heard coming from Jamal Alioui.
Sage’s assistant could be heard saying: “Well done Tyrick, this is it.”
Alioui has already criticised Brennan Johnson and Tayo Adaramola in the first few sessions, proving what RC Lens fan Maxime Louvier told We are Palace about the Frenchman being quite a vocal presence.
In that respect, it says a lot that Mitchell was able to earn some praise from Alioui on this occasion, setting a fine example to the younger players in his role as an academy player turned first-team regular.
It is still early days under Sage, and it is always difficult to take anything of note from the first friendly considering how rusty the squad is.
Hopefully, Saturday’s friendly against Bromley can give some clearer indications of how Sage intends to get Crystal Palace playing this season, after plenty of dribbling was seen in the 5-1 win over Swindon Town.
Thoughts on the win over Swindon? 🤔
Joel Drakes-Thomas was absolutely fantastic ⭐️
