Ryan Baldi: “A newfound faith in youth is at the heart of a revolution at Palace”

Ryan Baldi: “A newfound faith in youth is at the heart of a revolution at Palace”

HIS Selhurst Park stay might only be temporary, but Conor Gallagher perfectly encapsulates how Crystal Palace have reinvented themselves this season.

The on-loan Chelsea midfielder, who earned a first senior England cap in the recent 10-0 destruction of San Marino, has scored six times in the Premier League already this term, causing manager Patrick Vieira to compare him to Frank Lampard.

Gallagher has professed a desire to be as well-rounded a midfield player as possible, mastering all elements of his craft. With boundless energy, he buzzes around the pitch, putting equal vigour into his defensive and attacking tasks. He is exciting, unpredictable, plays with a beaming smile and, above all, he is young.

A newfound faith in youth is at the heart of a revolution at Palace.

The average age of Palace’s squad this term is 27.2 years, owing to the presence of a handful of late-career veterans, which is the fourth-highest in the division and hardly indicative of a lurch towards youth.

But as many as 30 players were released or sold by the south London club over the summer, reducing the average squad age from a previous league-high 28.2 years and making room for a swath of incoming youngsters. Gary Cahill, Scott Dann, Wayne Hennessey, James McCarthy, Mamadou Sakho, Andros Townsend and Patrick Van Aanholt, all in their 30s, were shown the door.

The 21-year-old Gallagher was chief among the crop of incoming, brought in from the European champions after spending last season on loan with West Brom. Highly rated centre-back Marc Guehi, 21, also came over from Chelsea, with Palace spending £18m to secure his services permanently.

Nineteen-year-old winger Michael Olise was signed from Reading and 23-year-old striker Odsonne Edouard was bought from Celtic, adding to the already-in-place Eberechi Eze to form a youthful group of attackers.

And the switch in philosophy was never more clearly in evidence than with Palace’s managerial move last summer, swapping 73-year-old Roy Hodgson for 45-year-old Patrick Vieira.

“My hope is to get the best of the players,” Vieira said upon his appointment in July. “What I really want is to put a philosophy in place that my players understand really well, so that when they go on the field they can express themselves.

“Because there is talent, and my responsibility will be to make that talent work well together. I want to see a team who is on the front foot.

“I want the team to score more goals, to have more shots on target than we used to, but at the same time to keep this kind of mental strength that the team has created in the last couple of years – to become even stronger.”

So far, Vieira is delivering. Where previously Palace scraped every year to stay above the drop zone by being rigidly organised at the back and looking to punch on the counter, they now purvey a more eye-catching style.

Vieira has thrown out the 4-4-2 shape of Hodgson’s preference in favour of 4-3-3, maintaining an ability to counter-attack through dynamic and direct wing play but also encouraging a more structured, front-foot approach to build-up.

Palace currently sit 13^th in the table, just three points behind eighth-placed Leicester. In 16 games, they have scored 22 goals, already more than halfway to last season’s miserly total of 41. A shock 2-0 win over Manchester City at the Etihad, a 3-0 thumping of Tottenham and a creditable draw with an in-form Arsenal at the Emirates have shown how, on their day, Vieira’s side can compete with the best the Premier League has to offer.

“I feel like it’s not just counter-attacks and hoofing the ball around,” longtime Palace wide made Wilfried Zaha said recently. “When it’s properly planned, the way we’re playing, the goals are going to come.”

The new youthful, vibrant approach extends beyond Palace’s first-team, too. A recent £20m investment has seen the club upgrade their academy facilities to attain Category One status, the highest distinction. Zaha, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Victor Moses have been hugely successful graduates of the Eagles’ youth system, but there is now a concerted effort to better tap into the south-London talent hotbed at the club’s doorstep and a Channel 4 documentary series has been commissioned to cover Palace’s academy.

“It’s a crucial period for the football club,” Vieira told Palace TV after his first training session with the squad. “I think we’re looking forward to a new chapter, and I’m really proud and happy to be a part of it.”

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