Crystal Palace Season Review: A New Dawn Under Patrick Vieira
By Tanish Menon
The 2021/22 season has certainly been one to watch if you are a fan of Crystal Palace. Consistency has been an issue for the South London outfit but one can wonder where this crop of players can go from here.
The win against Manchester United on the final day has ensured a 12th place finish for Patrick Vieira in his maiden Premier League managerial campaign. They have also managed to better their points tally from the last two seasons.
Roy Hodgson leaving the club following the conclusion of the 2020/21 season symbolised the beginning of a new dawn at Selhurst Park, emphasised by the appointment of Arsenal legend, Patrick Vieira.
Prior to Palace, Vieira had brief spells with Nice and New York City which were underwhelming, leading to questions being raised as to whether he would be competent enough to rebuild the squad left behind by Hodgson.
The Crystal Palace Rebuild:
To make matters harder for Vieira, the club released several of their most experienced players at the club as a part of a summer clearcut. Senior members of the dressing room including Patrick van Aanholt, Andros Townsend and Gary Cahill exited the club with little in the way of compensation coming in return.
In response, the Eagles sought to strengthen their defensive options with the signings of Marc Guehi from Chelsea alongside Joachim Andersen from Olympique Lyon.
Patrick Vieira also brought in Odsonne Edouard from Celtic and made the signing of on-loan Jean Phillipe Mateta from Mainz permanent.
Other signings included one of the EFL Championship’s brightest talents in Michael Olise and Will Hughes from Watford to help bolster their squad depth.
The key signing this summer, however, was Conor Gallagher from Chelsea on a season-long loan. The English midfielder has been labelled one of the best players coming through the Chelsea academy and has certainly delivered for Palace this season.
The Eagles’ season by numbers:
Now, onto the serious bit. Crystal Palace have managed to put up 45 points this season, a significant improvement in comparison to the last two seasons. They’ve managed to score 50 goals and conceded 46 keeping the GD at 4.
Defensively, the club have kept 12 clean sheets only behind Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool. The Eagles have conceded on average 1.2 goals per match only behind Tottenham, Wolves, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool.
Going forward, Patrick Vieira’s team have scored 50 goals, slightly underperforming their xG (54.6). Wilfried Zaha is the Eagles’ top scorer with 14, this being his best season statistically. Crystal Palace are 15th in terms of big chances created and 16th for big chances missed. They have also scored 1.3 goals per match, a steady development from last season.