Crystal Palace were one of the teams promoted into the top flight last season. However, they were immediately faced with the huge task of strengthening the team after having come through the play-offs. This is usually very tough for club because they have limited time to close the deals. Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway has been reflecting on a very poor week for him because the club has not been able to bring in any new faces. Holloway has already experienced relegation from the Premier league only recently from his time at Blackpool.
Immediately after promotion, he has said that he will not be making the same mistakes again. However, Holloway has found it extremely hard to attract players to the club. Even when he manages to get players consider coming to Selhurst Park, there have been several close misses along the way. The club was recently defeated 3-0 by lower league Crawley Town, which has put a lot of doubts in the minds of the fans. After this match, Holloway has urged the board to act quickly and bring in quality players.
The loss of Zaha will also be huge for the club. The winger was sold to Manchester United for around £ 15 million, but they are yet to replace him.
“Myself and the chairman are going to sit down and have a look at the targets we have shot at, and go from a scattergun approach to the rifle. We have got to knock some targets over. Now we have found out what it might cost us, where we are going, I’m sure if he was here today he wouldn’t have been too happy with that either. We have got to hone down some targets,” said Holloway.
The opening match of the season will see Crystal Palace play against Tottenham at home.