Mystify Crystal Palace News

Coming in to last season, Crystal Palace had an obvious lack of quality in attack. The emergence of some good young strikers within the club, and the purchse of Nelson Ferreira last season helped to solve that problem. Under manager Neame, the club has always had a strong midfield, but this was historically built around Sam Phillips. Phillips' sale just before the start of last season left thw club with a vulnerability there, but the development of Thomas Gill into a player of true quality has helped the reworked midfield become a club strength once more.

An injury-free season for Dave Challinor in central defense last season allowed the club captain to truly show his worth, after a disappointing season that featured several changes of club during the season before. Along with young talent in the shape of Davide Onorato and Pedro Paula, and the steady wisdom of Gianluca Festa, the central defense forms a bedrock on which the club can build.

However, the rest of the defense has some causes for concern. Claudio Stocchi is an excellent young goalkeeper, but with the retirement of Maik Kischko at the end of last season, the club lacks cover for him. When they first gained promotion to the Premier Division, it was on the back of the form of Thomas Zampach and Wes Brown in the wing back positions. Since their arrival in the Premier Division, the development of these players has more or less stalled, and they are now prabably the weakest link in the club line up. The club has drafted a number of players from the Youth Academy to bolster their resources in this area, but so far none have managed to fit the bill. The club's current tyro, 17 year old Graham Branch has shown some potential, and is clearly worth persisting with, but he is a long way from being able to fill Wes Brown's shoes, let alone be an addition to the club over and above what Brown offers already.

Despite having a reasonably strong list, the manager's lack of true ambition, and a lack of depth in some key areas means that I can't see Crystal Palace doing much better than they did last season. They certainly don't have the depth, or the all-around strength to challenge the top three or four in the premier division, but a little more willingness to trade could see the club build a powerful squad.

Prediction: 8th-10th, 3rd-4th Round in English Cup, 2nd Round in UEFA Cup.

Neame's place at the press conference was taken by larrikin midfielder Attilio Lombardo. While the English press has become accustomed to Lombardo's twisted sense of humour, and occasional bizarre outbursts, it was quite clear that the Romanian press didn't know what to make of him. When asked what measure he though the Romanian FA should make to improve attendances, Lombardo replied, "When I come to Romania, I know there is many beautiful women here. But when I am at the ground, they are not there. Are they not permitted? Why the Romanian women don't want to come see Attilio play?"

In the awkward silence that followed this, and English journalist asked Lombardo how he thought the club was travelling, and Lombardo's reply indicated that all may not be well at Selhurst Park. "We play too many young kids. It takes a wise head to play the game properly. The boss, he knows me. I have played for him for 8 years now. He is saving me for the big games, like this one, when the kids won't know what to do without their Uncle Attilio. Tonight, I help David, maybe next time I help Tomy or Aaron, you know?"

But even more controversy was to come, with Lombardo indicating that Neame had not even bothered to travel to Romania with the team. Lombardo again: "The boss, he knows football. He doesn't need to be at the game to know how it will go. He stays at home with a nice glass of wine and a beautiful woman, yes?"

Certainly none of the English media contingent noticed Neame's presence in Bucharest, so after the Palace squad returned to England, we attempted to put to him the allegation that he had in fact not made the trip. Neame refused interviews, but did issue a statement that failed to confirm his presence in Bucharest. His statement reads in part: "A manager is entitled to a life outside of football. I am committed to this club heart and soul, and I resent the press calling my my commitment into question in this way. We could have played better in Bucharest, but we got the result we wanted, and we are looking forward to the next challenge now."

Neame's presence or otherwise in Bucharest will no doubt also be a subject for UEFA scrutiny.

Almost as a sidenote to the fiasco that Crystal Palace's travelling circus became this week, David Mehew's first goal of the season was enough for Crystal Palace to advance to the first round of the UEFA cup next week.

After the game, Neame was quick to praise the quality of his opposition, "We played them in the League Cup a few seasons ago, and I'd say they have come along in leaps and bounds since then. Of course, there have been plenty of changes for us in that time, as well, but I can't see Bolton staying in the third division too long, not based on what we saw today."

Neame also rejected claims that the club had failed to give Bolton the respect that they deserved coming into the match, "With the schedule we have had so far, with Europe and so forth, it was tempting to give some of the younger lads a go today, and rest some of our stars. You look in the schedule and you see you are up against a third division opponent, and you think of it as an opportunity to try something a bit different. But once we had sent the scouts up here to check Bolton out, it was clear that we wouldn't be able to get away with that. We played with pretty much a full strength team here tonight, and we still weren't good enough to get a win."

This result undoes some of the good work that Crystal Palace did at the weekend, with their gritty away win at Wolverhampton doing much to restore some respectability to the club's season. Palace fans are unlikely to see much joy in the coming week either, with the club hosting the highly talented Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend, followed by a mid-week trip to Scotland, where Palace will need to score at least twice to overcome a first leg deficit and stay in contention in the UEFA Cup.

As the first half wore on, however, Coventry became complacent, while a new-look Palace line-up upped the intensity, and took the match to them. Palace's efforts were rewarded just before half-time, with Aaron Mokoena slotting home a goal with an ease that belied his meagre tally of two for the season.

Palace started the second half brightly, and almost immediately took the lead, witha curling shot from the Italian maestro Attilio Lombardo startling Coventry goalkeeper Ian Arnold. Palace kept up the pressure during the second half, as both teams became a little ragged. The ill-temper of the game culminated with Coventry defender Wayne Thomas being sent from the ground. A man up, and a goal up, and playing in front 54,000 impassioned home fans should have been enough to see Palace cruise to victory, but it was now that the youth line up began to count against them.

Coventry showed the professionalism expected from such a talented outfit, and the lack of experience of Eric Deflandre at left back became a proble, as Coventry began to play very direct football. It was Deflandre who was caught napping in the 87th minute when Franck Silvestre was able to sneak into the penalty box and head home an equaliser.

Before the start of the match, most Palace fans would have been happy enough with a two-all draw, but having led for almost forty minutes, the last gasp equaliser was a bitter pill to swallow. Palace continue to wallow in 11th place in the Premiership, while the draw also sees Coventry slip further out of the running for silverware in the Premiership.

Lombardo's time in London has seen him continuously in the spot light, with press reports linking him romantically to a number of high profile celebrities. It has also been rumoured that the bachelor boy has dealt with no fewer than four paternity suits through out of court settlements.

Lombardo faced the media in a packed press conference, flanked by a pair of blondes who were no doubt in nappies when he made his professional debut. Lombardo read a prepared statement in which he said he was quitting football to pursue "other interests." In other comments, he did little to play down the rumours of a rift between himself and manager Tim Neame. "Palace is a great club, that gives me many opportunities over the years. The current policy of playing younger players means that my role is continuing to diminish, and so I do not think its worth the efforts I make to stay fit to only play fifteen games a season."

When asked to comment, manager Neame said, "Look, Attilio's retirement will leave a gap. But we have a very exciting prospect in Paul Mitchell. He's only been at the club three weeks, and he just keeps getting better and better. Attilio's been with the club the whole time I have been in charge here, so I don't think its fair that people have been saying I don't respect his abilities. I have, and I still do, but every player reaches the end of his career sometime, and I respect the decision he's made."

The club has announced that special celebrations will be held to honour Lombardo before the last game for the season against Grimsby Town. At his press conference, Lombardo joked that, "All the cute women will get in free for my farewell game. No, seriously, I want to see all the cuties there." The club has officially denied that anyone will be admitted free for the game.

Niro had a hat trick by half time, and then returned in the second half to slor home two more in a five minute frenzy that included a goal to Wolves full back Cramer.

Despite Niro's individual heroics, Wolves came within a whisker of a share of the points. At the 75 minute mark, Palace were 5-2 up, and cruising to an inevitable victory, but two goals in two minutes to Wolves set the scene for a frenetic final ten minutes. In the end the home fans were able to heave a collective sigh of relief as Wolves forward received a second yellow card for a dive in the Palace penalty box in the 87th minute. The Wolves bench were ropeable over the decision, but television replays did seem to indicate that young Palace full back, Eric Deflandre had hit the ball cleanly in a tackle that looked a lot uglier than it was.