Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has been going through a horrific slide in form for the second time in as many seasons, and it was finally getting to the supremely confident Londoner before Saturday’s match versus Norwich City.
[ MATCH RECAP: Palace 1-0 Norwich City ]
Palace had dropped from Top Five contender to the fringes of the relegation race, but finally picked up its first Premier League win of 2016 on Saturday to move 10 points clear the final drop zone slot.
Now he’s looking at their table spot as 7 points back of 10th, not 7 ahead of 18th.
From the BBC:“I was tense today. I don’t normally get tense but you could sense it in our team. Sometimes the media can keep drilling it into you and in the end you are carrying that burden. I wanted to calm them down at half-time and they delivered for me.”
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“We are four points from midtable and that is where we should be. If we can finish as high as we can then we can still get 11th. That’s what we want to hunt down.”
Pardew is fortunate to have gained these three points. He’s been a big favorite at Palace, but is far removed from his early season status as England national team candidate. Palace has a big decision when it comes to whether they leave their fortunes in his hands.