Chris Richards at Crystal Palace

Now let’s get Mason Mount to do the same exercise with a map of SEC schools and see how that goes.

 

The only way he does as well is if the names of the states are already on the map and he will still probably not be 100% correct.

 

If Mount was playing in the SEC I bet he’d nail it.

 

I propose we send him to Mississippi State for a year so we can run the experiment.

 

It's a required course.

In 10th grade

 

With his last appearance, Richards hit 2000 EPL minutes this season. Who thought that was coming back in October/November? It was his first 2k minute season at a first team level.

 

I wonder if it makes sense to hold him out the final match so he doesn’t drop below 2000.

 

Glasner is a dyed-in-the-wool back 3 coach.

Almost the only way he changes that is to use a back 5.

 

Richards keeps his place in the starting XI despite the return of one of their key CBs Guehi (who is starting his first game in nearly 4 months now due to injury).

That means there are 6 defenders in the lineup (including wingbacks), so some sites are venturing a guess that Richards will start in the midfield for this one.

 

And despite the pre-match guesses, it looks like Richards is playing as a LCB again. Instead, Guehi is the one who finds himself starting out of position in the midfield.

 

He was quietly the breakthrough of the season. He and his squad did really well in the back half.

 

Finishing the season as the second best team in the league, standings be damned.

 

Solid game for Richards. Became more aggressive w/ his forward passes in the 2nd half. Had an unreal assist chalked off for the smallest of offside margins and delivered another block/tackle/pass upfield that led to a chance saved by the GK. Overall, that was one of the most impressive showings I have seen from an EPL Team all season. Completely dominant.

 

Can they keep Elise ? If so, palace looking for good.for next yr

Elise easily can go 80million. I don't remember palace gotten that much money from 1 yr via transfer. They might be tempered to

 

Tempered steal?

 

Maybe breakthrough yank of the year?

 

The number of teams that can pony up $80m is probably about 10, maybe even less this summer. Most teams are broke. He's got an injury history that's not great and Palace probably won't accept anything less than top dollar. I think we're going to hear about Olise transfers all summer but most of those teams already have big money sunk into AM/Wing players. It's absolutely possible but I'm not sure it's actually probable.

For example Man U needs him but their financial situation, players on the books/their wages makes it difficult and if you're Olise beyond the pay check everything else about the club is a disaster right now. Honestly he'd be better off staying at Palace one more year and waiting for Man City's stars to be a year older, a year further into their contracts then join them.

He'd be a star on all but a handful of teams, the question is he worth the punt now or will teams want to see an additional year of production before dropping that kind of cash for him? Dunno, but it also depends on how much he values a guaranteed starting spot plus a coach/system that's designed for him. My thought is 60/40 against a transfer but someone offering to double if not triple your wages could be impossible to resist.

 

How good of a signing was Oliver Glasner. Palace alwas had a lot of potential with their roster but he really turned them into a legit team. I'm glad Richards was able to establish himself with the new coach. Hopefully means he has a place in the starting lineup next year.

 

I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long for him to establish himself at CP. I watched a ton of Chris's games in the BL, and I always came away thinking that he just absolutely oozes class.

 

I don't follow Palace, but seemed like his opportunities and fortunes improved when Hodgson was replaced by a BL manager. Hodgson is old school and was probably skeptical of a Yank from Germany.

 

He’s been injured a ton over the last few years and CP have had Andersen and Guehi.

I’m surprised he cemented himself in the side in spite of both those facts.

 

Totally wrong. Richards cemented himself under Hodgson.

 

Yeah, sort of as a DM though initially as a fill-in, right?

 

Nothing to do with it. He's old school in that he's not tactically adaptive and tends to over-drill his players. He was also, rather visibly, no longer had the physical stamina for the demands of coaching for an entire season in the EPL.

And the idea that guy who's coached, quite successfully, in 8 foreign countries (including 2 foreign MNTs) is going to give a rat's ass about where a guy comes from or where he's played is ridiculous. He just didn't see what Chris was/is capable of and couldn't come up with a system to make the best of his abilities.

He couldn't do it for Mateta either. Glasner did, for both. The results are obvious

 

Yes then at CB but he was consistently in the 11 for Hodgson’s last 8 games or so.