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Palace chairman defends Zaha after Shearer criticism

Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha celebrates scoring their second goal (REUTERS)
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Wilfried Zaha is highly regarded at Crystal Palace, but received criticism for his displays from Alan Shearer yesterday.

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish in the standsCrystal Palace chairman Steve Parish in the stands

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has taken to Twitter to defend Eagles star Wilfried Zaha, after he was criticised by BBC pundit Alan Shearer on their Match of the Day programme.

Zaha scored yesterday in Palace’s 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough, yet it wasn’t enough to impress Shearer who stated he expected more of an output from the 23-year-old, highlighting his poor goalscoring and assists record.

Newcastle's Alan Shearer celebrates scoring form the penalty spot during the final minutes of his testimonialBBC pundit Alan Shearer

Parish took to Twitter this morning, however, and vehemently defended his club’s young star, whilst dragging up an interesting statistic:

While Parish made a strong defence of Zaha, he must surely believe there is still a lot more to come from the two-capped England international.

Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha looks dejectedCrystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha

At the age of 23, he still has plenty of time to improve his game even further, and if he could become more productive in the final third, he could even be considered for an England recall.

This season has the potential to be a defining one for Zaha, and Parish would like nothing more than for him to prove to Shearer and others how good he actually is, and help Palace achieve the top-10 finish that their chairman craves.

Manchester United's Marcos Rojo in action with Crystal Palace's Wilfried ZahaCrystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha