Crystal Palace are flying high under Roy Hodgson after Saturday’s 4-3 win over West Ham saw the Eagles reach the 40-point mark.
The south Londoners have won four and drawn one of their six games under the 75-year-old since he replaced Patrick Vieira, scoring 13 goals in those outings to preserve their Premier League status.
However, Garth Crooks thinks there are “signs of drama” at Crystal Palace.
What’s the story?
Well, the 65-year-old made the claim when explaining why he had named Eberechi Eze in his BBC Team of the Week.
Crooks highlighted Jordan Ayew’s strange decision to take his shirt off when celebrating his 15th minute equaliser as one reason for Crystal Palace to be concerned, as well as Wilfried Zaha’s reaction to being substituted.
The BBC pundit wrote: “Meanwhile, Wilfried Zaha is complaining about being brought off when his performance against a dismal West Ham defence was average at best, and Jordan Ayew takes his shirt off during his goal celebration knowing the action would get him a caution.
“Why do players do that and what is the point of it? What is going on at Crystal Palace? Since their impressive victories away at Leeds and Southampton we are seeing signs of drama all over the place.”
Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
Crystal Palace are fine
We can’t understand why Crooks is reading into these two moments so heavily.
Of course, it was a weird decision by Ayew to remove his shirt, but we wouldn’t describe it as a sign of “drama” by any means.
In regards to Zaha, the likes of Jairo Riedewald and others could be seen laughing during the Ivorian’s outburst, which was seemingly aimed at Craig Pawson or a specific incident from the game rather than Hodgson.
Steve Parish still needs to find a new long-term manager, but in general, Crystal Palace are in a steady position as things stand – we can’t understand why Crooks is trying to create something out of nothing.
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