The Crystal Palace Courier
Match12 Dec 2028
Crystal Palace through in the cup
A 3‑1 win over Portsmouth, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A one-man rearguard from Gavin Bazunu
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market18 Dec 2028
Lasse Nordås puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Crystal Palace, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Shumaira Mheuka, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market18 Dec 2028
Lamine Cissé is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Crystal Palace is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Crystal Palace training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar Mingueza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces18 Dec 2028
Crystal Palace supporters have found a favourite in Romain Esse
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Romain Esse has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Crystal Palace
Daichi Kamada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Romain Esse was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
- Squad Crystal Palace count the cost of losing Thomas Graham
- Player ratings Jeon Jin-Woo beats them one at a time
- Loan watch Joél Drakes-Thomas wants to come home