The Crystal Palace Courier
Squad6 Oct 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jefferson Lerma
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Crystal Palace lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
Ismaïla Sarr, 33, rolls back the years — 7.94
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Ismaïla Sarr signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ismaïla Sarr commits to Crystal Palace for another 4 years.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Manfred Ugalde in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crystal Palace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market6 Oct 2031
Dion Beljo raises the bar for Crystal Palace
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Crystal Palace heard it as anything else.
Match4 Oct 2031
Crystal Palace get the job done against Southampton
A 2‑0 win over Southampton, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
One of those days for Eddie Nketiah
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
A masterclass from Yeremy Pino
Marked 8.42 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Cheick Doucouré is still paying for one afternoon at Crystal Palace
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
- Market Ismaïla Sarr linked with a move away
- Player ratings Chris Richards shuts the door
- Market Daniel Robinson leaves for nothing