So it looks like Crystal Palace have finally found their man. After weeks of speculation and a rather cumbersome search for a successor to Roy Hodgson...
So it looks like Crystal Palace have finally found their man. After weeks of speculation and a rather cumbersome search for a successor to Roy Hodgson, GoalZaza can confirm that the Eagles are on the brink of appointing Pierre Sage, the architect of Lens's remarkable resurgence in Ligue 1. This is a move that screams ambition, but let's not pretend it isn't a gamble. Sage is not a Premier League veteran; he is a tactician who has rebuilt his reputation in the crucible of French football. The question on everyone's lips is simple: can he translate that method to the relentless grind of the English top flightSage has turned Lens into a side that suffocates you without the ball. His team is built on a high intensity press and a very specific brand of transitional play that has seen them punch well above their weight. For a Palace side that has often looked ponderous in possession and reliant on individual moments of magic from the likes of Eberechi Eze, the appointment suggests a desire for structure. You don't need to be a footballing professor to see that Palace have been crying out for a coherent tactical identity. They have the athletes in Wilfried Zaha's successors and the raw pace in the wide areas to execute a fast break game. Sage could be the man to finally flip that switch from reactive to proactive.However, let's not kid ourselves. The Premier League is a beast that chews up continental reputations for breakfast. The physicality and the sheer speed of decision making required in a low block versus a high line is a completely different animal. Sage will need time, and we all know that time is a currency rarely given in the modern game. But there is something refreshing about a club looking beyond the usual rudderless carousel of old British heads and turning to a man who has proven he can build a system. If he can get Palace playing with the same frenetic energy and clinical breaking of those Lens sides, Selhurst Park could become a fortress once more.This feels like a calculated risk rather than a panicked punt. The board have looked at the underlying numbers, they have seen Sage's work on the training pitch, and they believe he can instil a culture of hard work and tactical discipline. It might not be the glamorous name some wanted, but Pierre Sage is a football thinker. And right now, that is exactly what Crystal Palace need. The real test starts when the pre season whistle blows and he has to drill these ideas into a squad that has known only one way for the last few years.
