Welcome back to the Party at the Palace. If you haven't caught any of the previous posts, you can start from the beginning here.
Right, let's get to the start of the new episode.
We left the season at the start of January having had a positive start to the season. We are currently sitting in 7th place in the league, in the qualifying spots for the Europa League and playing some really decent football.
Lets start with our transfer activity in the January window.
Transfers out
We start with some outs and we have had to let some stalwarts of the save move on.
All three have been first teamers and have played a huge part in the progression of the club.
But when you look at the profit made (£27 million on Blanco alone) and the youngsters coming through it was time to move them on.
Transfers In
Now for the incoming players
3 out 3 in, lets have a look at the new recruits.
Nicola Pejcinovic, a young Attacker joins from Serbian team Cukaricki Stankom for under £2 million. One for the future with huge potential he will play understudy for a season or two with a mix of U21 appearances.
Nico Adam, signed from LASK in Austria for £13.5 million is another young striker. He is almost ready to break into the first team so will offer real competition for Leonardo for the rest of the season and on. He is already a full International with 4 goals in 3 appearances.
Huge potential scope too, expecting big things from the young Austrian.
George Webster, We welcome Webster from Championship Barnsley. He is comfortable all across the middle of the park and will play a huge part in the next few seasons.
January 2027
We welcome back league action to start the New Year. After the gruelling December fixtures we look forward to the relative calm of January.
Some Tough fixtures in here however so we will need to be at our best.
We were out played towards the end of the month but we started well. 4 points from 4 games is less than ideal and we need to start beating teams in and around us in the league to start making an impression on the top 6.
We also had the final 2 games in the League Phase of the Europa League. Wins needed for automatic qualification to the Last 16.
Wins is what we got. That seals our place in the last 16 avoiding the play off round.
February 2027
We roll into February weary an need of a rest. Luckily for us it was a 3 game month with a chance to rest and rotate some key players and blood some of the youngsters at the same time.
Same old story when it comes to playing the big teams, inconsistency. United fully deserved their win. We only scored 1 goal on the three games which is a concern .
March 2027
A marked improvement is needed in front of goal after being so shot shy in February. We have got some of our big hitters back from a rest.
So much better in a short month, Hitting West Brom for 5 was a great reaction to my goal concerns and stealing a point at the Etihad is always welcomed but its extra special when its your new young strikers first goal for the club.
March also saw us in the Last 16 of the Europa League and its a huge chance to get ourselves into the latter stages in the competition in our first appearance.
Our Round 16 opponents were Red Bull Salzburg
Two more goal fests as we put 7 passed them over the 2 legs. 4 goals in the last 11 minutes in the second leg sealed the tie emphatically.
Youth Intake
There are two clear standouts in this group, annoyingly for the same position! Lets check them both out.
Stamatis Galanopoulos, 5 star potential and some really good base attributes. He will be one to keep an eye on.
Kern Pacheo was the other 5 star potential player with some great base attributes. Lets hope he can reach his full potential.
April 2027
The Start of April's focus was on the Europa League Quarter Final Draw.
We renew rivalries with Villareal after our 0-0 bore draw in the group phase.
Back to the league and we need to keep our eye on the ball after seeing our usual end of season form start to dip. Its a tough month however as we face Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.
As predictable as always. This run of results halted any dreams we had of challenging for Europe through the league and now a cup competition is our best chance of featuring in Continental competition next season.
I did however enjoy the 1-0 win against Leicester, Especially as new recruit Adam grabbed it in the last 5 minutes, he's getting a reputation for getting some important late goals.
This was a special little moment as the top three young players in the Premier League were all from Palace, with Giovagnoli picking up Young player of the month.
Now for the Europa League quarter final.
A really solid 180 minutes sees us through against Villarreal. Another draw at home put us under some pressure but a narrow victory in Spain saw us through.
The draw followed directly after the match. With three of the four teams from England it was going to be a tough draw either way.
A tough London Derby stands between us and our second European Final in 2 years.
May 2027
Its the last month of the season and we need to win all of our remaining games and hope a couple of teams above us struggle. We do have a favourable run in but its still a really long shot.
We did as well as we could, the loss to Villa hurt our chances but in the end it wasn't decisive.
For the second time this season there is a clean sweep in the top 3 for Young player of the month. This time its Adam who takes the award.
We've now got the small matter of the Europa League Semi Final.
We bow out with a bit of a whimper as our heavy loss at home sealed our fate to London rivals Tottenham.
Its one step far for this team who have performed above and beyond in the competition this season.
Domestic Cups
We start with our performance in the FA Cup
It was an easy run all the way through to the Semi Final where we came up against Newcastle who are on another level with their squad and finances.
Tough to take as I would love to add an FA Cup to the League cup and Europa Conference we have already snapped up. There is always next season.
Moving onto the League Cup which we won 2 seasons ago to secure our first piece of silverware.
Another smooth run into the Semi Finals which completes a hattrick of Semi Finals this season, Could this be the one we take that step into the final?
YES WE CAN. After a well fought draw at the Emirates we absolutely blow Arsenal out of the water at Selhurst Park knocking 5 passed them to send us into the League cup final for the 2nd time in 3 season.
We would face Man United at Wembley in the final. Oh how this could rescue this season for us.
League Cup Winners
Was it ever in any doubt. We love this competition in the last few years and its our route back into Europe!
Hero of the game was Mudryk as he bagged a brace with a goal either side of half time.
Final League Table.
Its another season in the League that promised so much but just fell off at the wrong time. We still wait for European qualification through the league but luckily we are a dab hand at winning cup competitions.
The Premier League is brutal as anyone really can beat anyone and to really improve we are going to have to see some investment in the squad. This will be my focus during the pre season for sure.
As always with these end of season episodes i will leave you with the Season Review.
Appreciate you joining me for the 5th season of The Party at The Palace save. Next season we really need to focus on league improvements! Hope you join us again.
Cheers
Panda
