FM13 - Crystal Palace FC - Soaring to new heights?

History

Crystal Palace Football Club is an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where it has been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship. Crystal Palace was formed in 1905 by workers at The Crystal Palace. The club reached the top division of English Football in 1969–70, and its first major final was in 1990. It was relegated from the top division in 1973 and once again in the following season. That left the club playing in the third tier of English football for the 1974–75 season, before being promoted back to the top level by 1979–80.

Crystal Palace's most recent successful period began in 1988–89, when the club finished third in the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division. It reached the 1990 FA Cup Final only to lose the replay against Manchester United, and finished 3rd in the First Division in 1990–91. Palace was a founding member of the FA Premier League (1992–93) but was relegated that season. Since then Palace has been relegated from and promoted to the FA Premier League on 4 separate occasions. Its most recent relegation from the top flight was in the 2004–05 season.

Crystal Palace's main rival is Brighton & Hove Albion, though it also has rivalries with fellow South London teams Millwall and Charlton Athletic. The club has twice gone into administration, first in 1998, which ended in 2000 with its purchase by Simon Jordan. His tenure also ended with administration in 2010, leading to a takeover by the CPFC 2010 consortium consisting of Steve Parish, owner of marketing agency Tag: Worldwide, Martin Long, founder of Churchill Insurance, Farr Vintners chairman Stephen Browett and investment fund manager Jeremy Hosking.

Source - Wikipedia

The Ground

It's old and not up to a high level of standard, so it'd be interesting to see what route the chairmen will take with either expanding the current lot or just building a new one. Either way it's a decent enough capacity for now, but with success will need expansion.

The Club

General Information

Expectations and Budgets

Mid-Table Finish - 200k/170k

Top Half Finish - 250k/190k

Promotion - 275k/195k

The Squad

Goalkeepers

1 - Julian Speroni

34 - Lewis Price

Thoughts

Speroni is clearly number one here, excellent keeper, simple as. At 33 he might be coming to the end of his career but still has a few years left. Like with most things in the squad, backup is a bit week, so if you want to improve it now then go for it. Tom King in the Under 18s is expected to reach Speroni's level, but is perhaps too young for a straight away backup role. Investment might be needed in the future.

1st - Speroni

2nd - Price

Youth - Tom King

Right Back

2 - Joel Ward (DR/MR)

14 - Darcy Blake (DRC/DM)

Thoughts

After the departure of Clyne there has been some worry at this position. But these two are both young and therefore have a fair bit of potential to work towards. Though it is weaker this year, the standard is still rather good. No youth prospects though so might be worth looking into depending on how the two develop.

1st - Blake

2nd - Ward

Youth - None

Centre Back

5 - Paddy McCarthy ©

6 - Aaron Martin (On Loan)

27 - Damien Delaney (DLC)

28 - Peter Ramage (DRC)

33 - Danny Gabbidon

Thoughts

Decent part of the squad here, with some experience mixed in there. Not worth looking at replacements until the second season, and with a few youth prospects looking up towards the first team, even when the older players age there isn't too much investment required.

1st - Ramage/Gabbidon

2nd - McCarthy/Martin

Youth - Michael Chambers/Quade Taylor/Ryan Innis

Left Back

4 - Jonathon Parr (DL/ML/AML)

21 - Dean Moxey (DL/WBL/ML/AML)

Thoughts

Jonny Parr will get interest, but it's better off to keep him as he will only get better as he is another young player. Moxey is a fair back up and both favour the attacking side of the game, which isn't too much a problem with the default formation but without a defensive midfielder it may become one. Need some youth prospects if you want but again it's a solid part of the squad.

1st - Parr

2nd - Moxey

Youth - None

Centre Midfielder

3 - David Wright (DC/DM)

8 - Kagisho Dikgacoi (DM/MC)

10 - Owen Garvan (DM/MC)

15 - Mile Jedinak (DM/MC)

20 - Jon Williams (MC/AMC)

22 - Stuart O'Keefe (DM/MC)

30 - Andre Moritz (AMLC/ST)

Thoughts

A varied and again decent part of the squad with two very good defensive midfielders in Jedinak and Dikgacoi, whilst attacking options in Moritz and Williams are great as well. Wright is a fair back up and tutor whilst O'Keefe and Garvan are both young and provide an extra dimension. The least of the squad's worries.

1st - Jedinak/Garvan/Moritz

2nd - Dikgacoi/O'Keefe/Williams

Youth - Alex Wynter (DC/MC)/Alex Marrow(DR/MC)/Kyle de Silva(MC/AMC)/Ghassimu Sow (DM/MC)

Wingers

7 - Yannick Bolasie (MLR/AMLR/ST)

16 - Wilfried Zaha (MR/AMR/ST)

Thoughts

Backup, backup, backup. That's all you need here, and maybe a first choice left winger if you really want. Whilst Zaha is deemed a forward I doubt he would work well alone up front, and his skills are probably better off on the wings. Just need to bring in players who can rotate within the squad due to injuries.

1st - Zaha/Bolasie

2nd - None

Youth - None

Strikers

9 - David Goodwillie (On Loan)

17 - Glenn Murray

18 - Aaron Wilbraham

19 - Jermaine Easter

Thoughts

Not the best part of the squad really, with Goodwillie only on loan for 6 months and Murray not highly rated, might be worth looking around for some young guns who play the Target Man role well. Wilbraham is a decent player surprisingly, so it might not be to urgent until January hits depending on how Goodwillie performs.

1st - Goodwillie

2nd - Murray/Wilbraham

Youth - Ibra Sekajja/Reise Allassani

The Stars

Julian Speroni

Quite clearly the number 1 keeper although his time at Palace hasn't always been great. His debut season was marked with a poor performance against Everton in his second appearance for the club, and was promptly put in second spot behind Hungarian Gabor Kiraly. Even after his departure, Jules was then considered second best to one Scott Flinders!

However he kept his head down and worked hard on his game and it proved to be the best thing he's done, as he's taken the chance of being number 1 by storm, and rarely misses a game in a season, with his good shot shopping and the odd acrobatic save, he's become a fan favourite and will forever have a place at the club, especially as he's this season had a restaurant named after him.

Mile Jedinak

The Jedi signed in 2011 and took an age to join the club due to work permits and the like, so turned up not the fittest and as such took a while to get going in the team. However, since then he has become a lynchpin in the defensive midfielder role, with his height and heading skill being a key aspect of his game. He also has a threatening shot which although has only come off once in his Palace career,

Wilfried Zaha

The crown jewel at the club right now, this kid has pace, skill and a bag of tricks bigger than Santa's sack. He's just too good for you is right, as he's left many a defender lost and confused in his mazy runs and often it's unknown how he even manages to keep the ball. Considered a striker on the game, he's better out on the wing, where he can run at full backs and potentially cut inside. Sometimes hot tempered due to a lack of protection from referees, but he's a maturing lad and can only get better. Able to play for England or the Ivory Coast too, so England managers should consider him with the Ox and Sterling for their future wing line up.

Jonathan Williams

Joniesta as he's known by fans is another exceptional player off the CPFC production line, and it's easy to see why he's earnt that nickname, the receding hairline and the footballing brain this boy has is ridiculous for someone so young. He can run, keep the ball at his feet like glue, and passes the ball for fun at times.

Unfortunately last year he suffered a broken leg whilst on Under 21s International duty with his native Wales, so the club have been handling him extremely carefully so far this year, however he still shown the glimpses of his ability and between him and Aaron Ramsey, the Wales centre midfield could look a lot better in a few years.

Overall Thoughts

A strong first team with some problems in depth in some positions which need to be addressed to be successful to any degree, particularly in the wings as the rest of the squad is pretty much set up aside from a distinct lack in the youth prospects being anywhere near their real life quality/potential. Which is a right shame.

However, the team without injuries should be more than enough to challenge for the playoffs, maybe even higher depending on who you were to bring in, which is difficult with what is a rather limited budget, but for the wheeler dealers out there might be able to sort that out without many problems.

Formations

The default formation of 4-2-3-1 (Deep) should fit the club very well for a while, with the squad suitably equipped for the positions. Below is my ideal 1st team based on the assistant's star rating.

Why to play as Palace?

Why not? A well placed team for a good future if you are shrewd with money and use the Youth Academy to its greatest, even if you just sell some of the products off for money to reinvest back into the club.

But with some young stars just waiting to take the club forward, and a quality mix of players ready for the battles ahead, the future is extremely bright at Palace, so without a high level of expectation, it's a great choice for those who want to focus on home grown talent over time with no urgency to rush into the top division.

Just remember, BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE PALACE! COME ON YOU EAGLES!

Reserved for future use

Well done dude .

Good thread, nice to see a Palace one this year.

Defo agree with the striker part, don't get why Murray isn't rated as highly as he is IRL. Has been prolific this year, solving last seasons problems.

Am aiming on giving a Palace save a decent go through this year, am interested to see how much cash would get injected to the side upon promotion

Squad is easily good enough to get promoted. Only need back up on the wings and a striker in January.

Nice One. Always liked Palace since back when we got promoted together, but never given them a proper go on FM.

Started up with palace brought in fomica from blackburn ephrain from qpr on loan first game in the cup coming up against torquay, team is shaping up well

Playing as Blackburn Zaha ripped me apart both times we played in the championship

How's he developing ? he's got some pretty low mental attributes.

Started my save.

Re-vamped my staff to give the youth a decent chance to develop. BRought in Paul Winsper, Tosh Farrell, Andy Cole and Garry Pendrey as my Ass Man.

Only transfer has been Royston Drenthe on a free. Mainly cos Bolaise ain't good enough to start, and I didn't want to play Parr LW and have Moxey starting. Was gonna get Del Horno on a free but decided against it.

Want to get maybe another striker and a utility defender on loan but there isn't anyone good enough who is interested.

Sold Jermaine Easter for 470k too.

Playing this tactic.

Speroni

Parr---Gabbidon---Martin---Blake

----------Jedinak

------------Digacoi

Drenth-----Williams-----Zaha

-------------Goodwille

Aiming to utilise the pass out wide and the power in the middle with Williams pulling the strings.

Started a save with Palace, never managed them before on any version but always like starting with a Championship club and building them up.

Squad looked generally pretty decent apart from a complete lack of wingers bar the starters. Have always like played with wingers plus with Zaha it’s a surely a must with Palace.

Asked immediately to improve the clubs youth facilities as the board expectations state that they want to develop youth players. Said it would take a year and cost £4m, hopefully this won’t cripple me financially!

Asked for a parent club one day one too and was offered Newcastle or Man Utd. Picked Man Utd and managed to Michael Keane on loan for the season. Will be quite a decent back up centre back.

Only other players I got in were on loan – Hogan Ephraim and Robbie Findley both for the season.

Revamped the back room staff and hired Stuart Gray as my assistant.

Decided to play a 4-1-1-3-1 formation, counter attacking.

GK. Speroni

DR. Blake

DL. Parr

DC. Martin (as Gabbidon is out for 3 months)

DC. Ramage ©

DMC. Jedinak

MC. Williams

AML. Ephraim

AMR. Zaha

AMC. Moritz

ST. Goodwillie

Mixed bag start to the season. First 3 league games were a win, loss then a draw which leaves me sitting in 11^th.

How is everyone using Zaha and Williams? Williams seems to be very good, at times running the show. I’ve got him playing as a Deep Lying Playmaker in the middle to pull the strings.

Zaha is a bit of a nightmare, using him as a winger on the right, but he doesn’t seem to take anyone on and cant cross for toffee. Would inside forward be a better role?

Started a save with Palace, never managed them before on any version but always like starting with a Championship club and building them up.

Squad looked generally pretty decent apart from a complete lack of wingers bar the starters. Have always like played with wingers plus with Zaha it’s a surely a must with Palace.

Asked immediately to improve the clubs youth facilities as the board expectations state that they want to develop youth players. Said it would take a year and cost £4m, hopefully this won’t cripple me financially!

Asked for a parent club one day one too and was offered Newcastle or Man Utd. Picked Man Utd and managed to Michael Keane on loan for the season. Will be quite a decent back up centre back.

Only other players I got in were on loan – Hogan Ephraim and Robbie Findley both for the season.

Revamped the back room staff and hired Stuart Gray as my assistant.

Decided to play a 4-1-1-3-1 formation, counter attacking.

GK. Speroni

DR. Blake

DL. Parr

DC. Martin (as Gabbidon is out for 3 months)

DC. Ramage ©

DMC. Jedinak

MC. Williams

AML. Ephraim

AMR. Zaha

AMC. Moritz

ST. Goodwillie

Mixed bag start to the season. First 3 league games were a win, loss then a draw which leaves me sitting in 11^th.

How is everyone using Zaha and Williams? Williams seems to be very good, at times running the show. I’ve got him playing as a Deep Lying Playmaker in the middle to pull the strings.

Zaha is a bit of a nightmare, using him as a winger on the right, but he doesn’t seem to take anyone on and cant cross for toffee. Would inside forward be a better role?

I have not started my new save on FM13, however on FM12 Zaha I played as an IF on the left and worked fine. In fact I reduced his crossing to rarely and the same for long shoots and he run at people for fun.

Changed Zahae to the left and altered his instructions as you mentioned and all of a sudden he is going for it! loving him now. Scored an absolute beauty, picked up in our half, dribbled past 3 and smashed it in top corner.

After a lot of tactic tweaking i'm currently on a 6 match unbeaten run (5 wins, 1 draw) including a 4-1 win over Chelsea in the League Cup where the only weakened player they fielded was Turnbull in goal. We literally played them off the field, and the funny thing is, I fielded a slightly weakened team due to important league games.

Sitting in 5th after 9 games with 17 points, so going pretty well at the moment

Got promoted, came 2nd in the league.

KO'd early in both cups, which was good tbh as it allowed for focus on the league.

Signed v.few other players, just a bit of juggling with loans. Lost Goodwillie @ Xmas and couldn't resign, so got Filip Holosko on loan, as well as Glenn Whelan, Albrighton, Samaras, Adam Smith and James McArthur.

Williams was my main guy tbh, lots of game saving assists. Drenthe done good for me on the wing.

Now in the Premiership it's gonna be a long season. Imo, only really Parr, Jedinak, Dikgacoi, Williams, Drenthe, Moritz and maybe McCarthy are capable.

So far have got Martine Cranie for cheap, Jason Lowe from Blackburn for 4m installments and Vlad Weiss on a free. Gonna probably need another couple defenders, a keeper and defo 2 strikers.

Got a few million to play with - about 8, but the wage budget is only 200k a week and atm im spending that...

Changed Zahae to the left and altered his instructions as you mentioned and all of a sudden he is going for it! loving him now. Scored an absolute beauty, picked up in our half, dribbled past 3 and smashed it in top corner.

After a lot of tactic tweaking i'm currently on a 6 match unbeaten run (5 wins, 1 draw) including a 4-1 win over Chelsea in the League Cup where the only weakened player they fielded was Turnbull in goal. We literally played them off the field, and the funny thing is, I fielded a slightly weakened team due to important league games.

Sitting in 5th after 9 games with 17 points, so going pretty well at the moment

Nice one Fusss..

hey guys, i can't get Wilfried Zaha to play good. I tried him as W(A) and W(S) on the right side and also as IF(A) on the left. I'm not getting the best from him. How should I go about this? and his mental stats are quite low too.

Finished my first season in 9^th in the Championship. Not bad considering I went on a mid season winless streak of about 15 games.

New season, board want mid table, given a transfer budget of a whopping £10k and no wage money at all. Great start :/

Board also cancelled my youth facility upgrade which started at the beginning of the season due to financial difficulties.

Had to get rid of a lot of players to free up wages to try and bring in better players.

Got rid of Garvan, McCarthy, Murray, Smith, Gabbidon plus a few more lesser names.

Managed to bring in the following;

Neil Eardley (free)

Federico Macheda (loan)

Sammy Ameobi (loan)

Brice Bonelli (loan)

Van Velzen (£60k from Man Utd)

Looks like ill be lining up

GK. Speroni

DR. Eardley

DL. Parr

DC. Ottesen (capt)

DC. Ramage

MC. Jedinak/Dikagloi (retraining him to CB too)

MC. Williams

AMC. Moritz

AMR. Zaha/Bolasie

AML. Ameobi/Van Velzen

ST. Macheda/Bolado/Bonelli

Gonna be a long long hard season L Literally no depth to my squad, having to promote players like Da Silva from the reserves to the first team set up.

Any good money making ideas for pre season? I’ve had games at home vs both Man Utd and Athletico.

I took over Palace in Feb of the 3rd season after taking York to L1. Palace themselves were in L1 in a fair bit of financial trouble - too many players over £8k a week who I couldn't renew such as Jedinak etc. As a result I thought I'd cash in on Williams. Got £4.5mil for him after a season averaging 6.89, not bad for L1!!

First full season with Palace is a re-building task with a target of the playoffs. New star players include:

ST Nimely on a free from Man City

AML Halliday on a free from Middlesbrough

MC Ringo from some club in Bahrain

DC Nosrati from Iraq

GK Luke Steele 100K

DL Carl Dickinson 20k

Then spent about £250k on hot youngsters who are all generated players. Hope to create something of a long term plan with a team and continue building in the Champ when the attendances get better (only getting 9000 on average).

Following threads I'd seen around this site, I picked up Strandberg and Riski before starting my first season. Strandberg is the rock in my defence, a fan favourite and has been crucial for my team. He is partnered with McCarthy and, so far, they are doing a great job. Riski has been a versatile attacker, scoring about 6 goals in 7 appearances - so he was well worth a punt. For the pair of them, I paid around £1 million. I also took Ephraim and Chris Martin on loan. Martin has been rubbish but Ephraim has been superb - he really gets stuck in and consistently delivers strong performances.

just starting with palace will update later

Am in the 16/17 season now.

Won the championship first season, first season in the Premiership I came 5th -

Squad -

GK - Speroni

LB - Parr

CB's - K. Toure and Bellusci (Sign, he's the dogs)

RB - Adam Smith

DM - Jedinak

CM - Jason Lowe

RW - Weiss (free transfer)

AM - Jonny Williams

LW - Drenthe

ST - Ademilson

Had a few good runs this season, brought in lots of new young players and had a big cash injection from the board. Won the capital one cup mainly due to a v. easy run.

14/15

4th in the Premiership

Squad -

GK - McGregor (free transfer, bargain!)

LB - Parr/Jaime (think he is a regen, Argentine wonderkid)

CB - Bellusci (captain, avg rating is about 7.8) Danny Batth. THese two make a mean CB pairing.

RB - Adam Smith - 2.5 mill from Spurs, bargain!

DM - Javi Garcia on loan from City

CM - Tom Cleverly, great at controlling the possession.

RW - Weiss

AM - Jonny Williams

LW - James Rodriquez (Loan)

ST - Ademilson.

Been using Zaha throughout this as a sub, bring him on in the last 20 or so minutes and he has a huge affect on the game getting goals and assists regularly.

15/16

5th in the Prem. Won the FA CUP and Champions League. Great season, Selhurst Park is a fortress, in europe didn't lose a game at home, put a lot of goals past big sides due to playing fast direct running football using the wings with Cleverly and Cirigliano controlling the middle (both had 90%ish passing completion ratio).

GK - Alex Smithies (another free)

RB - Adam Smith

CB - Bellusci + Batth

LB - Jaime - wonderkids only 19 and a huge part of the squad. capped by argentina too.

DM - Cirigliano (Xabi Alonso on loan as back up)

CM - Cleverly

RW - Weiss

AM - Williams

LW - Drenthe/John Cullen (english regen, looks very good cutting in like Zaha)

Ademilson - won European golden boot. 36 goals in 47 games all comps.

Been playing a 4, 1, 1, 3,1. Short passing, creative freedom, fluid, controlling football. Getting good possession throughout the games, although not as much vs. big teams. Seems to hit inconsisten patches around Jan/Feb each year though.

Got lots of good english players in the squad, at the 2016 European Championships Palace had the most English players.

Smithies, Batth, Smith, Cleverly, Zaha and Luke Freeman (sub striker).

Teams just about hitting it's peak, most players are now 24/25/26 so am hoping we win the League this season. Got a few young players lined up to take over, although struggling to bring through players from the Palace youth system, only 2 decent youngsters have come through the ranks, the rest i've signed from scouting about.

Was aiming to have an all english side by now, but it's been a struggle and players like Bellusci, Jaime and Weiss have made it very hard to get the same quality replacements.

Jonny Williams has been awesome aswell, about 15 assist a season. Ademilsons played 96 league games got 49 league goals.

Will post pics if there's interest.

Bump**

I hope this post will spark off interest in the palace thread again.

Will be interested to see how far yo lot have taken your palace teams in your saves and what squads you have.

I have got to admit i HATE palace in real life but am really enjoying my palace save.

So im in feb of season 1 and im TEN POINTS CLEAR!!

I am in the FINAL of the league cup against man utd, after beating everton 5-2 on agg and got to the quarters of the fa cup final (where i lost to spurs 4-3)

Here's my squad: I play a flat 4-4-2 usually but change to a 4-2-3-1 if i need to change things up abit

First XI list (4-4-2) *= Signed

GK: Julian Speroni

DF: Parr, Strandberg*, Ramage, *N Eardley

MID: Drage*, Williams, C Gardener (on loan), Zaha

ST: Murray, *Danalache

Subs:

King (GK) Chambers (CB) Ashley Richards (RB), Jedinak (CM), Bolasie (AMRL), Moritz (AML/FW), K Phillips (ST)

Others in squad:

Dobbie, McCarthy, Dikgacoi, Blake

Sold: Moxey, Garvan, Gabbidon, Price

If i get promoted (which is looking likely) i have my eye on okore, eikrem and kadlec - but that might be asking too much

I have lost about 3 games this season, which isnt bad considering how thick and fast the games come in the Championship. Beat Huddersfield 9-1!

Star men: Zaha, Strandberg and Danalache

Zaha: As you would expect. Goes on so many dribbles, no one seems to stop him. Scored 15 goals already. Won 2 goal of the month awards.

Strandberg: a monster. Wins header after header. I have never seen a CB get so many man of the match awards. Him, parr and drage have meant its been a norwegian

invasion at Selhurst this year! (with maybe adding so more scando's soon too - i would like to keep the squad british in the majority though but british players seem very over priced!)

Danalache: Brilliant striker. 30 goals plus and counting. 3 hat-tricks and scored 4 goals against everton in two league cup ties! Bargain.

Is this the new patch? does Danalache get a wp for the new patch?

Is this the new patch? does Danalache get a wp for the new patch?

Yep on new patch. So zaha will leave in the summer :-(

What i did was ran romania as an unplayable league and that seemed to do the trick. I found that advice on the forums here. Apparantly very lucky to get him though as many others have tried and failed. You will need to run norway too if you want strandberg.

I won the league collecting over 100 points!

Danalache finished the season on 40+ goals in league and cup. Delfouneso some how managed to beat him to the Championship golden boot scoring 1 more than Danalache who got injured for the last two games of the season. Doh!

Anyway the MASSIVE NEWS, apart from blitzing the league is that i won the LEAGUE CUP. beat man u 3-0 in the final. Cant believe im in europe next season which will be another great adventure coupled with my arrival in the Premiership! Cant tell you all how much fun this palace save is. Will upload some screenshots too soon cos im prettysure ive unearthed some super tactic(s).

Star players: Speroni, Strandberg, Drage, Zaha, Danalache

Edit: i've realised i dont need to upload the tactic as its only a mild tweak of Fuss' 4-4-2 (V3) (Classic) http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/292519-FM12.2.2-%E2%80%A2-%E2%80%A2-%E2%80%A2-MiNiMaL_FuSS-FuSStidious-V3-FINAL-FLAT-4-4-2-%E2%80%A2-%E2%80%A2-%E2%80%A2

But its yet to been seen whether it will cut the mustard in the Prem. The other tactic i use is 4-2-3-1 with two FBs (auto), CB (Limited) CB (Covering), Ball winning midfielder (Defend) Attacking playmaker (support) Winger, Attacking Playmaker, Inside forward (all set to attack), Poacher (attacker)