International break will do us good (From Your Local Guardian)

International break will do us good

1:15pm Monday 6th September 2010

• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

The international break couldn’t have come at a better time.

While England’s ‘stars’ are falling over themselves to get out of playing international football, George Burley and the players have a timely opportunity to re-group and buck the losing trend.

Palace have lost four on the trot after a frustrating start to the season which culminated in last Saturday’s humiliating 3-0 defeat at Scunthorpe.

Fortunately, I’m having a case of serious déjà vu and my mind goes back to a similar stage last season when a sluggish start to the season was punctuated by a 4-0 defeat to guess who? Yes, Scunthorpe again.

Then manager Neil Warnock nearly walked away such was his anger at the performance but he stayed and used the result to motivate the players and this is what we need to happen now.

These two weeks give Burley the chance to work hard on the training pitch to give the side that bit of cohesion and understanding that has proved as yet elusive.

It will also give Darren Ambrose the chance to recover from the serious bruising of his fibula that has kept him out for three games.

It was first feared that he could have sustained a broken leg but it was confirmed this week that the injury was not as serious as first thought and he could be fit enough to make the bench against Portsmouth with any luck.

His absence has had a massive impact on our start to the season as without him we’ve lacked any real impetus in attack he brings as well as his willingness to shoot.

The international break will also give new loan signing Anthony Gardner the chance to settle into life in south London before he is pressed into action for the first time, a luxury that hasn’t been afforded to a few of our previous signings this summer.

Gardner is a good signing, he has always been highly rated but injuries seem to have curtailed that early promise.

But, when fit, Gardner should be a formidable obstacle for any Championship striker.

We badly needed another central defender, a fact highlighted by the way we fell apart when Paddy McCarthy was forced off on Saturday, and Gardner fits the bill perfectly.

Let’s hope his, and the clubs, bill of health improves over the next six months.

Comments are closed on this article.