Wilfried Zaha gives the dressing room view as to why Frank de Boer failed at Crystal Palace
The forward has said that it was likely De Boer’s insistence on playing an easy-on-the-eye possession heavy style of football that proved his undoing
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Your support makes all the difference.Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has claimed that Frank de Boer’s commitment to playing possession-based football led to his downfall at the club.
De Boer only joined the club in the summer and arrived amid a wave of hype and expectation, promising the Palace faithful “attractive football” in line with his “own type of coaching and style of playing.”
However, the former Ajax and Inter Milan coach was sacked after just 77-days in charge, after four straight Premier League defeats during which Palace failed to score a single goal.
And Zaha has said that it was likely De Boer’s insistence on playing an easy-on-the-eye possession heavy style of football that proved his undoing.
“He (De Boer) wanted to make Palace into a team that had more possession,” Zaha told BBC.
“But obviously some players aren't as comfortable on the ball as he would like. That didn't really help us at the time.
“There wasn't really the right mixture (of players) for the way we wanted to play.”
Crystal Palace eventually replaced De Boer with former England manager Roy Hodgson. But the Eagles remain rooted to the bottom of the table and are still waiting on their first point of the season – not to mention their first goal.
But Zaha has said he is not worried and is confident the team will eventually pull themselves to safety.
“I'm very confident,” he added. “We've got good enough players but it's just a thing where if you don't have the confidence then you can't play like yourselves.
“Soon enough we will go back to ourselves. We've got a good enough team and I think we'll get out of this position.”
Zaha could feature this weekend against Chelsea, after he returned to full training last week.
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