By Ewah Chika.
Crystal Palace is presently in the second half of the table after a not so convincing start to the season which has seen them lose twice and win just once (against Middlesbrough) in four games this season. The South London club had moved quickly to sign Christian Benteke from Liverpool for over £27 million in a bid to solve their goal scoring problem
which has seen the likes of Emmanuel Adebayo, Glenn Murray, Dwight Gayle and Connor Wickham all struggle despite the large sums spent on them.
Palace did not just stop there as the South London club have also signed former Arsenal and AC Milan defensive midfielder Mattieu Flamini on a free transfer last week. The defensive midfielder is expected to partner Yohan Cabaye in the centre of midfield allowing Jason Puncheon, Andros Townsend and Wilfred Zaha to play further up the field supporting Benteke who will play as a lone striker in Alan Pardew's 4-2-3-1 favourite formation.
"I like the fact that whenever he played, he played in big, big games at Arsenal when they needed someone to kind of lead the team over the kind and get big results," were the words of Alan Pardew following the signing of Flamini.
The French man is likely to flourish in Selhurt Park even though he was more of a squad player in his second spell at the Emirates. Flamini is a hard tackler with determination and loyalty at the same time good in to closing down spaces during game. His pairing with compatriot Cabaye will help liberate the former PSG midfielder who lacks defensive discipline as he is better when given the freedom to roam and dictate the tempo of the game from deep with his top notch passing and vision.
Flamini is already 32, hence struggling with pace and mobility unlike Welshman Joe Ledley who is the man most likely to lose his place in the team considering that the former Arsenal midfielder supplements his lack of pace with his aggressiveness and hassling which is exactly what Palace have been lacking for something following the loss of form of Australian Mile Jedinak and his ultimate transfer to Aston Villa in the summer.
Flamini's main task will be to break up play, win back possession and build play from the back by redistributing to better passers like Cabaye and Puncheon, who will then try to locate star striker Christian Benteke whose style suits Alan Pardew's team. Flamini's experience of playing for six seasons in the Premiership will also aid Alan Pardew's team who have dropped a lot of form since January .
Coming on a free transfer and being signed for one year, the signing for now seems like a win/win for both Palace and Flamini, which many fans of the club will hope continues.
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