Monday 16 January 2017 13:48, UK
With Wilfried Zaha in Africa Cup of Nations action for Ivory Coast, will England live to regret overlooking him? As Steve Parish has pointed out, the Crystal Palace winger's improvement has been strangely overlooked, writes Adam Bate…
For Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish, Harry Redknapp’s recent criticism of Wilfried Zaha was the final straw. “Zaha’s delivery hasn’t been good enough,” claimed Redknapp in his newspaper column. “He's got to do a lot more if he's going to be a top player,” he added. “Zaha has ended up being a big disappointment.”
Having given up on his England ambitions, the player himself was already away with Ivory Coast preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations but Parish did take to Twitter to voice his frustration. “Pundit agenda against Wilfried Zaha is incredible,” he commented. “I actually find myself looking forward to his goals against England.”
He’s not alone. Plenty of Palace fans were quick to share those sentiments and the chief source of the gripe appears to be the belief that views on Zaha have crystallised. People have made their minds up. Certainly when Redknapp suggests “he looked a better player a few years ago” one wonders whether everyone has been paying attention.
After all, the lack of end product for which Zaha has so often been criticised in the past has not been in evidence of late. The winger has already matched his best goal tally for a Premier League season and has twice as many assists as the previous two campaigns combined. For those willing to look, the improvement is obvious.
Consider the company he is keeping. Only two players have more assists from open play – Christian Eriksen and Alexis Sanchez. Zaha is level on six with Kevin De Bruyne and Adam Lallana. All four of those players have been lauded for their efforts this season, but Zaha’s achievements have been largely overlooked.
Given Palace’s poor results, perhaps that’s understandable. Zaha scored the opener at Swansea but the team went on to let in five. He then hit a brilliant late equaliser in the return fixture at Selhurst Park, only for the Eagles to contrive to lose again. His goal at Hull was swiftly followed by two going in at the other end within eight minutes.
When Zaha assisted goals in four consecutive games against Leicester, Liverpool, Burnley and Manchester City earlier this season, Palace did not so much as pick up a point. All of which has an effect because while everyone in a successful side gets praise before long – just ask Danny Simpson – when things go badly even good form can be overlooked.
In Zaha’s case, that’s a pity because this could be seen as a redemptive tale. Criticised for his attitude in his younger years, he looks to have channelled his energy into becoming a better player. “I would like to think there has been an improvement,” said then boss Alan Pardew of the player back in August and the numbers since do bear that out.
Zaha remains a formidable dribbler – only Eden Hazard has completed more of them this season – but his decision-making in this regard has improved. As a result, the success rate of his dribbles has improved in each of his three seasons back at Palace and is now up over 50 per cent – superior to Raheem Sterling, for example.
Meanwhile, Zaha’s oft-criticised crossing has found its target more often than ever before. Indeed, there are only seven players who have delivered more successful crosses from open play this season and he boasts a better rate of success – over 30 per cent – than any of them. That’s up from just 16 per cent in his first year back at Selhurst Park.
And yet, it was not deemed good enough for England, with club team-mate Andros Townsend preferred in Gareth Southgate’s squad in October. Maybe those preconceived ideas about Zaha are too entrenched in the mind now. After all, this is a player who first became a Palace regular aged 17 and has since racked up over 250 appearances.
But Zaha only turned 24 in November and there is still time for him to make the next step. Perhaps that will even come in Gabon, where he will make his Africa Cup of Nations bow for Ivory Coast against Togo on Monday. And if it does, the ‘big disappointment’ will not be Zaha. It will be that England missed out on a talent that was blossoming under their noses.
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