So, it is goodbye to Wilf, or perhaps we should say ‘Güle güle’.
For the non-Palace fans who may be reading this (apparently there are some), it may be difficult to wrap your head around quite how much this Wilfried Zaha has meant to us.
It is not just:
- He is the greatest player to have ever played for our club
- He is a local boy that grew up just a few streets away
- He both dragged us into the Premier League – if in any doubt watch this – and has kept us there for ten years
- He continually invests back in his team and community. To name just a few – he personally donated during Covid to keep the women’s team going, he recently invested along with Stormzy in AFC Croydon and regularly donates 10% of his salary to charity
It is more, oh it so so much more. For many years, too many years in fact, he has been the embodiment of the fan base on the pitch, brimming with passion, fury, invention. The reason to keep going to Selhurst Park, the reason to get up out of your seat… The reason top teams rarely battered us.
And now he has gone.
It was always going to happen at some point, in fact it has already happened – 10 years ago in fact – when he left initially for Manchester United, (although he was loaned back to us). But that was for (at the time) a good fee and a sense of an up and coming player going on to fulfil his potential. Not unlike Aaron Wan Bissaka some years later.
This time is different. Heading to Turkey, albeit to a potentil Champions League entrant, feels somewhat deflating for a player who, for Palace fans at least, is up there amongst the elite players in the league.
But what about the numbers I hear you cry?
Okay, let’s talk about numbers. For 2021/22 which was his last full season (he was injured for a significant chunk of last season) he scored 14 goals – his best ever return and spoke about maturing as a goal scorer. For a side that is often ranked near the bottom for goals that was very significant (indeed that season we scored a total of 50 – so Zaha contributing nearly 40% on his own). Even last year where he ‘only’ netted 7 times and had 2 assists, he was still a key contributor and it was only Eberechi Eze and to an extent Michael Olise’s late season blossoming that masked our reliance on Zaha.
Importantly, Zaha’s influence goes well beyond these headline figures. He was consistently in the top few in Europe in terms of take-ons and successful dribbles, key to opening up deep defences and creating space for team mates. Countless times I’ve seen defences – even top 6 teams double or triple up on him, this breed confidence in the team and importantly creates space for other attackers to thrive.
One of many many examples I could give was the early season match up against Spurs in 2021. Zaha created so much fear in the Spurs defence – his opposite number was sent off, plus one of their midfielders (Skipp) was constantly playing as an auxiliary right back/right wing back to enable double ups – thus creating space for Conor Gallagher and others in central midfield to thrive.
In this image, you will see Tanganga being drawn to Zaha who is attacking the space. This passage ends with the defender being shown a yellow card for fouling him who had otherwise beaten him and was through into the penalty box.
But Zaha’s threat also causes Skipp to be drawn leaving space for Gallagher to run into.
So we will certainly miss him on the pitch, although opposition defenders won’t. It was no secret that for several years we simply couldn’t win without him! This led to several AFCON’s being dreaded due to Wilf’s absence.
But it goes further.
He was and will remain, absolutely iconic in terms of attitude, approach and sense of being one of us.
South London through and through.
He went to school in Croydon and has never forgotten that. He does a lot that is unseen such as going back to his old school, setting up youth footballing opportunities and just reflecting back the passion of Palace fans. In recognition of this, towards the end of last season a mural to Zaha was unveiled just next to the stadium, giving a sense of what he has meant to the community around the team.
So it does feel like a bit of our soul has been ripped from us this week.
We will recover, new heroes will be made, Eze is already showing he can be that guy. But no-one will ever forget quite how much Wilf has meant to Crystal Palace Football Club and the surrounding community.
My only regret with Wilf leaving is younger Palace fans may never get to experience the joy and thrill he gave us all. He was unique, on and off the pitch. Sad as we all are to see him go, he will forever be one of South London’s finest.
Era after era, since 1861.
