Alan Pardew: ‘Patrick Bamford must harden to progress’

Patrick Bamford has broken his silence over the frustration he has felt during his loan spell with Crystal Palace, with the Englishman failing to establish himself in the starting XI at Selhurst Park.

Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace come into the match unbeaten in six matches with three draws including back-to-back stalemates against Bournemouth and Swansea last time out. The 0-0 draw was actually a missed opportunity for the home side to heap more pressure on Guus Hiddink and Chelsea as it was the Manchester team that had most of the better chances in the entertaining stalemate.

The visitors have won just one in their last 5 league games while losing two of them.

“My comments were taken out of context”, he insisted.

“Of course, I would think everybody want to get to the top of their profession”, he said.

“I hope he becomes a top player because he has some really nice attributes as a person and if he becomes a great player, then great”.

“Definitely looking at my injury list, I would like a striker”, said Pardew. Due to their good performance against the Reds, they should surely start against Crystal Palace on Sunday. “I’ve said some bloody stupid things after games”.

While the Dutch coach will be desperate for a victory, he will know that an away trip against Palace represents one of the Premier League’s tougher fixtures considering the Eagles’ superb form under Alan Pardew.

The hosts’ one man advantage did not last long as Damien Delaney committed his second bookable offence, and after half-time the win was sealed as Cesc Fabregas finished off a stunning passing move for one of the goals of the season.

“There is no point in me staying if I don’t have the ambition”. Oscar is another key player capable of providing that moment of magic as he possesses excellent vision, sure passing ability and a fine first touch.

But he has issued a warning: Catch us if you can. Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham are very important players for us, so that will have a big impact. I think we had 15 points at this time a year ago (Palace actually had 16 after 19 games, with Newcastle on 26 points), so you are talking about a team that had lower points than Sunderland…is that right?