As a player, you always feel it when a manager is under pressure, as Alan Pardew is at the moment.
His temper might be a bit short or his team talks a bit panicky. They have to portray that they’re cracking on as usual but it always shines through.
If you like him, you want to get results for him and help him — but there is always that nagging doubt about your own future.
You think, “If we lose today, he could be gone”. You read the papers and watch TV and wonder about your own future: will a new manager like me?
You can’t do anything about that train of thought and it certainly isn’t helpful.
I don’t know Pardew at all well but I can see the stress in his face. He cares passionately about Palace, so the pressure is even greater. I’d say he has two or three more games but this match is huge.
Walter facing relentless test
Good managers know how to bring the best from their players in matches, while also improving them in training. The careers of Tony Pulis and Walter Mazzarri show they can do this.
Watford will find it tough here. Pulis’s teams are relentless and don’t worry about perception.
West Brom play more football than Pulis’s Stoke sides ever did but some of the same qualities are there.
They are drilled to within an inch of their lives. All credit to them.
