So farewell then, Pierre Sage . Many coaches leave under a cloud, not many have their departures completely obscured by the foul, retch-inducing one emanating from another team’s managerial circus, but such was Sage’s fate . The news section of Crystal Palace’s website helpfully tells you the amount of time it might take you to read each story it links through to. For example it should take four minutes or so to get through Tuesday’s “On this day: five big Crystal Palace birthdays”. “England: I love a knee slide!” will take you five. “Prize draw: be a mascot for our next [Bigger Vase] tie!” is a two-minute job. The statement informing the world of Sage’s exit? One minute. Eighty-three words. By way of illustration, the word “words” was the 84th of this paragraph. Just because the man’s French doesn’t mean his exit should be marked with a shrug.
His supporters, such as they are, would argue he was hobbled by knack, suspensions and poor transfer dealings, and approximately nothing went to plan for the man who just six months ago was revelling in being named Ligue 1 coach of the year. His philosophy just never quite translated. “There are two types of teams: one with the ball, and the other chasing it,” he said last year. “I prefer to be the first of those.” And it is true that in Ligue 1 last season only Paris St-Germain and Marseille had, on average, more of the ball than his Lens side. But it turned out that Crystal Palace players were quite happy chasing it thank you, whichever of them he picked – and he picked most of them, fielding more players than any other club this season.
They are averaging 43.2% possession, more than only Coventry and Hull. Against Tottenham at the end of October – when, to be fair, they were hobbled by a 13th-minute red card – they had the ball just 20.8% of the time – which, at least since 2013-14, they’ve never come close to equalling – and ended with an xG of 0.14 – not as bad as the 0.12 they registered against Manchester City in August 2022 (a game which, somehow, they ended with two goals), but worse than all their other ones. “It is,” Sage sighed after the Spurs match, “a disaster.” In that interview Sage said his “main principles” included “to look to get behind the opposition defence non-stop; and to press your opponents hard so you can win the ball back quickly,” Again, lovely ideas.
But Sage’s Palace were absolutely rubbish at pressing – on Opta’s pressed sequences metric, measuring “the number of open-play sequences starting in their defensive third where the opposition has three or fewer passes and the sequence ends in their own half”, they are currently bottom of the league, and what high turnovers they have managed have led to just eight shots (second-bottom) and no goals (bottom). As for getting behind the opposition defence non-stop, Opta has recorded 24 through-balls this season, which actually is the fifth-highest total in the league. They have also recorded 23 offsides. Still, we should take a minute (but no more) to mark another coach’s departure. Farewell, Pierre, and good luck. You certainly had none of it over here.
Join Scott Murray at 7.45pm GMT for red-hot Nations League updates from Scotland 0-0 North Macedonia.
3 August 2026: “It has become clear to us that there is tremendous potential to make the men’s national team program even stronger. The passion we experienced from the fans throughout the [Geopolitics] World Cup only strengthened our belief in what is possible here” – Mauricio Pochettino autographs a new contract to manage the USA USA USA to 2030 because he reckons they’re going places, baby.
13 November 2026: “The opportunity to represent the USA [USA USA] crest was one of the greatest honours of my career. We are so grateful to the players for their commitment, to the fans for their belief, and to the federation for always supporting our staff and creating the opportunities to impact the culture of soccer in this great country” – turns out that it’s Pochettino is going places faster than the national team. Next stop: Manchester United!
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double quotation mark As I have been away at a conference, giving a presentation that the MC described as ‘sobering’, I’ve missed the last few days of football, so I was very sad to read about the passing of the great Danny Kelly . Others are far better placed to give tributes to the great man, but for younger generations who can’t comprehend the football cultural significance, Baker and Kelly represented the peak of football phone-ins. Before it became people ranting and raving about wanting the manager sacked as they’ve lost a few games or wanting the club to spend another few hundred million pounds on yet more players, it was about football supporters and supporting, from fans who actually went to games. Their peak was on BBC Radio in the 1990s, and there are too many examples of their greatness, but if I had to pick one, just one to illustrate it, it would, of course, be Gordon the Dundee United supporter and his bow tie . Rest in Peace, Danny Kelly. You gave us such joy” – Noble Francis.
double quotation mark As they no longer seem to be ‘Dr Tottenham’, I was wondering if they had maybe passed the soubriquet on. I think the England cricket team has provided the answer (again)” – Andrew Parker.
double quotation mark Impressive list of kiss-off press releases ( yesterday’s Football Daily ) but why was Ralf Rangnick omitted from the chronological list of post-Fergie managers? Is it because Football Daily valued him as little as Manchester United fans did?” – Mike Wilner.
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