Pardew: Warm-weather training can lift Palace

Mark Holmes
Alan Pardew: Crystal Palace boss taking squad to Spain

Alan Pardew: Crystal Palace need to 'kick into gear'

Alan Pardew is taking his Crystal Palace squad to Spain in preparation for Sunday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie at Tottenham.

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Watford, when Troy Deeney scored either side of Emmanuel Adebayor’s header, left Palace without a Premier League victory since December 19.

The FA Cup, however, has provided greater fortune, with wins over Southampton and Stoke their only successes so far in 2016.

Ten years on from leading West Ham to within minutes of winning the competition against Liverpool in 2006, Pardew is replicating a tactic then-Palace manager Steve Coppell used when leading a team featuring Pardew to the 1990 final.

“That was just a thing that we used to do, that run we had to the (1990) Cup final we used to go away for a week, so (it’s) a change a scenery, lighten the load a little bit and focus on the cup,” said Pardew, whose team have fallen to 13th in the league. “It was a good experience for us and hopefully it’ll be the same for my players.

“It might change the mood a little bit. But it’s a training camp for Spurs, and going forward for the second half of the season, so in a way it might turn out to be a good thing for us: we get ourselves away and work on the team, ’cause we’ll obviously have some good weather and some good training facilities to do that.

“Just get a bit of warm weather training, work on the team – we do need to work on the team, there’s no doubt about that – and find a formula that’s going to work for us with the injuries that we have.

“Now we’ve lost Pape Souare (to suspension after his red card against Watford). It’s significant blows for us, so now we’ve got to find a balance to the team, where we’re going to be able to be effective, in the next period of games.”