De Boer Looks To Asia After Maidstone

Crystal Palace opened their pre season campaign with a three one victory over Maidstone United at the weekend and manager Frank de Boer has quickly turned his attentions to our Premier League Asia Trophy tour.

Taking to the dug out for the first time at the Gallagher Stadium as Maidstone celebrated their fifth anniversary at the ground, Palace opened the scoring through Jordan Mutch on 15 minutes with the hosts pretty quickly levelling matters up.

Mutch added a second on the day before the half time break and Jacob Berkeley added the third and it could’ve been four on the day but Jack Richards’ effort was ruled out for offside late on.

Maidstone:

Worgan, Prestedge, Lokko, Okuonghae, Lewis, Sam-Yorke, Paxman, Wraight, Anderson, Twumasi, Pigott.

Subs:

Hare, Phipps, Richards, Willard, Campbell, Thomas, Capel, Chambers, Dorling, Cooper, Campanella, Lawson.

Crystal Palace:

Perntreou, Woods, Brown, McGregor, Tavares, Owens, Lumeka, Flanagan, Coker, Lokilo, Mutch.

Subs:

Curtis-Henry (Perntreou), Berkeley (Lokilo), Fundi (Coker), Hungbo (Mutch), Daly (Taylor), Ossai (Lumeka), Norman-Williams (Flanagan).

It was clearly a youthful side as de Boer had promised ahead of the game as he looks to our next generation before finalising transfer plans for the summer, but speaking to Crystal Palace FC his full focus was on the experience that we’d get in Hong Kong.

‘We are still in pre-season so we`ll see how the team is developing and the shape that we think we`re going to play this season. It`s the next step towards getting us fitter and getting the team working the system better together. Of course you want to win it; if you go into a game – whether there is a trophy or not – I want to win. That always has to be in the team and the players – you`re not just playing a friendly game, you want to win the game because it is a great feeling when you do so. It would give us more confidence because the more games we win shows that we`re doing the right thing. We want to see the things that we have been working on in training in real time, and it`s always very satisfying for the manager if you can see that they are progressing.’

With Liverpool first up on Wednesday before we find out whether we play West Bromwich Albion or Leicester City, de Boer went on to say.

‘It will help us because it replicates what you see in the Premier League including the pace and intensity, and it is important that you play at that same level, especially against a team like Liverpool. We just want to implement our system and what we expect from the team, but every player has their own role in the team and we want them to perform at that level. You have to concentrate against a team like Liverpool because they have Mane, Wijnaldum and Coutinho as well as so many good players. They are a great team and we have to respect them, and we have to be at our best so it`ll be a good test for us.’

Of course the trip serves a double purpose of seeing de Boer get to know the group on effectively a training camp where they live side by side for a period both in training but also downtime.

‘Team bonding is important because we have to work with the players and they have to work with each other every day. They spend more time together than they do with their families so to get a week away is a good opportunity to get a good feeling with each other. It`s also about mentality and as a manager you can see who is dealing well with it or getting a bit sloppy.’