Former Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer has spoken to Russia’s Sport Express about being sacked by the Premier League side just weeks into the job.
The Dutchman was trying to bring a whole new philosophy to the club and it was an impossible task that both he and Crystal Palace should have at least toned down a little.
A change too big and too quickly without a huge squad overhaul was always going to be difficult, and especially so with the pressures of the Premier League.
De Boer things he should have been given more time: “The Crystal Palace board panicked. We failed to make a good start for sure, I understand we needed to keep the club in the Premier League after they invested in the squad, but only after five games, I didn’t think I deserved to get sacked. When the things were going bad, they just decided to change the manager which resulted in my sacking.
“I think we played better than the opponents most of the time. I lost my best player in Zaha in the very first week, so his injury was our main problem. I tried to change the system but I failed. After the sacking I was very angry. Players were also upset, but that’s the way it goes.”
De Boer was sacked by Crystal Palace in September, despite only being installed as the Eagle’s manager last summer. Crystal Palace lost all five league games whilst the Dutchman was at the club, scoring no goals.
The former Netherlands international was eventually replaced by Roy Hodgson, and despite a shaky start Crystal Palace have managed to get themselves out of the relegation places.
However, the London side are still in a fight to avoid the drop to the Championship, with a number of clubs fighting for survival.
