Crystal Palace legend Jim Cannon lauds defensive signing
BY ROB SUTHERLAND
Jim Cannon has lauded Palace’s defensive qualities and says that Gary Cahill’s signing is a great move for the club.
Palace’s record-breaking centre-back heaped praise on Cahill and his team-mates after watching back his own achievements in BT Sports’ Team of the Eighties documentary, for which he was a guest of honour at the premiere held at Boxpark on Tuesday.
Cannon said: “We have had Sakho and Tomkins out, but the lad Kelly, as a centre half, is brilliant.
“And [Gary] Cahill, that was a really shrewd move to get him. He has got that calmness about him and he reads the game well, and he has been brilliant for us.
“He is an ex-England international and he was probably unlucky not to play more last season at Chelsea, but for us to get him was a massive coup.”
Cannon, who holds the record for the most appearances at Crystal Palace with a total of 660 for the club, in a career that spanned more than 15 seasons, also reserved special praise for Cahill’s right-back team-mate Joel Ward, whose form has helped the club recover from the sale of Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
“Joel Ward has come in, and people aren’t thinking about Wan-Bissaka anymore, because Ward has done really well and has probably been our best player over the last few games.
“But the back four as a whole have looked really good.”
Cannon experienced the disarray of defensive dis-organisation when the much-lauded “Team of the Eighties” were relegated at the end of the 1980-81 season, and says that Roy Hodgson’s defensive approach to games helps to give the side structure.
“The foundations have to be built and Roy [Hodgson] doesn’t want to give anything away, and you build beyond that to get things happening further up the park.
“That’s why we are in the position we are in at the moment.”
The Team of the Eighties premieres on Wednesday October 23 on BT Sport 2
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