Crystal Palace v Huddersfield Town 30.03.2019 // 3pm
" HONESTLY, I WATCH VIDEOS OF GOALKEEPERS; I TRY TO SCOUT GOALKEEPERS. BUT IN THE END I THINK IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME"
LUKA MILIVOJEVIC 17
ou will hear Luka Milivojevic down at Crystal Palace’s training ground before you see the Eagles captain, such is the Serbian’s gregariousness, and larger than life personality. Highfiving the staff and laughing with his teammates, the midfielder has time for all those associated with his club. It is these traits that showcase what Luka has become - a captain who takes his role incredibly seriously, from various and regular media duties to making sure the canteen staff feel as valued and important as any of his fellow players. A few words with Julián Speroni, a brief (but clearly amusing) chat with Pape Souaré before heading through to the changing rooms for the first training session of the week, ahead of today’s Premier League clash with Huddersfield Town. The man seen upstairs in the canteen, however, is clearly a different one from that which Palace fans quickly grew to love on the football pitch; a nononsense leader and penalty-scoring machine. Into his third year with Palace, you would be forgiven for thinking that the former Anderlecht midfielder would have tired from all the penalty chat. But the very mention of the ‘p-word’ sparks a
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glint in his eye and what follows is a fascinating insight into the art that is taking a penalty – because that is exactly how Luka, and all top class spot-kick takers, see penalty-taking as: an art form. “In the beginning, I think, everyone likes to try and shoot in some unique way, to have their own style, but when you’re older and you’re experienced, you know what works,” he said. “Penalties in my experience are not, as people say, like a lottery; it is not a lottery – it is a lot of focus, concentration, quality and technique; penalties are now such a big part of football today. “When you’re older, you see what is more important and when you get a chance to score a penalty, you have more experience, you are calmer and that is something that comes with age.” It is perhaps only after speaking with one of its finest craftsmen that you truly realise the skill behind taking a successful penalty and understand why Palace’s talisman has scored more from 12-yards than any other player since his Premier League debut against Stoke City back in February 2017. “Honestly, I watch videos of goalkeepers; I try to scout goalkeepers. But in the end I think it all depends on me: how I shoot – the goalkeeper has no chance if I shoot how I want and where I want. However, it is not always easy, especially in the last 10-15 minutes of a game when you’re getting tired and you want to keep focused. “I think today that football penalties have become like mind games.” But do not consider that for even one second Palace get ‘lucky’ or ‘have the rub of the green’ because to do that is to water down the impact of Luka’s teammates and Roy Hodgson’s tactical approach, according to the Serbian. “What is true is that we have a lot of penalties but we deserve them because we try and move the ball around the box, because you can’t get a penalty out of the box. And that means we have a lot of skilful players who receive the ball in the box, which is very hard to defend
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ANDREW TOMLINS
Meet Andrew Tomlins, a Palace season ticket holder with his father since 1990. A die-hard Eagle, Tomlins has travelled home and away to support the red and blue for three decades, even though his work has led him to live in Sheffield, and now the Midlands. In the summer of 2004, 470,000 football fans were creating their Fantasy Premier League football team. Tomlins, meanwhile, was making a masterpiece. His team - Palace Exile - would go on to do the unthinkable: win the FPL. This conversation with the Palace programme was prompted by an article published in February focusing on this season’s top-ranking Palace fan, James Armstrong. Someone replied to the club’s tweet within 15 minutes of it being posted, saying “Want to know about the #cpfc fan who won it thanks to AJ, Routledge & Boyce?” It was Tomlins. Investigative journalist skills were not required to hunt down the man in question, he leapt into our arms. “Anytime someone wants to talk about this, I’m more than happy to!” Throughout that season, his Fantasy Premier League side would flirt with some bigger names of the time – Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo. But it had a Palace core. “I had Emmerson Boyce, who was new into the team. Wayne Routledge, who had done fantastically in previous season. Then Andy Johnson up front, who ended up scoring 21 goals. I took a punt on all three, all were cheap." Whilst the game remains largely unchanged, it was a simpler time for its managers. Research was done in the pub with his mates, watching Match of the Day or via text messages with fans dotted around the country, not on Twitter or forums. “I’d speak to my mates, text them – right, ‘how’s Scholesy doing? Is he playing further forward, or is he having to cover at the back?’”
Even for mediocre FPL managers, the experience can be exhausting. How many hours were invested in that campaign? “Lots. I’d have a spreadsheet where I was tracking players. I’d plan six gameweeks in advance.” As the season was reaching its climax, Tomlins entered the top 50 in gameweek 27. By gameweek 34, he was in the top 10. Something was happening. In the double gameweek 35, he would agonise over a decision that would ultimately decide his fate: to captain Arsenal’s Robert Pires or United’s Paul Scholes? “I went out in east Dulwich with my mates on a Friday night – deliberating which of the two to captain. A few beers, and most of the conversation later, I plumped for Pires. Arsenal won 7-0 against Everton, he scored 3 goals and got 20-odd points as my captain, Scholes got just four.” That decision catapulted him to second place and that was when the belief started: “Then it got serious, I thought I could do it.” Tomlins was the top ranked manager, 11 points clear, going into final day of the season. He spent that day at the Valley watching his beloved Palace throw away the chance of Premier League survival at the hands of local rivals Charlton Athletic, before the long drive back to Sheffield. “Not only were Palace relegated, the massive concern I had was the guy in second place had Fulham’s Luis Boa Morte in his team. Driving back, I heard Fulham had won 6-0 v Norwich and I thought ‘that’s it; he’ll have a goal or two, and it’ll be over’. “When I got back I took a phone call from a very good friend of mine who’s a Charlton fan. He said ‘shame you went down, but do you realise the results are in and you’ve won the FPL?’ I was quite delighted at that point.” Indeed, Boa Morte had secured just two points despite Fulham’s rout, and Tomlins was Fantasy Premier League champion, four points clear.
PALACE
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ANDREW TOMLINS 41
Palace Exile GW38 04/05
Jääskeläinen EVE H
Shackell FUL A
Routledge CHA A
Cole BIR A
Pires BIR A
Lampard NEW A
Downing MCI A
Johnson CHA A
Reyes BIR A
Rooney SOU A
Gallacher FUL A
Todd TOT A
An all expenses trip to Liverpool's home ground was a fitting prize, but did he receive a trophy? “No. I made myself a certificate: a print out of the final league table and my final team. I laminated it and stuck it on my desk for a while.” Tomlins plays the game now, but without the same motivation. “Back then, the last thing I thought
PALACE
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Granville CHA A
Cahill BOL A
Nelsen TOT A
about before going to bed was my Fantasy team. Probably the first thing when I woke up, too. Now it’s back to waiting for 2pm on a Saturday for the Palace line-up. “I’m the Leicester City of FPL, rather than the Manchester City. When I think about FPL, I think of the phrase ‘yeah, completed it mate!’”
70 IN FOCUS
FACT FILE Name: Jacob Mensah Date of birth: 18th July, 2000 Place of birth: Lambeth Position: Centre-back When did you start at Palace? March 2019 Team supported as a youngster? Tottenham Hotspur First footballing idol?
men
Nemanja Vidic Career highlight to date? Winning the Kent Cup final with Ramsgate Under-18s Favourite food? Pizza
Favourite TV show? 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown What do you like to do in your free time? Relax and watch Netflix If you weren’t a footballer, what would you be? A coach or PE teacher Hopes for the season? To cement my position in the Under-23s
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IN FOCUS 71
Jacob Mensah
I’m really proud to have signed for Palace. I haven’t signed just to be comfortable where I am, I want to keep going all the way and putting in the work. What encouraged me to join were the people at the club, who are great. They’re all really helpful and that’s what I like about this club. To feel welcome like that, even as a trialist, is important. This is a nice, family club. It’s somewhere that I want to be. Getting an offer after a trial is tough work. You don’t find out you’re being scouted until they approach you to say you’re being offered a trial. Then it all just explodes: you get told about dates for trials, complete those and, in the meantime, give your all. The trial with Palace was three weeks of hard work and I stayed in Bromley for the duration - coming from Ramsgate every morning would be a bit too much! My teammates are a great group of lads. The players are great and I get on with them all, I haven’t got a bad word to say about any of them. I first met them in my trial and they’re a good group. I’m naturally quite a reserved person anyway so I don’t really speak up much but the team all spoke to me and started getting me into conversations. The team are doing well and play to my style. We’re a footballing team, we like to play and receive the ball from defence, which I thoroughly enjoy. As a defender in non-league, you spend your time kicking
PALACE
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HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
balls long and heading them out. Here, the football involves everyone playing on the floor. I’m a physical and dominant player so if the person I’m marking does one over on me, that will replay in my head and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’m also pretty vocal - when I get on the pitch, a switch flips and that’s when I do my talking. I played for Ramsgate’s senior team for three years and learnt a lot in that time. I think I got thrown in the deep end because I made my debut at 16 and to go into a men’s team is intimidating. I matured a lot quicker than my peers around me and in football that’s a positive. The older lads didn’t hold back though! When they see an opportunity to get on top of a younger player, they definitely do it. I’d been working as a roofer and I’m now completing coaching courses. On days off, I used to help at my uncle’s roofing business for a bit of cash in hand but I’m not a full-time roofer! I’ve got my coaching Level One and I’m looking to get my coaching Level Two. I’m also currently doing the National Vocational Qualification and I’m going to get that finished in my time here. I think if anything goes wrong in football, you’ve always got to have a back-up plan. If you were to get a serious injury, you can’t just rely on your footballing career - you’ve got to have something as a back-up. It’s crucial. I know that I should have qualifications; you can’t just rely on a footballing career.
crystal palace √ huddersfield town Julián SPERONI Joel WARD Patrick VAN AANHOLT Luka MILIVOJEVIC James TOMKINS Scott DANN Max MEYER Cheikhou KOUYATÉ Andros TOWNSEND Wilfried ZAHA Mamadou SAKHO Wayne HENNESSEY Jordan AYEW Jeffrey SCHLUPP Christian BENTEKE James McARTHUR Connor WICKHAM Lucas PERRI Michy BATSHUAYI Bakary SAKO Pape SOUARÉ Aaron WAN-BISSAKA Vicente GUAITA Martin KELLY Jairo RIEDEWALD
Referee Lee Probert
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Assistant Simon Beck
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Jonas LÖSSL Tommy SMITH Terence KONGOLO Jonathan HOGG Juninho BACUNA Philip BILLING Elias KACHUNGA Aaron MOOY Adama DIAKHABY Ben HAMER Joel COLEMAN Chris LÖWE Karlan GRANT Isaac MBENZA Danny WILLIAMS Laurent DEPOITRE Alex PRITCHARD Steve MOUNIE ZANKA Christopher SCHINDLER Jon Gorenc STANKOVIC Abdelhamid SABIRI Florent HADERGJONAJ Erik DURM Demeaco DUHANEY Matty DALY Jason PUNCHEON Aaron ROWE
Assistant Andy Garratt
Match Sponsor:
Fourth Official Keith Stroud