De Boer fired by impatient Palace after only 4 games
The impatience and short-term thinking in modern-day soccer was highlighted Monday when Frank de Boer was fired by Crystal Palace only four Premier League games into his task of changing the ingrained playing style of the English team.
Hours after Palace chairman Steve Parish called for “some sense” regarding the speculation surrounding De Boer’s position, the club’s board decided to end the Dutchman’s 77-day stint in charge and thanked him for his “dedication and hard work.”
Palace has lost all four of its league matches under De Boer, without even scoring a goal. The last team to make such a start in England’s top flight was Preston in 1924.
Still, it was undeniable that De Boer needed time to implement a more expansive and entertaining style of play requested by the club’s hierarchy, which is a giant leap from the pragmatism, directness and counter-attacking favoured by two of Palace’s three most recent managers — Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis.