There’s no panic in Roy’s Army
DON’T PANIC! That’s not just the phrase regularly spoken by Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army, for those old enough to remember.
It is also the mantra James McArthur has learned from that wisest of old heads, Roy Hodgson.
Do not get over-excited when things are going well – and do not panic when they take a downturn, as they so often do in football.
And if ever a team needed that advice just now, it is Crystal Palace. After a bright start to the campaign Hodgson’s team have lost their last three games, scoring only one goal, and tomorrow they face an Arsenal team at Selhurst Park that have rattled off 11 straight wins.
Palace have won only one of their last six league games, their steady start to the season turned all wobbly. But as McArthur sits in the lounge at Palace’s training ground in leafy Beckenham, the Scot is fully embracing his manager’s mantra.
“Roy is great. His experience is proven,” he said. “We have changed a lot of managers since I have been here, but now under Roy we have got stability. When we lose a couple of games no one panics.
“When he first came in, we lost the first three games, but there was no panic.
“He’s a real, settled, experienced manager, and that sinks down to the players. It’s not only about when you are losing games. When you are losing, it is easy for a manager to feel under more pressure. You don’t get that sense with Roy.”
When Hodgson arrived last September, Palace were rock-bottom of the table having lost their first four games without scoring. They went on to lose their first seven but recovered under the former England manager’s wily hand, and finished 11th.
“With Roy it is always, ‘Right, OK, you have done well, now get back to work’,” added McArthur.
“He always wants us to push, and that for a player is amazing – always being pushed to climb and do better.” McArthur, 31, has become a mainstay at Selhurst Park after being in and out of the team under Hodgson’s predecessor Sam Allardyce. The midfielder was linked with a return to Scotland in the summer with Rangers but instead signed a new three-year deal last month. “It’s not that I don’t want to go back to Scotland ever – we might, because my wife likes Glasgow,” he said.
“But I have been really happy at Palace, and I am enjoying my football under Roy.
Under the previous manager I did not play as much. I have had probably a
little bit of a resurgence with Roy. This is a club where I would like to finish my career. We feel that we are making strides to becoming an established Premier League club. It is something I want to be a part of and remembered for.”
McArthur has been given a more attacking role by Hodgson, but he revels in his reputation as the under-theradar quiet man of the side.
“As long as my team-mates and the fans know the job I do for the team, that is what is important to me,” he said. “If fans from other teams or pundits don’t give me the recognition it does not bother me one bit. All I care about is winning.
“It suits me. I like to be the guy that can walk down the street and no one says anything to him.
“A family man not bothered about the spotlight and people running up to you and saying you are amazing or anything like that.”
Palace have scored just five in nine games, Wilfried Zaha claiming three of them. Only struggling Huddersfield have scored fewer.
McArthur, speaking after visiting pupils at St Chad’s Primary School in South Norwood with the Palace for Life Foundation, said: “It has been inconsistent resultswise, but performances have been good. We need to be more clinical.
“As players we need to look at the performance level. If you keep your performance level high every week, you will get results.
“Obviously, as a team we look at trying to better last season, but first and foremost you need to get to that 40-point mark That is the nature of the league.
“It is so competitive, there are so many good teams. You simply have to take it week by week.” And don’t panic.