Crystal Palace have sacked manager Pierre Sage after a run of difficult results culminating in a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool. 

Sage had been under immense pressure, almost from the get go, and was facing ‘job-saving’ games as early as Leeds away. A 5-0 defeat to Brighton almost saw the pressure spill over, and now, six games later achieving just one win, Sage has been dismissed. 

There are many factors which have led to this decision, a lot of those out of the control of the French manager, but football is a results business, and with Palace rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table after ten games, having conceded 24 goals in that time, there was little saving his job at Palace. 

Official confirmation is yet to be made, but it's understood that Sage will be dismissed, and Thomas Frank will take his place. 

There have been numerous reports emerging since the defeat to Liverpool regarding the ongoings behind the scenes at the club. A report from Bobby Manzi detailed 4pm training sessions, a complete lack of focus on defensive shape and set pieces in training and the discontent from players towards Sage’s assistant Jamal Alioui.

Alioui could be seen at games screaming at players, and there were suggestions earlier in the season, especially after the defeat to Brighton, that players were scared to express themselves in games at the risk of being berated for doing so. 

With so much youth in the Palace squad, that provided an unhealthy atmosphere for players to develop in. 

Whilst multiple players publicly expressed their liking of Sage, there were also certain things happening behind the scenes, such as late training sessions and late evenings at the training ground the night before games which kicked off at 14:00. 

Sage is not the first, and will not be the last to leave his post at the club.

The news breaking today suggests that there are far more worrying issues at Palace than just the manager, and Manzi’s article revealed that a ‘well-placed’ source described the club’s behind-the-scenes trajectory as ‘one heading towards relegation.’

There’s no doubt that sacking Sage is a huge disappointment for Palace. The Frenchman had achieved unprecedented success with RC Lens in France, and looked to be a strong appointment as a replacement for Oliver Glasner. 

A huge number of things have gone against him during his time at the club, and he’s been unfortunate not to field what many would consider Palace’s strongest eleven, with the likes of Ismaïla Sarr, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Dean Henderson missing large parts of the season. 

Added to that was the disruption caused to pre-season by the World Cup, which meant Sage had to effectively use the opening weeks of the season as an extended period of preparation. 

Palace failed to replace Maxence Lacroix when he was sold, and delayed a lot of their business until the final day of the summer window, which again left the side underprepared. Selling your best players is part of the game for a club like Palace, but in recent years there has been a successful conveyor belt of talent coming into the club with a long term vision to replace star players. 

That trend slowed down massively when Dougie Freedman left his post, and it felt as if the success the club achieved under Glasner was the pinnacle of what had been a long-term project. 

As the players from that FA Cup winning side began to leave, the strength of the side decreased massively, and whilst Glasner was able to coach the team to European glory last year, it came at a cost to their Premier League form, Palace finishing 15th, just six points above the drop zone.  

This season has felt like the culmination of that steady decline, and Palace have been left with a squad that, when key players are missing, simply doesn’t have the quality to compete on as many fronts as Palace had previously earnt the privilege to compete on. 

Former Brentford and Spurs manager Thomas Frank has been touted as the number one replacement for Sage at Palace. 

Frank was sacked in February after a dismal run at the North London club, and there are question marks over how much of his success at Brentford was down to how well run the club is, backed by the joy that Frank’s former set-piece coach Keith Andrews has had since taking the reins. 

Frank is described by Brentford fans as a pragmatic coach, one who is able to set up a strong, stubborn defence, but also one who makes strange decisions and doesn’t often stray from his preferred side. 

He has a reluctance to trust young players too, and often relied on talismanic forwards, so it’s hard to say with any certainty that he’ll thrive at Palace.

He’ll also have to make things work with a side that is low on confidence, has key players missing and the first few games of his tenure will be must wins, so there is little margin for error in that time.