The free teaser of an Athletic piece on Wilfried Zaha...
Wilfried Zaha is talking about how he plays football, how his game has changed over the years and how different he is from the 17-year-old who made his Crystal Palace debut 10 years ago.
“I used to dribble in my own half so much. By the time I got to the goal, I was too tired to cross it or shoot. So now I try to save my energy for the key moments. I have worked on my technique to allow me to execute certain passes, through-balls and shots that I want to take on.”
The Athletic spent an afternoon last week watching back some of Zaha’s best moments with him over a Zoom call. He reflects on them with a sense of nostalgia and a keen insight into the how and why. From observing and replicating Glenn Murray’s movement to score in the second leg of the 2013 play-off semi-final against Brighton & Hove Albion to learning how to draw a challenge like the one from Marco Cassetti in the final against Watford. He points to blackened toenails and dead legs amid the frustration of diving accusations, and recalls learning to dribble with a tennis ball in his childhood, being pigeonholed at Manchester United but learning to believe in himself, the “honour” of captaining Palace, and adapting his game to become "more efficient”.
He has already conceded the obvious. “I can’t hold my emotions,” he says, watching back that debut against Cardiff City with a beaming smile.
“It was literally a dream come true,” he tells The Athletic. “I’ve been working all my life for this exact moment and it’s actually happening. That’s what I was telling myself; ‘it’s actually happening right now’. I’d had so many setbacks and I had kept at it just for that moment. I was so happy to get the opportunity. The smile just came out by itself.”
“Wow, that was a long time ago,” he says. A decade later, a lot has changed.
Wilfried Zaha is talking about how he plays football, how his game has changed over the years and how different he is from the 17-year-old who made his Crystal Palace debut 10 years ago.
“I used to dribble in my own half so much. By the time I got to the goal, I was too tired to cross it or shoot. So now I try to save my energy for the key moments. I have worked on my technique to allow me to execute certain passes, through-balls and shots that I want to take on.”
The Athletic spent an afternoon last week watching back some of Zaha’s best moments with him over a Zoom call. He reflects on them with a sense of nostalgia and a keen insight into the how and why. From observing and replicating Glenn Murray’s movement to score in the second leg of the 2013 play-off semi-final against Brighton & Hove Albion to learning how to draw a challenge like the one from Marco Cassetti in the final against Watford. He points to blackened toenails and dead legs amid the frustration of diving accusations, and recalls learning to dribble with a tennis ball in his childhood, being pigeonholed at Manchester United but learning to believe in himself, the “honour” of captaining Palace, and adapting his game to become "more efficient”.
He has already conceded the obvious. “I can’t hold my emotions,” he says, watching back that debut against Cardiff City with a beaming smile.
“It was literally a dream come true,” he tells The Athletic. “I’ve been working all my life for this exact moment and it’s actually happening. That’s what I was telling myself; ‘it’s actually happening right now’. I’d had so many setbacks and I had kept at it just for that moment. I was so happy to get the opportunity. The smile just came out by itself.”
“Wow, that was a long time ago,” he says. A decade later, a lot has changed.
Black toenails apparently proves his honesty. (It just proves Palace's Chiropodist is crap). I did learn that Watford fans hate him which is nice. The pictures of his goal did make me feel nauseous and why were we mentioned SO many times in the article obsessed? Much? 
