Davids and Bennett bust-up shows spirit (From Croydon Guardian)

Davids and Bennett bust-up shows spirit

4:20pm Friday 15th October 2010 in Your Say By Nick Gentry

Despite all the fervent denials from within the camp, you cannot help but think that there is some truth behind reports of a bust-up between Edgar Davids and Julian Bennett.

The Sun, no matter what you think of the calibre of their journalism, does not sit down all day cooking up half-baked stories of Crystal Palace players partaking in a little bit of handbags during training.

That’s not to say they haven’t added some extra spice to the story however.

But in the end, is it really a bad thing for two Palace players have an argument in training?

To me, it shows they care and that there is some fight in this group of players, which is something that has been sadly missing thus far.

It’s always been the case that training can become heated and Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock once insisted that it is a good thing for a group of players.

"I don't think it would be a training ground if there weren't bust-ups," he said.

“It's part and parcel of football and it shows people you care.

"If you don't care you don't have arguments. You've got to have them to set things right and get things out in the open.

"That's how you make the team better and make the team stronger."

Another important point to mention is the players involved.

It’s good to see that a player who is only on loan until January and a player who has been labelled an uninterested journeyman by most visiting fans this season are showing such passion for the cause.

As long as it is dealt with correctly internally by George Burley then it shouldn’t be a problem.

But here in lies the problem, the most damaging part of this story, from the point of view of dressing room harmony anyway, is that stories like this are getting leaked to the press.

To me it’s a sign of a lack of unity and togetherness within the squad which is understandable given the number of changes that happened over the summer, but also worrying going forward.

And the squad will need all the togetherness they can muster on Saturday in what is a massive south London derby.

They might even have to muster some of that ‘fighting spirit’ they’ve been working on in training to beat Millwall in a game set amongst the back-drop of an electric, pressured and intimidating atmosphere.

But the display against QPR showed signs of recovery after what has been a poor start to the season and what more motivation is needed than having a packed Selhurst behind them in the biggest game of the season.

The season starts here.

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