January is an exciting time in the football calendar for a host of reasons: it welcomes the top two tiers into the FA Cup; you start to get a good understanding of where your team will finish in the table; and of course, it’s the opening of the crucial January transfer window.

Yet, with this excitement, it also brings a great sense of nerves and tension, particularly for Crystal Palace fans. It’s a club that never do things the easy way.

At this stage last season, Palace were in the relegation zone, just three points off the bottom, and preparing for a busy January window which would change the fortunes of the club come the final game in May.

Here we are yet again, just two games until the window opens and sitting rather uncomfortably in 17th, out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

Palace’s season has been tantalisingly close to a success but equally nothing short of a failure. The team has failed to pick up key points at vital times which we could regret come the final few games of the season where we face Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Swansea.

You can’t help but feel that they wouldn’t be in this position had Tony Pulis remained in charge.

It is a vital six weeks for Warnock in terms of fixtures and the transfer window. There are a number of six-pointers, including clashes against QPR, Aston Villa and Burnley. The fans would usually expect wins against them had we got a prolific striker and a left-back.

Instead, we are praying that Warnock has got an impressive shortlist of players up his sleeve, ready to sign early in the window to avoid the same shambles that we experienced in the summer.

A striker and a left-back are the two obvious targets but with Mile Jedinak and Yannick Bolasie both out for the month due to international tournaments there are also two alarming voids to be filled.

The duo have arguably been Palace’s two best players this season and should Warnock fail to quickly replace them, Palace could be as good as gone come February.

Palace have played some exceptional football at times this season and it isn’t the tactical awareness of Warnock that’s a concern, it’s whether he, along with his coaching staff, have the nous in the transfer market to attract the best possible players to the club.

No matter how funny Warnock may seem, you couldn’t blame a player for deciding against joining a club with a 66-year-old manager who has never successfully kept a team in the Premier League.

We can so far only base opinions on him from his summer dealings which saw the two pointless signings of Kevin Doyle and Andy Johnson, as well as Zeki Fryers, who has played just once since arriving.

The big-money signing of James McArthur gives cause for optimism but it remains to be seen whether Warnock will be able to pull some key signings out of the bag in order to keep the club in the top flight for a third successive season.

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