Crystal Palace face a difficult question. Where do they go next if the under-pressure Pierre Sage leaves the club? The reported runner and riders have been named in a credible report, but there is one clear path they should take. 

After a truly underwhelming start to the season, Sage is under pressure as Crystal Palace manager and reports suggest those in charge at Selhurst Park could replace him shortly. 

According to talkSPORT, all of Sean Dyche, Thomas Frank and Vitor Pereira are under consideration. While all three make logical sense given their Premier League experience, Pereira looks to be the standout candidate. Here’s why. 

Dyche, Frank and Pereira credibly linked with replacing Sage as Palace manager 

While there’s nothing to suggest these three are the only managers Palace are considering, talkSPORT’s report is one of the most credible around the club’s potential hunt for Sage‘s replacement right now. Robbie Keane is also touted, although he would be a major risk given his lack of experience as a Premier League coach.  

All three boast a huge amount of Premier League experience and, crucially, are out of work. Appointing any of them looks like an easier process than trying to get a manager out of another club. That isn’t the be all and end all of course, but it is important to note.

All of Dyche, Frank and Pereira could improve Palace’s defence

One of the major issues facing the former Lens coach is that Palace have been so poor defensively during Sage’s tenure as manager. They have conceded a Premier League-high 19 goals after eight games this season and have managed just one clean sheet in the Europa League. Only Newcastle have allowed more shots on their goal than Palace this season. Even the best individual defenders in the world would struggle if there is no protection in front of them.

As such, appointing a manager renowned for their abilities to make teams difficult to score against makes sense. Dyche built his reputation at Burnley on exactly that and while spells at Everton and Nottingham Forest proved more difficult, he did play a part in steering both clubs away from relegation.

Frank’s reputation might have taken a battering following an awful spell at Tottenham but the Dane did fine work at Brentford, largely based on a strong defence. Pereira has stepped in at both Wolves and Forest, tightened things up defensively, and kept both teams in the Premier League.

Figures reflect the defensive records of Sean Dyche, Thomas Frank, Pierre Sage and Vitor Pereira as Premier League managers.

All three of them have conceded fewer goals per game as coaches in the Premier League than Sage, as the table above indicates. Though that clearly doesn’t guarantee anything, there’s a consistent body of work behind all three to reasonably expect an improvement.

Why Pereira is the right man to replace Sage at Palace

While not to disregard either Frank or Dyche entirely, Pereira looks the ideal fit right now. This, after all, is the man who stepped in for Dyche at Forest last season and not only managed to improve them defensively, the Portuguese also led his side to the Europa League semi-finals. He quite literally did a better job than Dyche in almost the same circumstances.

According to The Daily Telegraph in April 2026, Pereira improved the atmosphere behind the scenes at Forest. BBC Sport also noted that Forest allowed fewer shots per goal under his watch than compared to during Dyche’s reign, which is the very problem that Palace could desperately do with fixing right now.

The issue for Palace is that they cannot just avoid relegation. They are enjoying the best era in their history in terms of trophies won and have European commitments to consider too. Pereira is the only one of the three managers credibly linked who has proven himself able to not only keep a team in the Premier League, but to flourish in Europe too. Dyche and Frank have managed in Europe too but not to the extent that Pereira has.

There’s an interesting historical precedent here, too. In 2017, Palace tried a new approach when replacing Sam Allardyce with Frank De Boer, only to see that experiment fail miserably. The Dutchman was sacked after only five games, having conceded eight goals without scoring one themselves.

Roy Hodgson came in to save the day and while he deserves a huge amount of praise for the work he did across two spells, the club were often accused of treading water in the Premier League, seemingly content with just retaining their status within its cosy confines. 

The landscape has changed for the club now. They have been serial trophy winners of late and while no one would realistically expect that to continue long-term, expectations have been raised.

Pereira would bring not only an impressive track record in improving teams defensively, but significant European experience and a CV boasting titles from his spells at Olympiacos, Porto and Al-Ahli.