Saturday 20 February 2016 15:39, UK
Alan Pardew hopes a Crystal Palace team refreshed by an "emotional" training camp in Spain can book themselves an FA Cup quarter-final berth by winning at Tottenham on Sunday.
After a very positive start to the season, the Eagles have been stuttering of late and are without a Premier League victory since December 19.
Pardew responded by taking his team out of the country and he thinks the trip was a hugely positive experience for the squad.
"We have had our own mini-break, and we feel it has worked for us," said Pardew. "It was an emotional trip.
"We understand what we are. We're not the best technical team in the country by any stretch of the imagination but, on our day, we are a good team, and that is what we hope to bring to Spurs.
"You come to the training ground, you have a regime, you train for a maximum 90 minutes. You cannot do any more than that. You can fudge it a bit with this and that, do a bit of video work and talking.
"But, when you are away, you are in each other's company for 24 hours. You are in the lift, you are having a chat about that. You are watching the game together. It's a great period for managers and staff to bond the team together.
"You are more relaxed. The likes of [Emmanuel] Adebayor can sit down with Yannick Bolaise. A chance for Scott Dann to sit down with Wilfried Zaha, to talk about the game, other things, things that have happened in their lives.
"Those conversations you cannot have at the training ground.
"You cannot put a price on those few moments where players can integrate on a number of levels, both personal and on a professional level. I have always been a great advocate of them."
The media occasionally have fun at the expense of teams who flee the English climate at this time of year but Pardew is unconcerned.
"The press think it's a time for the team to go away and have a little jolly, some drinks and dancing," he said. "We did a little bit of that, and it is not a bad thing, as long as it is done in moderation.
Our night out was somewhat subdued, although there was good dancing.
"We have a big game on Sunday, we are not on a good run, so our night out was somewhat subdued, although there was good dancing."
Pacy winger Yannick Bolasie will be fit on Sunday for the first time since Palace's last league victory, forward Emmanuel Adebayor is available to face his former team, and Joe Ledley and Dwight Gayle could also feature at White Hart Lane.
And Pardew is beginning to think his team can upset the title-chasing hosts.
"As the manager I could see there was a kind of coming together a bit of the group [in Spain]," he said. "When you're losing games it becomes easy to get fragmented. I just felt it was really good timing for us.
"Tottenham can smash us 4-0 on Sunday easily. They're that kind of team and it could all go out the window on Sunday night. At the moment, we're in a good mood."
