Alan Pardew has heaped praise on Crystal Palace wingerWilfried Zaha after the winger's terrific burst of form which culminated with a glorious performance against Hull City on Saturday.
Zaha won a penalty and scored a fantastic solo goal during the thrilling 3-3 draw at the KCOM Stadium, leaving him on three goals and six assists so far this season, and Pardew feels Zaha has come of age in a season when he has been looked upon forattacking inspiration following the departure of Yannick Bolasie to Everton in the summer.
"He's in brilliant form,"Pardew said on Tuesday."I hear a lot of people criticised him for his lack of assists, lack of goals, but the solution laid on the training ground, in himself and in my coaches, my training team - myself, Kevin Keen, Keith Millen - [we kept] grinding on him about his finishing and his end product and it's now becoming a feature of his game.
Wilfried Zaha's incredible solo goal! ⚽�#CPFC pic.twitter.com/wgStJWLd1s
"Now everybody's assuming that he's changed, but he hasn't changed, sometimes it's age, it's experience - the experience of going to Man United and it not working out, then coming here and re-working his game. It's all part of growing up.
Pardew also admitted he feels England are making a big mistake in letting Zaha switch allegiances to Ivory Coast following a struggle to establish himself in the senior squad under Roy Hodgson and now Gareth Southgate.
"The form he's in now, England are making a big mistake letting him slip through the net, they really are," added Pardew.
"Gareth's someone I know very well, of course, and we've spoken about Wilf. I keep saying England have let him slip through the net, but you've got to be really proactive with someone like Wilf if you want to secure him. I keep encouraging them, Dan Ashworth as well."