2021-2022
Matchday 1: Chelsea – Crystal Palace 3-0
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Preview
The first game of Patrick Vieira’s (PV) reign at Selhurst Park could arguably not have been more difficult, as Crystal Palace faced Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea were coming after a European Super Cup win against Villarreal (1-1, 6-5 A.Pen.) and were in high spirits following the club-record purchase of Romelu Lukaku for £97.5 million from Inter Milan. Palace were without club captain Luka Milivojevic (personal issues), Michael Olise, Nathan Ferguson, and Eberechi Eze (all injured), Conor Gallagher (on loan from Chelsea), and with Joachim Andersen and Christian Benteke on the bench due to fitness issues.
Due to lack of personnel, Palace named four youngsters (Rob Street, Scott Banks, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Reece Hannam) on the bench. Chelsea, on the other hand, were without Hakim Ziyech and Romelu Lukaku. PV had this to say about the Chelsea game in his press conference before the game:
“We are looking forward to it. I think you will have to play those kinds of teams because you know the Premier League is really competitive. There are some strong teams, and we will have to play them. Obviously, starting with Chelsea will not make it easy, but we have our belief, we have our self-confidence as well as a football club, as a team, and we’re gonna give ourselves the best chance to go there and compete against them.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
The Setup
PV arranged Palace in a low-block 4-4-2 formation designed to break down any opposition attacks by being highly compact and leaving few spaces between the lines. This was a significant departure from the 4-3-3 system used in pre-season, and it was reminiscent of the tactical setup under Roy Hodgson. While surprising to a lot of people, the 4-4-2 system was I believe a good idea in principle, but poorly executed and perhaps unnecessary in this game.
In his book Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches, Carlo Ancelotti explains that 4-4-2 is the ideal system for defending, due to it naturally covering the entire pitch without having to make adjustments. However, for our personnel, 4-4-2 might not be a good idea, especially when not practiced in pre-season. On the other hand, Chelsea set up in their traditional 3-5-2 wingback system, with a front three comprised of Pulisic, Mount, and Havertz. As wingbacks, Tuchel deployed Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta.
The Game
The game started with Chelsea absolutely suffocating us through sustained pressing. Our decision to try and pass our way out from the back backfired spectacularly (see Figure 3 for the pass map), as we lost possession often in dangerous areas. Jordan Ayew had a first half to forget, as he lost possession multiple times and gave away a swathe of dangerous opportunities to Chelsea. Surprisingly, his match rating is 6.7, amongst the highest in our team (only McArthur had a higher rating, 7.0), while at the opposite pole were Mitchell (5.6), Riedewald (5.8), and Zaha (5.9).
Throughout the first 70 minutes we had a very hard time getting out of our own half, testament being the heatmap in Figure 1, which shows us being most present in our own box and Chelsea being most present in our half. Because of this, we had to clear the ball 24 times (7x Ward), compared to 8 times for Chelsea. You can also see from the stats and heatmap that Chelsea basically passed us to death, with 678 passes (92% success rate) for Chelsea vs 423 (86% success rate) for us (258 Chelsea passes were in our final third, while 186 of ours were in our own defensive third!).
Our inability to keep possession is also exemplified by the staggering number of times we lost the ball (31, 7x Schlupp, 6x each Zaha and Ayew), compared to Chelsea (15). Out of these 31 instances, 14 were dispossessions (5x Ayew), compared to 5 for Chelsea. Moreover, throughout the game, Chelsea had the ball for 62% of the time (Figure 2). In the few times we managed to get out of our own half, we only rarely threatened Mendy’s goal and managed only 1 shot on target (62nd minute) and 2 corners the entire game, which ultimately came to nothing.
Our attacking output was not helped by the fact that Mateta had to drop down within 40 yards of our own goal to help with defending (see Figure 3). Our most advanced player (Figure 3) was Zaha, but too few passes found him or even searched for him, and when he had the ball he was dispossessed quite fast (3x).
The highlight of the game for me was PV giving Jesurun Rak-Sakyi his Premier League debut, and Joachim Andersen his Palace debut. JRS did not look overwhelmed by the occasion, and did his job well in the limited number of minutes he played. Definitely a player to look after for the future! Andersen was very solid with the ball at his feet, and looked composed when the situation required.
The Goals
Chelsea opened the scoring just before half an hour, when a cheap foul given away at the edge of our penalty area was converted by Marcos Alonso. This beautiful free kick was nothing short of what Chelsea deserved, which was to have the lead on the scoreboard. Even after the goal Chelsea pushed for a second, which they luckily managed to score five minutes before the end of the half through Christian Pulisic. After the break, Chelsea were the more present team once more, and we could not cope with their intensity. Right before the hour mark, Trevoh Chalobah scored a worldie to make it 3-0 and put the game to bed.
Key Takeaways
- In hindsight it was a mistake shaping in 4-4-2, especially after using 4-3-3 the entire preseason. 4-4-2 does not suit any of our players and we were steamrolled in the first 30 minutes.
- Andersen and Guehi starting CBs for sure.
- desperately need a PL quality winger.
- Ayew/Jairo/Schlupp win my Disappointment of the Match (DOTM) title. Ayew should have come off after HT.
- Rak-Sakyi getting minutes and not being overwhelmed was awesome.
- we have Luka, Gallagher, Olise coming in the next game/next few weeks, which should make our midfield look better.
- John Moss is a blob that moves like an amoeba and whistles inexistent fouls just so he can catch his breath.
- our support is absolutely fantastic and deserve all the credit.
As a parting bonus:
- Lukaku – £97.5 mil
- Havertz – £76 mil
- Kepa – £71 mil
- Pulisic – £57.6 mil
- Chilwell – £50 mil
- Werner – £47.5 mil
Chelsea are in a different stratosphere and it’s not even close.
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Matchday 2: Crystal Palace – Brentford 0-0
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Preview
Brentford were coming after an excellent 2-0 home win against Arsenal in their first Premier League game after 74 years. Palace, coming off the 3-0 loss at Chelsea, were set to prove in front of their own fans that they had what it takes to win games. PV had this to say before the Brentford game:
“The fan base – the atmosphere that they manage to build in the stadium – I’m really looking forward to the game tomorrow because I think fans missed being around the players. The players missed the fans in the stadium because during this difficult period, the world of football is completely different without the fans. So we are really excited to play at home in front of our own fans and looking forward to really give them what they deserve.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
The game would be the first in charge for PV in front of the Palace fans, who prepared him a spectacular reception. Red and blue flags were prepared for every fan, and The Holmesdale Fanatics stretched a banner across the Holmesdale Road End that said:
“As the soul of Palace returns the terraces come alive”
— Holmesdale Road End Banner
The atmosphere was scintillating and the roar of the crowd was deafening. You could really feel their energy being transmitted to the players. Against Brentford, PV had Gallagher, Benteke and Andersen at his disposal from the get-go, while Ayew, Riedewald, and Mateta made way. Milivojevic, Olise, Eze, and Ferguson were still outside the squad. The age of change had come at Palace, and the fans were ready to taste it for the first time at Selhurst Park.
The Setup
PV set the team up in the 4-3-3 formation he used in the pre-season. Guehi and Andersen was the CB pairing, with Ward and Mitchell as fullbacks. Kouyate played the role of the pivot, tasked with linking the defense and attack. James McArthur and Conor Gallagher played on each side Kouyate, tasked with essentially being box-to-box midfielders. On the wings we had Zaha and Schlupp, while up front as target man we had Benteke.
On the other hand, Thomas Frank named an unchanged squad from their win vs. Arsenal. In his preferred 3-5-2 formation, club-record signing Kristoffer Ajer took his place at the heart of the defense, while the other expensive summer signing Frank Onyeka took his place at the heart of midfield. Up front, Frank deployed the strong striking duo of Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo.
The Game
The game started with both teams tentatively feeling each other out. Palace seemed to be comfortable being in possession and also playing out from the back, but the pressure Brentford put Kouyate under almost panned out several times. It was quite clear that Cheikhou was not comfortable in possession with the ball at his feet, and hence his role as pivot greatly suffered in the first half.
A definite plus for Palace was Conor Gallagher. His energy, creativity, and desire were infectious, and they earned him the highest rating in the squad (7.3), and the second highest on the pitch after Jansson from Brentford (7.4). In the first half, a fantastic pass from Zaha was taken on the front foot by Gallagher in the box, who unleashed a shot that hit the woodwork. Only 60 seconds later, Ivan Toney had an excellent shot from right outside the Palace box, but it went past the goal. Towards the end of the half, Mbeumo’s free kick hit the top of the crossbar, and this was the closest Brentford came to scoring throughout the game.
The second half was as hardly fought as the first, but did not provide many moments of notice. Benteke fought very hard against the physically imposing defenders of Brentford Ajer and Jansson, but the service for him was lacking (apart from a cross from Ward). Despite his hard fought battles, Benteke lost the ball 6x (out of 42 possession losses). Mitchell had a bit of a rough game, with a lot of misplaced balls (5x). However, I give him the benefit of the doubt because he is young and this is his second game in front of fans. He will surely grow into his role and become an excellent defender.
Some stats: while shots on target were scarce throughout the game (2 for Palace, 3 for Brentford – Figure 2), there were quite numerous attempts at goal (7 for Palace, 14 for Brentford). Palace in general had the ball more (53% vs 47%), but this did not translate into impressive chances. Our CB pairing was excellent and composed for the entire game, while Kouyate definitely grew into the game. Our pass map (Figure 3) shows how we used Kouyate as the pivot, and how we used our CBs to play the ball out from the back. Our passing numbers were good, with 431 attempted (compared to 382 for Brentford), and 75% success rate (compared to 70% for Brentford).
Compared to the Chelsea game, we definitely were higher up on the pitch on average, as you can see in the heatmap in Figure 1. We used the wings a lot, but Zaha and Schlupp had average performances (Zaha lost the ball 7x, while Schlupp 4x). Wilf also only managed 1 successful dribble out of 5 attempts. Zaha (who holds a special place in my heart and whom I love to death) had quite a negative body language that seemed to affect his teammates and I think his 6.5 rating is slightly too high. Moreover, he lashed out at PV towards the end of the first half.
The Goals
What goals?
Key Takeaways
- Desperately need a winger – Schlupp has been poor both games, same as Ayew.
- Wilf is so frustrating. I love the man to bits but he has to understand his behaviour is affecting the team. He also lashed out at Viera at the end of the half, and was generally very frustrated and confrontational.
- Gallagher and Maccadona – fantastic. Incredible workrate, seemed to be everywhere on the pitch. Gallagher needs to tone down his rough fouls a bit because he’ll get suspended in no time.
- Guehi/Andersen is a class pairing. First time in forever when I haven’t felt stressed out when one of our CBs had the ball at his feet.
- Kouyate – very poor first half, improved in the second. Definitely need a new midfielder, as Luka will probably be a while until coming back.
- Mitchell had a bit of a rough game – lots of balls given away. Needs to work on his composure.
- Wardy looks like he’s being asked to walk through the gates of hell by the way he avoids going forward. Granted, his cross to Benteke was the only bit of service Tekkers got all game.
- Guaita looked a bit shaky at times, opting to punch out clearly catchable balls.
- Brentford didn’t really look like scoring. They had more attempts but they were poor, apart maybe from Mbeumo’s shot that hit the top of the crossbar.
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Matchday 3: West Ham – Crystal Palace 2-2
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Preview
West Ham were coming into the game at the top of the PL table, with 6 points after 2 games. In their previous game they had battered Leicester 4-1 at home, while in the first game they had beaten Newcastle away 4-2. Obviously, having scored 8 goals in 2 games was a major concern for us. We were coming off the Brentford 0-0 draw at home, and 0-3 defeat at Chelsea. There was a bit of anxiety in the air, as we had not managed to score in 2 PL games and against Watford in the Carabao Cup (0-1 loss). PV had this to say before the game:
“They are really solid, really clinical, really physical. They’ve got the power, the physical strength to compete. They have pace and some really good talent. This team has been built really well. I was not surprised at all they did well last year and started the league the way they did [this season].”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
For this game we were devoid of the services of Milivojevic, Ferguson, Olise, and Eze, while West Ham were missing Masuaku, Reid, and new signing Kurt Zouma.
The Setup
PV set up in his preferred 4-3-3 formation, with one change from the Brentford game (Ayew taking Schlupp’s place). On the other hand, David Moyes set West Ham in a 4-2-3-1 formation that he has accustomed us to, naming an unchanged squad from his previous two fixtures. By all accounts this would be a hard-fought, physical battle.
The Game
The first half started with us looking like we were asked to climb Mount Everest in slippers. We were scared, had little composure, and had little intent to play good balls forward. We were looking to clear the ball as much as possible – you can see in Figure 1 that throughout the game we had 32 clearances (most of them coming in the first half), compared to 13 from West Ham. In this context, West Ham took control of the game, and were by far the better side. The goal came naturally, in the 39′, when Fornals opened the scoring. It was nothing short of what West Ham deserved, who tried to capitalize on their momentum but the score at half time remained 1-0.
After the break, Palace looked like a new team. Desire, intent, high tempo, aggressive pressing. We showed that we were up for it, and managed to equalize in the 58′ through Gallagher, following some excellent Benteke pressure on Dawson. We were by far the better team in the second half, and had multiple other chances to score, but in the 68′ Antonio lightly nudged Andersen mid air, who managed to head the ball only straight back to Antonio, who then scored to make it 2-1.
Their lead lasted exactly 2 minutes, as we equalized through a fantastic Conor Gallagher goal. In the last 20 minutes we pushed hard to score again, and had an excellent chance at Guehi’s header, but it wasn’t meant to be. Overall, we attempted to play a lot from the back, even when we were under pressure, which led us to lose the ball multiple times in the first half. This is something I’ve noticed in the first two games as well, when we obsessively try to play from the back even though better options (i.e., long balls) are present.
In contrast to the first two games + 1 half in this one, in the second half we actually started mixing up things. This is encouraging, as we have centre-backs (especially Andersen) capable of accurate long passes. The game ended 2-2, and we’ll take a draw with 2 goals scored at the league leaders!
Some stats: we had the ball more (especially in the second half) – 55 to 45%, attempted more passes (462 vs 378), had a better pass accuracy (82 vs 78%), and had more touches (682 to 572). We won almost twice as many aerial duels than them (29 vs 15, with 12 won by Benteke), we dribbled successfully more (15 vs 11, 6 by Ayew), and we blocked passes, crosses, and shots more (22 vs 10, 6 by Ayew). Out of our 32 clearances, 7 were done by Guehi, while 4 a piece were done by Andersen and Benteke. We also lost possession (turnovers + dispossession) more often than them (31 vs 24 times), with Zaha the main culprit (2 dispossessions, 5 turonovers). On the other hand, we had fewer attempts at goal (9 to 14), and fewer shots on goal (2 vs. 4), but our goal-conversion was 100% compared to 50% for West Ham. In terms of ratings, Gallagher was MoTM, with an 8.8 rating, followed by Benteke with 8.2, and Michail Antonio with 8.1.
The Goals
The West Ham 1-0 goal was excellently worked, with a Fornals-Antonio-Fornals combination that left Palace unable to respond. The 1-1 goal was slightly scrappy, with Zaha’s cross being headed by Benteke to Gallagher, who put the ball down and squeezed the ball past Fabianski. The West Ham 2-1 goal was lucky, as Andersen’s mid-air-nudge header fell right for Antonio, who scored with a thunderous shot. The 2-2 goal was absolutely fabulous, as McArthur crossed to Gallagher into the box, who then turned expertly leaving two West Ham defenders guessing, and unleashed an excellent shot at the near post.
Key Takeaways
- First half we genuinely looked scared. No composure, just looking to get rid of the ball. No threat in attack, deserved to be 1-0 down. Zaha had a negative body language, but so did most of the other players.
- Second half was by all accounts the best half in the ViERA. Fabulous comeback, fabulous mentality to come back twice! Gallagher’s first goal was excellent, and it boosted morale tremendously. We looked so ferocious afterwards. His second goal was an absolute beauty, so much fun watching this young man play!
- Loved the way Benteke played. People give him a lot of flack for not scoring that often, but his play for the team is fantastic. Our first goal started with him regaining possession from pressuring Dawson, and he was always battling the West Ham CBs for balls.
- Wilf looked like a new player after we scored. It just shows how much mental pressure the team was under after not scoring for 3 official games, they just looked unshackled after the goal.
- From the 80th minute afterwards, we dominated the game. We had chances to score (Guehi’s header), we controlled possession, we never looked like conceding (apart from the stupid ref decision to not award a foul on Kouyate that led to the Antonio counterattack). For the first time in years, the ending of a game was not squeaky bum time anymore.
- Defense seemed shoddy at times, but we’re only getting better with time. Second WH goal was a result of a (potential) mistake by Andersen (although he did get nudged by Antonio mid-air), and Guehi had some suspicious moves at times but overall pleased with them.
- To get an away 2-goal draw at the PL leaders after they scored 8 goals in their first 2 games, including a 4-1 beatdown of Leicester – fantastic!
- Onto the international break! Hughes coming in, hopefully a couple new signings, Luka and Olise back in training, and we’re all set for our next game in 2 weeks time!
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Matchday 4: Crystal Palace – Tottenham 3-0
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Preview
Our second game in a row against the league leaders, this time at Selhurst Park, after a two week international break. Refreshed, with two weeks for developing tactical relationships in the team, and with new faces in Will Hughes and Odsonne Edouard, the spirits at Selhurst Park were high. Tottenham were coming after three successive 1-0 wins, all of them mostly uninspiring. Under new management as well, as Nuno Espirito Santo had just taken over the manager role in the summer, Tottenham were still in search for an identity. Meanwhile, we were coming off a 2-2 away draw at West Ham, which gave us confidence in a good result in this game. PV had this to say about the game:
“It will be a really good challenge for us. We went to West Ham, a difficult place, and played with a lot of personality. Now the challenge will be the same. We are playing the team that are top at the moment, who are playing well. I am really looking forward to it and we are ready to give them a good game.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
For this game, Palace could not count on the services of Schlupp (injured on international duty), Eze and Ferguson (long term injuries), but were happy to welcome back Milivojevic and Olise, who took their place on the bench. For Tottenham, Nuno could not count on Son, Sessegnon and Bergwijn (injured), as well as Romero, Lo Celso, and Sanchez (quarantine after international duty).
The Setup
As in the previous two games, we set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with an unchanged team named on the first team sheet. Tottenham on the other side, marred by injuries and absences, was set up in a 4-3-1-2 formation by Nuno, who deployed Emerson Royal at the right-back position in his PL debut, while Tanganga was used in central defense alongside Eric Dier. In midfield, Skipp and Winks made a rare appearance together, while up front were Alli, Kane and Moura.
The Game
We started the game slightly wary of the quality Tottenham possess, but we grew into the game very quickly. In the 12′, a hospital pass by Lloris to Dier saw the latter get injured following a strong Ayew tackle. Dier had to be replaced by Rodon, and the central defense made of Tanganga and Rodon now looked ripe for picking. Slowly but surely we started dominating the game, leaving Tottenham very few options up front. Much of our dominance was due to two main factors: 1) incredibly tight defense with excellent composure on the ball and 2) a battling midfield with high pressing lead by Gallagher.
The high, sustained pressing allowed us to win a lot of second balls and quickly transition from out-of to in-possession, and allowed us to ask some very serious questions at Tottenham’s goal. We had a good chance to score through Gallagher in the 43′, but Lloris saved the shot at his near post. At half time the score was 0-0 but Palace were for sure the better side and probably felt they could have scored at least once. Incredibly ,in the first half, Tottenham were restricted to 3 touches in our box, the last one being in the 27th minute.
The second half started with Tottenham on the front foot, when they registered their first and only shot on target in the 48′ (comfortably saved by Guaita). After that, it was all Palace. First, in the 51′, Gallagher had an excellent chance to open the scoring, but some last-ditch Tottenham defending saw the ball going out for a corner. In the 53′, following a strong challenge on Moura, Palace broke on a counterattack that was cynically stopped by Tanganga, who pushed Zaha to the ground. Zaha would have none of it, and a bit of a melee developed, with both players being booked by John Moss.
Five minutes later, Tanganga lunged into a reckless challenge on Ayew right in front of Moss, who showed him his second yellow. Tottenham were down to 10 men, with half an hour to go. Palace continued pushing, and in the 66′ Ayew could have scored but his shot was blocked again in a last-ditch attempt. Right after this chance, PV brought on Luka for Kouyate, marking our club captain’s first appearance this season. In the 74′, John Moss pointed to the spot after a Ben Davies handball. Zaha converted the penalty without any problem, and it’s 1-0 Palace! Nothing short of what we deserved.
From then on, it was open hunting season on Tottenham. In the 84′, Edouard came on for Benteke for his PL and Palace debut, and after only 27 seconds he made it 2-0, and the game looked all but over. Capitalizing on the lead and extra man, PV sent on Michael Olise for Ayew, giving the 19-year old his PL and Palace debut. In the 93′ Edouard made it 3-0 from Gallagher’s pass. A fantastic victory!
Some stats: we were in control of the game from beginning to the very end. We had possession of the ball for 62 vs 38% of the time, we had 18 vs. 2 attempts at target, 4 vs. 1 attempts on target, and 8 vs. 2 corners. We attempted 498 passes with a success rate of 82%, compared to Tottenham’s 314 (73% success rate). We had a total of 706 touches, to Tottenham’s 497. We also lost possession more than Tottenham (31 vs 23), with Zaha being the main culprit once more (6x, all turnovers). This is an aspect of our game we need to work on, as we give the ball away far too often and too easily. On the other hand, Tottenahm had more blocks (20 vs 9), interceptions (11 vs 6), attempted tackles (30 vs 29), aerial duels (18 to 12), and fouls made (15 to 13). These stats, along with the heat and pass maps (Figure 1 and 3) show that almost the entirety of the game was played in Tottenham’s half. We also had lots of progressive passes from our fullbacks to our wings, and here I must mention Tyrick Mitchell, who had a fantastic game. Very solid defensively and good offensively, he continues to grow every game. Such an exciting young player!
One last stat: incredibly, Harry Kane has not had a touch in the opposition box or shot at goal in a game where he played for 90 min for the first time in his PL career.
The Goals
In the 74′, a cross by Gallagher from the right side of the pitch was handled in the box by Ben Davies, and John Moss pointed to the penalty spot. Zaha took the ball, placed it on the spot … sent Lloris the wrong way and it’s 1-0 Palace!! In the 84′, Edouard was found by Zaha in the box with a low pass, which he converted with a first-time shot in the bottom right corner to make it 2-0. In the 93′, a fantastic long diagonal by Luka found Olise, who charged forward, fed Gallagher, who then found Edouard by himself in the box. Edouard steadied himself and coolly finished, settling the final score: 3-0.
Key Takeaways
- We absolutely dominated the game beginning to end. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a dominant Palace performance.
- Every single week I will emphasize how incredibly important Gallagher is to this setup. His box-to-box midfielder mindset is so important to our press – watch him direct his teammates on where to press and when to push up. He also gets in all the right positions to attempt shots at goal or create chances. Absolutely fantastic.
- Joel Ward was excellent defensively, but offensively he needs to work on his link-up play with Gallagher/Ayew. He needs to release the ball faster down the line, as opposed to turning around and passing it back.
- Tyrick Mitchell had a fantastic game. Defensively solid, attackingly more adventurous. Seems to be adapting to the PL crowds well. His link-up play with Zaha/Macca is getting better by the game. Very happy with his output today.
- Wilf is so much better when he decides to play through the physicality as opposed to asking for a foul (especially when John ‘Amoeba’ Moss is refereeing). Ecstatic he got a goal (very happy Luka let him take the pen), did wonders to his confidence.
- We have quality coming off the bench. Edouard – what can I say? Scores his first PL goal 27 seconds into his debut. Mental. Then, gets a second one, after a fabulous long pass by Luka, followed by an Olise-Gallagher-Edouard combination. Our summer summed up in one goal.
- For the second game in a row, we have not lost to the league leaders (2-2 v West Ham, 3-0 v Tottenham).
- How lucky are we to have narrowly avoided Nuno’s football style + Jorge Mendes players?
- Last – the fans. Fantastic support, fantastic attitude, fantastic singing, fantastic waving Tanganga off! They fully deserve this win.
To end, I think it’s important to enjoy these games and to understand that we’ll have some rough patches during the season and it will be important to keep the support and confidence then. Every point we get is a step closer to the 40 we need to stay up. If, in the process we get entertained, that’s a plus!
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Matchday 5: Liverpool – Crystal Palace 3-0
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Preview
Arguably the joint toughest game from our first 5 fixtures (along with Chelsea away), Liverpool away is always an occasion to worry. More so now, as Liverpool were coming off 3 wins and 1 draw in the Premier League (scoring 9 goals and conceding 1), and a Champions League win vs. AC Milan (3-2 at home). However, we were coming off a fantastic 3-0 victory against Tottenham at home, so we had momentum to carry. PV had this to say about the game:
“Outside of the result, the performance is the game produced on the day that allowed us to have that result. Going to Anfield will be really challenging, there’s no fear, just excitement for us to play against one of the best sides in Europe. We know it’s going to be challenging and it’s going to be difficult but we are really looking forward to the game and to challenge ourselves.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
Palace were heading into this game without Schlupp, Ferguson, and Eze (all injured), while Liverpool could not count on the services of Elliott, Alexander-Arnold, Firmino, and Williams.
The Setup
As it is already customary, PV sent out the same 11 that faced Tottenham, in a 4-3-3 shape. Meanwhile, Liverpool also shaped in a 4-3-3 formation, with Tsimikas and Milner as fullbacks, Van Dijk and Konate as CBs, Henderson-Thiago-Fabinho in midfield, and Salah-Jota-Mane up front.
The Game
The game started with us on the front foot, which was quite suprising. We came out full of courage and willing to give Liverpool a game. We were determined, full of energy, desire, and drive. In fact, we hit the post twice in the first 2 minutes, first through Zaha, and then through Benteke (although he was signaled offside, replays showed that should he have scored, the goal would have stood). Afterwards, Liverpool got back into the game, and had a chance to score through Henderson, but his effort was parried by Guaita.
Liverpool continued pushing, and continued getting corners (6 in total in the first half). We defended well, and had to have some last ditch-blocks, but overall the score was 0-0. We were also lucky in the 38′, when Jota’s attempt from 6 yards out went outside the stadium. Then, in the 43′, a corner from the left side of the pitch made its way to Mane, who tapped it in. 1-0 Liverpool, right before half time.
The second half started with us being more present in the opposition half, and pushing for an equaliser. The game continued in this vein for a while, and PV made two substitutions in the 65′: Riedewald for McArthur and Edouard for Benteke. Salah had the chance to score in the 69′, but his rebounded attempt was brilliantly saved by Guaita. Speaking of Salah, he was kept quiet the entire game by Mitchell, who once again had a fantastic game and put in a potential Palace MoTM performance (6.9), alongisde Guaita (7.2), who made some brilliant saves. From the 70′-80′ we were the better team and were a constant threat in the search for an equaliser.
First, in the 72′, Ayew launched an absolute wild effort from the edge of the box instead of squaring it to Wilf, who was unmarked in the box. Moreover, bringing on Edouard seemed inspired, as he latched onto a pass in the 73′, but his effort was easily saved by Allison. Our period of pressure saw us concede a goal from another corner – this time it was Salah. The goal I daresay was undeserved, and it showcased how much we need to work on defensive set pieces.
Immediately after, in the 81′, Edouard had a fantastic chance to pull one back, but his effort was pushed out for a corner by Allison. This was arguably the turning point of the match, as our lack of clinical finishing allowed Liverpool to escape with a clean sheet. In the end, Liverpool scored once more, again from a corner, when Naby Keita launched a volley from the edge of the area following a Guaita clearance. The game ended 3-0, but the scoreline was entirely unfair and undeserved.
Some stats – Liverpool had possession of the ball 60% of the time, had 25 attempts at target vs 13 of ours (10 vs 2 on target, us hitting the post twice does not count as shots on target), had 490 (84% accuracy) vs 332 (76% accuracy) passes, 727 vs 572 touches, 23 vs 18 dribbles (12 vs 7 successful) and 10 vs 5 corners. We lost possession 31 times (Zaha 8x, Ayew 7x), to Liverpool’s 29 (Salah 9x, most of them because of Mitchell). This marks another game in which we give away the ball > 30 times. On the other hand, we had a good number of interceptions (12, 4x Andersen and Mitchell each), 25 blocks of passes, crosses, and shots (Ayew 5x), and attempted tackles (36 to 28, 24 to 21 successful, Mitchell with 10x attempts and 8 successful, and Guehi with 5/5).
One note for the game: Andy Madley’s refereeing was atrocious. The game was a classic “big 6” vs rest of the PL game, where the referee gave an unnecessary and quite frankly undeserved edged to the hosts. Multiple yellow-card fouls by Liverpool went unnoticed (or worse, noticed but not whistled), and almost all 50/50 calls going the way of Liverpool. Thiago should have been booked in the 11′ for a foul from behind that stopped a Palace counterattack, Milner had 7 fouls and escaped booking, Tsimikas was booked only after his 5th foul, and Henderson was booked too late into the game after he had done all his damage.
Moreover, Benteke was tripped by Tsimikas in the box but he waved play on, although replays showed the foul was clear. What’s even more egregious is that VAR considered it a play-on moment as well. It’s quite clear that it’s not the technology’s fault, it’s the substandard referees that need changing. Madley’s refereeing was neatly summed up by Joel Ward, who called him a “bellend” on the pitch (Ward received a yellow card for his kind words).
The Goals
In the 43′, a corner from the left side of the pitch saw all our players stand still as if mesmerized by Medusa herself, allowing Salah to head the ball towards goal. Guaita made an excellent save, but Mane was there for a tap in to make it 1-0. In the 79′, Riedewald switched off and completely lost Salah in the box at a corner, allowing the latter to score an easy goal. In the 90′, a Liverpool corner was cleared by Guaita but only to Naby Keita, who unleashed a thunderous volley to make it 3-0.
Key Takeaways
- Absolutely undeserved scoreline. 3 set pieces conceded, which shows how much we need a set piece specialist in our staff. I’ve been saying it since pre-season, defending set-pieces is our crux.
- I don’t really comment on refereeing unless it’s John Moss. But Andy Madley today had an absolute shocker. Henderson, Milner, Tsimikas, Thiago – all deserved yellow cards in the first half. Tekkers tripped in the box could have been a pen. Almost all 50/50 calls went Liverpool’s way, and some decisions were just poor refereeing.
- Lots of positives today. We started the game on the front foot, very positive – hit the post twice in the first two minutes. Had excellent opportunities throughout the game, and it looks like we can take games to big teams and not be scared. Love the energy and, even when we were 3-0 down, we still looked to score a goal.
- Mitchell is my MoTM. Absolutely stellar performance. Shut down Salah completely, and had excellent attacking incursions. Probably my favourite Palace player at the moment.
- VG had a fantastic game as well. Very solid, with some great saves.
- I believe PV made a mistake bringing on Jairo. I understand why he did it, but Jairo switches off too often (see Salah’s goal, when Jairo loses him). He also did not really bring in anything of value, except a pass or two. Would have liked to see Hughes instead of him.
- Ayew is so frustrating to watch at times. He has excellent games, followed by games where he is incredibly selfish and tries to shoot when arguably much better options present themselves (see the chance where he put it in Row Z instead of passing to Zaha for a tap in). Not having scored in so long affects his confidence and I think it’s a big chip on his shoulder to be considered as a striker but not having scored in a year or so.
- The 10 minute period before they scored the second goal was crucial. We had massive opportunities to score, but didn’t. We need to be more clinical and improve on our decision making in our future fixtures.
Overall, not too upset about today. Scoreline unfair and lots of positives.
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Matchday 6: Crystal Palace – Brighton 1-1
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Preview
Arguably one of the two most important games (the other being the reverse fixture) of the year for Palace fans, Brighton @ home is always an occassion to get the upper hand over our biggest rivals. This year’s fixture seemed even more important, as a Brighton win would propel them to the top of the table. And frankly, we could not have that on our own turf.
The first “El Gatwicko” with fans since before the pandemic started, and the first derby since that Mateta backheel and that Benteke volley, in front of a rocking Selhurst Park – what a momentous occasion. Palace were coming into the game in 15th place (1W-2D-2L), while Brighton were 6th (4W-0D-1L). As I have outlined before in my match-analyses, the two main areas of improvement for us had to be 1) reduction of the number of possession loses and 2) defending set pieces better. This being said, here is what PV had to say before the game:
“It’s going to be important for us to really concentrate on the way we want to play the game, and what I will want from the players is the same type of passion, organisation and desire that we showed in the last few games.If we manage to be consistent on those performances, we will get a good result.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
In terms of personnel, we were missing Eze and Ferguson with long-term injuries, while Brighton were without Bissouma, Mwepu, and Webster (all injured).
The Setup
As we’ve been accustomed from the previous games, PV started in his 4-3-3 formation, with Milivojevic and Edouard taking the places of Kouyate and Benteke. Edouard’s inclusion in the starting 11 was perhaps surprising to some (as Benteke would have had the aerial prowess to battle the three Brighton CBs). However, I believe PV realized the futility of battling Brighton aerially, and thus opted to beat them on the ground, with runs in behind by Edouard and Zaha. On the other hand, Graham Potter arranged his team in a 3-4-3 shape, with an overloading and narrow central midfield when out-of-possession.
The Game
The first half started with Palace fully in control of the game. In the first 10 minutes we had registered 2 shots at goal (both blocked), 3 corners, and 57% possession. Halfway through the 45 minutes, we had 4 shots (1 on target by Edouard, 3 blocked), 58% possession, and we had lost the ball 6 times through dispossessions (Zaha x4). Troughout this entire time, we had restricted Brighton to 0 shots at target. The first Brighton shot came only in the 28th minute, and their first shot on target came in the 32nd minute. Until then, we had dominated proceedings. However, I must emphasize that our possession dominance did not result in creating chances, and as such it was somewhat stale. Because Brighton often employed 10 men behind the ball when we were in possession, we were unable to find suitable passing lanes or dribble past opponents as they double-teamed effectively due to their narrow shape (in the entire first half we had attempted 0 dribbles). You can see Brighton’s narrow shape and positioning in the Stats-1-Heatmap figure.
Throughout the first half we lacked creativity, as we mostly resigned to passing the ball around the 18 yard box from one side to the other in the search for an opening. Not having Benteke present meant that Brighton were comfortable with letting Ward or Mitchell cross into the box, as they could easily and effectively deal with aerial threats. One of the few (or the only) time we ventured to making a run into the box was in the 45+2 minute, when Gallagher superbly got into the box and got fouled by Leandro Trossard. The resulting penalty was coolly converted by Zaha, and Selhurst Park erupted: 1-0, right before half time, nothing less of what we deserved!
The second half started with Brighton completely changing shape (3-4-3 to 4-3-1-2) through the introduction of Alzate for Dan Burn. This change of shape was beneficial for Brighton, as they started having more possession and dealing with our midfield more effectively. In the span of 3 minutes (49′-52′), Brighton had 3 shots, bringing the total tally to 6 (2 on target, 2 off target, 2 blocked), compared to Palace’s 7 (3 on target, 1 off target, 3 blocked). We deliberately allowed them some space to play in, and managed to deal with their attacks effectively. Their main attacking front was Wardy’s side (Stats-1 – Heatmap figure), but Ayew/Ward did a great job in curtailing any dangerous movements from there.
At times, the Palace players responsible with pressing were not on the same wavelength and allowed the formation of large gaps in midfield. This, of course, will correct itself in time, as they get to learn about each other’s positioning. In the 77′, in what is arguable the most important moment of the game, Ayew had the chance to bury the game but his one-on-one with Sanchez saw him put the ball wide for a goal kick. PV had made two changes by the 80th minute, Benteke and Kouyate for Edouard and Milivojevic.
The game was heading to a deserved Palace win, even if Potter had sent his CBs up front to try and rescue a draw. In the 90+5 minute, a mistake by Guaita saw Maupay chip him to make it 1-1. The entire stadium was in disbelief, while Brighton players were celebrating like they had won the Champions League. This goal was surely retribution for the amazing laughs we’ve had over the past 7 months when discussing our last derby at the Amex. A freak goal that lost us two important points.
Some stats:
- Possession: 56-44% Brighton
- Goal Attempts: 8-8
- Shots On Goal: 4-3 Brighton
- Corners: 6-5 Palace
- Total Passes: 555-483 Brighton
- Pass success %: 83-82% Palace
- Attacks: 116-108 Palace
- Dangerous Attacks: 58-38 Palace
- Possession losses: 35-17 Palace
- Most possession losses: Zaha (x13)
- Most progressive pass distance (yards): Guehi(370); Andersen(361), Ward(335)
- Pass completion % (> 5 passes attempted): Guehi(95.6), Ayew(94.1), McArthur(91.0)
- Most tackles attempted: Ward(3), Gallagher(2)
- Most tackles won: Gallagher(2), Ward(1)
- # of presses: Ayew(33), Gallagher(31), Zaha(27)
- # successful presses: Gallagher(10), Edouard(8), Ayew/Zaha/McArthur(6)
- Most interceptions: Gallagher(6), Andersen(5), Ayew(3)
- Most touches: McArthur(78),Mitchell(74),Guehi(73)
- Most touches attacking 3rd: Zaha(42),Mitchell(35),Ayew(26)
- Most touches opp box: Zaha(12),Gallagher(5)
- Most successful dribbles: Mitchell&Edouard(1)
- Shots attempt/on goal: Ayew&Milivojevic(2/0),Zaha(1/1),Edouard(1/1)
- Edouard: 20 touches, 3 in the opposition box
What is clear from these stats is that 1) we are still giving away the ball way too easily, 2) the game itself was equal, with Palace having the edge in the first half, and Brighton in the second, 3) we need to find ways to include Edouard in the game, 20 touches in the entire game is very low and 4) Mitchell is taking his attacking play to new levels.
Overall, disappointed we were equalised in the 95th minute and lost two points. However, we played them off the park for a good portion of the game, and that is not an easy task against a team that is so good on the ball. Lots of positives, and we’re heading into the Leicester game in good form!
The Goals
In the 45+2 minute, Gallagher’s run in the box was stopped by Trossard through foul. Zaha stepped to take the penalty, sent Sanchez the wrong way, and coolly slotted it to his left. In the 90+5 minute, a Guaita goal kick that would surely be the last ball of the game transformed into a nightmare. His kick was short, landed to Veltman, who sent a fantastic one-touch pass over our defense to Neal Maupay, who evaded our defenders and chipped Guaita, who had come out in no man’s land to try and repair his mistake.
Key Takeaways
- Started the game very well. Were in control for the entire first half, and did not look like conceding. However, we didn’t really look like scoring either.
- Gallagher and Macca are the engines of this team. Presses, interceptions, runs into the box. Very solid performances.
- Luka – very solid in his return from personal and fitness issue. Did not give away possession once, had a 78% passing success rate (his long balls bring this rate down, as he got 4/12 right), and had 2 interceptions.
- Tyrick Mitchell is a solid PL-quality fullback. Contributes more and more to the attacking phase, and very eager and willing to track back into position.
- Overall, Zaha had an OK game. He had the most touches in the Brighton penalty area (12), scored a goal, had 2 shots on target, carried the ball progressively for 235 yards (most in the team), and carried the ball into the Brighton box 4 times. On the other hand, he only attempted one dribble (unsuccessful), and lost possession almost as many times (13) as the entire Brighton team (17). It seems like he is still adapting to the new way refs whistle fouls, and maybe to his partnership with Mitchell.
- I don’t understand why we give the ball away so easily (turnovers + dispossessions). 31 possession losses v L’pool, Spurs, West Ham, Chelsea each, 42 v Brentford, and now 35 v Brighton. Really need to work on this.
- Second half we looked slightly scared and willing to just keep the scoreline. We had only 1 shot at target (the Ayew miss), which is not enough.
- We have a lot of possession, but we lack creativity. We play the ball around the 18-yard box, but do not make enough vertical passes or runs into the box. We need to involve the central striker more, where he can act as a pivot for a give-and-go (similar to pick’n’roll in basketball).
- The goal we conceded was something I would characterize as a freak goal. Literally everything that could go wrong at that particular moment, did. Guaita short goal kick, Veltman’s reaction timing + fantastic pass, Guehi/Andersen switching off, Guaita coming out in no man’s land, then a chip over Guaita by Maupay. The whole thing was over in maybe what, 10 seconds? This time we were on the receiving end, next time maybe we’ll score a freak 95th min goal.
- Our fans are just something else. Incredible at every game, home and away!
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Matchday 7: Crystal Palace – Leicester 2-2
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Preview
Palace were coming into the game after the 96′ heartbreak the week before against Brighton, while Leicester were coming off a Europa League defeat at Legia Warsaw. Leicester had a very poor start to the season (13th place, 2W-1D-3L), perhaps exacerbated by Wesley Fofana’s pre-season injury (broken leg) that has rendered him unfit for the entire season. Since Leicester had finished in the top 5 in the past two seasons, their less than stellar beginning of the season had pundits question Brendan Rogers’ approach and team setup. However, PV was complimentary of Leicester in his pre-match conference:
“It’s going to be really challenging because they have some really good players and we will have to be ready. We will have to work hard, really hard if you want to take something from the game because the technical level of this team is really good. So we have to expect and we have to be ready, we have to prepare ourselves to suffer and to perform well”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
The game would also bring together Edouard and Brendan Rogers, who had previously worked together at Celtic (in fact, Brendan Rogers was the one who bought Edouard at Celtic). For this game, Palace were without Eberechi Eze and Nathan Ferguson, both with long-term injuries. Leicester on the other hand were missing Jonny Evans (ankle injury), Wilfred Ndidi (thigh injury), Wesley Fofana (broken leg), and Justin James (knee injury).
The Setup
PV named an unchanged squad from the game against Brighton, and an unchanged tactical setup. Leicester, on the other hand, had played in a 3-5-2 shape against Legia Warsaw in their Europa League game. However, Brendan Rogers opted for a 4-4-2 formation in this game. As I’ve mentioned in my analysis vs. Chelsea, the 4-4-2 system is the best one for defending due to its natural covering of the pitch.
Since Leicester have been on a poor run of form, and Palace have been excellent at home (conceding only once this season), I believe Brendan Rogers set his team up to be solid defensively and try to strike on the counterattack using the pace of Vardy and Iheanacho running in behind, knowing they would not be able to compete with us possession-wise (imagine writing this phrase a year ago!). The 4-4-2 setup was interesting against 4-3-3, as Palace would naturally dominate the midfield with an extra man in the centre. Moreover, the 4-3-3 shape out-of-possession is good at closing down passing lanes, which restricts the options for the opposition.
The Game
The beginning of the game was quite scrappy, with numerous misplaced passes and possession losses. Palace gave away a dangerous free kick in the first minute; the cross into the box met Vardy unmarked, a mistaked by both Luka and Mitchell, who failed to mark him. Vardy’s header went wide, and Palace got away scot free. This, however, would mark Vardy’s only touch in the first 25 minutes (and 1/10 the entire game). Within these first 25 minutes, we had an overwhelming amount of possession (63%), with a much better passing success rate (79%) than Leicester (67%).
No matter how good our passing rate was, we had still given the ball away 7 times (Ayew x5, Gallagher x2), and had committed 6 fouls. This sort of scrappiness became evident in the 31′, when Andersen received a pass close to midfield, tried to dribble past Iheanacho, who easily dispossessed him and went in a one-on-one situation against Guaita, from which he emerged victorious. 1-0 for Leicester in what seemed like daylight robbery, as Leicester had been nullified the entire game until then.
After the goal, Palace unravelled quite quickly, and gave away another incredibly cheap goal six minutes later, when Vardy converted a pass from Barnes. 2-0 Leicester, and all sorts of thoughts were going through the heads of Palace fans. By half time, our possession had decreased to 57%, our passing accuracy had stayed the same at 79%, and we had lost the ball 19 times (Zaha x6) to Leicester’s 6.
Following what was likely a very passionate half-time talk by Vieira, the boys came out of the dressing rooms set on scoring, preferably fast. The fans’ screams to see Michael Olise instead of Jordan Ayew seemed to fall on deaf ears, as PV opted to keep Ayew on the pitch for the beginning of the second half. Irrespective of this, we started the half in full-force, and had the chance to equalise in the 51′ but Edouard’s shot met the crossbar (who by this time in the game had had 50% more touches than against Brighton, 33 vs. 20).
Palace were applying a lot of pressure, but Leicester’s fortress was still standing unscathed. In the 53′, the change that everybody wanted to see finally happened – Michael Olise for Jordan Ayew. This change revitalised our attacking, and culminated with Olise scoring a superb volley in the 61′ for his first ever PL goal. To understand just how dominant we were in the 15 minutes before scoring, here are some numbers: 120 vs 52 passes, 8 vs.1 shots (1 vs. 0 on target), 162 vs 81 touches, and 1 vs 7 clearances. After the goal, we continued pushing in the search for an equaliser, and until the 73′ our possession dominance had not produced the equalising goal.
In the 71′, PV took Gallagher off to introduce Schlupp. To be completely fair, Gallagher did not have a great game. He lost possession 7 times (second highest in the team), had committed 3 fouls (highest in the team), was in danger of being booked, and frankly looked gassed. I think PV’s decision was correct, as Gallagher had played 90′ in each of the previous 5 games, and is in contention during the coming international break for England U21, so a bit of a respite is not the worst thing in the world. Gallagher’s replacement, Jeffrey Schlupp, proved to be incredibly impactful, as one minute after his introduction he scored the equalising goal with a well-placed header (his first goal in 19 games). It was 2-2, and nothing short of what we deserved. We used this momentum to try and push for a winner, and had the opportunity to do so at two set pieces in the 87′ and 90+4′ minute. However, our efforts did not produce another magic moment, and the game ended a 2-2.
Before we go into some stats, I’d like to discuss what I believe are the standout points of this game:
- Luka, Macca, and Ward were absolutely fantastic. Luka found himself in heaps of space in midfield due to our extra man afforded by the tactical setup, attempted several vertical passes and tried multiple times to quicken the pace of the game. Macca looked like he had 3 lungs and trekked the entirety of the pitch without stopping for 90′. Ward was excellent defensively, and had a few forward incursions that culminated with a blocked shot in the 90′.
- Ayew had a solid first half, but only from a defensive point of view. His offensive contribution was limited, and more than once he exasperated Zaha and Edouard (quite telling is the cross towards the end of the first half, with Ayew keeping his head down and crossing into the box towards no one, when both Zaha and Edouard were waiting for the ball to be squared to them in the middle of the box). His 5.9 rating is the second lowest after Andersen (5.4).
- We absolutely played them off the park. If you have a look at the heatmap, Leicester spent the majority of the game in their own box. This heatmap is eerily similar to ours vs. Chelsea. In that game we lost 3-0, which goes to show how much we need to improve on our 1) chance creation and 2) clinical finishing.
- Although Olise played only 37 minutes, he had more passes (22) than Ayew (21, 53′). He also had 3 shots (1 on target, 1 off target, and 1 blocked), 82% pass success, and was only dispossessed once. On the other hand, Ayew had one shot (that almost went out into a throw-in), 83% pass success rate, and was dispossessed 5 times.
- While Andersen had a bit of nightmare first half, he recovered well in the second. His mistakes did not get the best of him, and he continued being strong and dependable in defence. Moreover, he attempted several key diagonal passess, which stretched the play and allowed us to avoid Leicester’s narrow shape and midfield overloading.
- We are getting better and better at starting the play from out back, and getting better at pushing both fullbacks up the pitch (see the pass map). While Ward has had trouble in the past with getting up and down the pitch due to the intense physical requirements of the job, I believe he is getting more settled into this role, and that is very encouraging.
- We lost possession 46 times. Honestly we are bordering unacceptable territory. In every single game until now we have lost possession more than our opponents, with some staggering numbers on our side. This ties into the key aspects of concentration and decision-making, which are areas where we need to see significant improvement throughout the season.
- Our tactical setup and defensive discipline gave us the upper hand. We managed to restrict Jamie Vardy to only 10 touches the entire game, which is fantastic. As outlined before, the extra man in centre midfield gave us superiority, and allowed us to cut off their passing and pressing lanes.
- We’re starting to learn that we cannot write Palace off, even when 2-0 down. Second time this season when we managed to come back to draw (2-2 both cases), and there is a spirit of resilience and a belief that we can compete with the very best that permeates through the team.
Some stats:
- Possession: 59.8% – 40.2% – Palace
- Shots at Target: 18-9 Palace
- Shots on Target: 5-4 Leicester
- Shot accuracy: 55.5% – 22.2% Leicester
- Interceptions: 13-4 Leicester
- Passes: 548-379 Palace
- Pass accuracy: 80-68% Palace
- Touches: 778-581 Palace
- Tot. dribbles: 21-13 Palace (Zaha x7)
- Succ. dribbles: 14-9 Palace (Zaha x5)
- Aerial duels: 19-15 Palace (Ward x6)
- Jamie Vardy had 10 touches the entire game, 1 touch in the first 25 min
- Forward passes: 387-271 Palace
- Backward passes: 215-130 Palace
- Pass in def 3rd: 150-96 Palace
- Pass in mid 3rd: 287-220 Palace
- Pass in final 3rd: 171-86 Palace
- Most passes: Andersen (91), Guehi(90), Macca(68), Ward(67), Mitchell/Luka(60)
- From 60 total passes, Luka had: 17 forward passes, in the final 3rd
- Lost possession 46(!!!) times (Zaha x13, Edouard x8, Gallagher x7) to Leicester’s 34
- Losses of possession were: 25 dispossessed; 21 turnover
- Most dispossessed: Zaha (x9); Ayew (x5);
- Most turnovers: Edouard (x5); Zaha (x4); Gallagher (x3)
The Goals
In the 31′, Andersen received a ball at midfield and lost his composure when trying to dribble Kelechi Iheanacho, who easily dispossessed him. Iheanacho went one-on-one with Guaita and did not miss.
In the 37′, taking advantage of Palace’s unravelling, Jamie Vardy capitalized on (what looked to be) a defensive error to make it 2-0.
In the 61′, Michael Olise, who had been subbed in only 8 minutes beforehand, received a ball in the box, attempted a shot that was blocked, the ball fell kindly back to him and he struck it viciously past Schmeichel.
In the 72′, Jeffrey Schlupp, who had come on for only 1 minute, profited from a misunderstanding in the Leicester defense to head the ball coolly into the net.
Key Takeaways
- Second game in a row when we play a good team off the park. Second game this season when we come back to draw a tough game. Love the spirit, love the resilience, love the belief.
- PV made the right subs at the right time. Schlupp and Olise both scored, and offered a good attacking threat going forward.
- Gallagher looked gassed when subbed off, happy with PV recognising this and taking him off. He deserves a bit of a breather, especially considering he’s off for the international break.
- Of course, the talking point will be Andersen’s error at the first goal (and perhaps at the second). As was the case for Ayew, we can bash him all we want, but he had a solid second half with some good diagonal passes and interceptions. It happens to the best of us to have an off day.
- Olise definitely looks ready and raring to go. Very solid, crafty, with some excellent feet and skills. In his time on the pitch he had more passes than Ayew (22 vs. 21), and of course scored a banger. I believe this is the end of Mr. Ayew’s ride in the first team (at least for now).
- Luka had a great game. I think he definitely had license today to attempt vertical passes forward. Out of 60 passes, 17 were forward into the final 3rd of the pitch.
- Ward had a great game as well and he is MotM for me (along with Macca). Very solid defensively, put the fear of God into Harvey Barnes, had some great runs forward.
- Jamie Vardy had 10 touches all game, 1 within the first 25 minutes (the header at min 1). We did an excellent job restricting him.
- Our 4-3-3 shape was great at counteracting their 4-4-2, as the extra man in centre mid led to huge gaps in the midfield for Leicester. It’s why Luka had so much space to advance and pass forward. We also blocked their passing channels quite well, so very pleased with that.
- Again, we lost possession too often. 46 times in fact.
We’re on the right track, and making progress. The international break is more than welcome, as it gives us time to regroup and put some more work into fixing the things that are bugging us – set pieces, concentration, and decision-making (both offensively and defensively). 7pts after our tough run of games is good, could have been 4 more (2 vs Brighton and 2 today), but we’ll take it.
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Matchday 8: Arsenal – Crystal Palace 2-2
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Preview
The 8th game of the season pit us against Arsenal away at the Emirates, right after the October international break. Before this game, we had 7 points, while Arsenal had 10. The first fixture after any international break is bound to be slightly awkward, as there is some rustiness to shake off, and some traveling fatigue and jetlag to deal with. Nonetheless, we were coming into the game riding the winds of cautious optimism, after recording yet another fantastic comeback in the game prior to the international break (Leicester at home, 2-2), while Arsenal were coming into the game after a 0-0 draw at the Amex against Brighton.
Before I go into the game itself, I want to mention how essential PV is to Arsenal’s history. PV led Arsenal to the PL trophy in the “Invicibles” season, as club captain no less. He spent nine years (1996-2005) with the Gunners, making 307 PL appearances, scoring 31 goals and recording 34 assists, with his final kick of the ball for Arsenal being the winning penalty in the 2005 FA Cup final shootout vs. Man. United. Thus, PV’s return to Arsenal’s home (albeit Emirates, not Highbury), was bound to be special. Forever the stoic, PV had this to say about the game:
“I’m really looking forward to it. I had the chance to play for this football club for nine years and you know I arrived at this football club as a kid and I left as a man. This is the club where I played my best football, so obviously going back there will be emotional but I will put that on the side because what will be important for us is to perform well on try to get points.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
Palace were coming into the game without Eze and Ferguson with long-term injuries, while Zaha picked up an illness after his international duty with Cote d’Ivoire and he was left outside the squad. On the other hand, Arsenal were only missing Granit Xhaka.
The Setup
In Zaha’s absence, PV deployed a 4-2-3-1 system (that could easily shift into the 4-3-3 we’ve been used to so far), with Milivojevic and McArthur in central midfield, Edouard on the left wing, Gallagher as the central attacking midfielder, Ayew on the right wing, and Benteke up top. Arsenal on the other hand started in a 4-1-4-1 deployed by Arteta, with Pepe on the right, Saka on the left, Smith-Rowe and Odegaard as central midfielders, while Aubameyang was used as a sole striker.
The Game
The game started with Arsenal on the front foot and absolutely dominating possession. Within the first 8 minutes, Arsenal had 75% possession (which, if we take the 8 minutes to have been played fully without interruptions, represents 6 minutes). In the 8th minute, following an overhit Arsenal corner and some dubious defensive positioning by Palace, Pepe received the ball after a one-two Tomiyasu and curled a left foot effort towards the far post, which was saved by Guaita. The ball fell kindly to Aubameyang, who tapped it into the empty net. Before I move on, I would like to have a look at the goal.
Frame 1. Pepe receives the ball near the touchline, has time to take a touch, moves infield, awaits for Ayew’s arrival, and right before Ayew puts on the brakes he passes it to Tomiyasu. An important point here: Pepe makes a high IQ move. The moment he passes, he already starts running, while Ayew hasn’t even fully come to a stop. This gives Pepe a couple of crucial seconds in which he will always be the first for a one-two ball, because Ayew has to stop then start running again. Ayew misjudges his ability to close down Pepe – I assume he made this move out of slight desperation more than anything. He should have hold his ground and not go for the closing down move. As soon as Ayew starts to try and close down Pepe, the latter has effectively eliminated the former from the play. Onto Frame 2.
Frame 2. Ward does exactly what Ayew tried, namely closing down the Arsenal player. This is partly because he’s trying to cover for Ayew. In his case as well, the decision to move towards Tomiyasu is made too late, and it only serves to take him out of play. Tomiyasu recognizes this, and plays the simple one-two with Pepe. Pepe is now free of Ayew/Ward, but he still has Mitchell to go through. Onto Frame 3.
Frame 3. Mitchell is in two-minds whether to close him down or try and block his crossing lane. He does neither, and lets Pepe take a free shot. I think he should have recognized that Pepe is heavily left-footed, and has taken the sort of shots he attempted at that moment many times in his Arsenal career. Onto Frame 4.
Frame 4. This is just bad luck. Guaita makes a superb save, and the ball could have rebounded anywhere, but this time it fell kindly to Aubameyang. Can’t blame Macca, as he tracked Aubameyang all the way through, and if the ball was a few inches more towards him he would have probably cleared it. Back to the game (PS: All four frames belong to Arsenal, and are taken from their YouTube channel).
Perhaps surprisingly for a team like Arsenal they decided to retreat slightly, instead of trying to capitalize on their advantage and possession dominance, and to put more pressure on Palace. By the 20th minute, the possession was only 9% in favour of Arsenal (54-46%). We had re-balanced the game, and were now set into playing our usual style of passing out from the back. However, there were multiple instances in the first half where Edouard’s lack of left wing role familiarity led to Mitchell finding himself alone against Arsenal defenders, with Edouard having drifted towards the centre.
This decision was surprising, because Arsenal were looking to overload the midfield and keep a narrow shape, thus having less space in the centre of the pitch. If anything, we should have been trying to stretch out the play (which, in Mitchell’s defense, is what he was trying to do). Our possession did translate into several chances, with a few shots saved by Ramsdale.
It is also interesting to note here that between the time we started taking control of the game (~15min) and the end of the first half, Arsenal only had 9 instances in which they had 3 or more continuous passes, and only 3 in which they had more than 5 (compared to the first 15 minutes, when they had 9 instances in which they had 5 or more continuous passes). In fact, we even restricted Aubameyang to only 15 passes the entire game (and 1 shot), and Saka to 16 passes and 0 shots before he was subbed at half time!
Speaking of Saka and being subbed off, there is, of course, a need to discuss James McArthur’s lack of booking in the early parts of the first half. Mike Dean preferred to give Macca a talking to several times, although it was obvious that at least on 2 occassions he was deserving of a yellow. Then, of course, is the incident in the 44th minute, when Macca volleys Saka off the ground (and receives a yellow for it). Now, as a Palace fan, that’s not a red because Macca [insert excuse here]. As an objective observer, Macca sees Saka all the way, and I do believe he unnecessarily continued with his volley. I also think that if he had been booked earlier, he would not have made that challenge.
The second half began with a change for Arsenal (Sambi Lokonga for Saka), which also brought a system change to 4-2-3-1. Six minutes into the half, Ayew’s excellent defensive dilligence in Arsenal’s defensive third led Lokonga to make an error and pass the ball straight to Benteke. Now, we all know that Benteke is aerially incredible (in fact, he’s won the most aerial duels /90 minutes in the Premier League this season, with 6.8), but my God was this goal a stunning surprise. Quick feet, short dribble, ball onto his right foot and BAM! rocket into the bottom right corner, no chance for Ramsdale! Fantastic effort, and nothing short of what he deserves for putting in so much work for the team. 1-1, and we were back into the game with almost a full half to play.
Even after the goal, we were still dominating possession, but Arsenal was no pushover either. It was a hard-fought midfield battle, until the 73rd minute. Partey saw himself stripped of the ball in Palace’s defensive third by Gallagher, who carried the ball into Arsenal’s half, then passed it to Olise (who had only come on 2 minutes earlier). Olise moved it quickly to Edouard, who advanced unopposed, as Ben White refused to close him down, perhaps worried by Olise’s run. In any case, Edouard unleashed a thunderous drive that beat Ramsdale and nestled in the back of the net. 2-1 Palace, and we were 17 minutes away from a fantastic away win.
In the 82nd minute, PV made his last change (having previously brought on Kouyate and Olise), bringing in James Tomkins for Edouard. The sub also meant a system change, as PV went to a 5-4-1 in the hopes of holding out for a win. Perhaps this substitution was a bit peculiar, in the sense that this was Tomkins’ first appearance of the season. Of course, he is incredibly experienced and has been playing at this level for years, but I cannot imagine that making your first appearance of the season in a 2-1 lead at Arsenal in the 82nd minute is easy (especially when playing in a new defensive system, along with two new players in Guehi and Andersen, for the first time).
In any case, maybe moving Kouyate to the back five and bringing on Schlupp or Hughes (although you could argue he would have made his first appearance for Palace ever) would have been better. In the 87th minute, a move started from Arsenal’s right side saw Pepe cross the ball into the box, Lacazette flicked it with his head, and the ball reached Tierney, who was by himself in acres of space. He took a touch and unleashed a vicious shot that hit the crossbar and then luckily bounced out for a throw in. Before moving forward, let’s watch this sequence of events.
Frame 1. Pepe is preparing to cross the ball into the box. Notice how Kouyate marks Tomiyasu, Macca is marking Lacazette, Aubameyang is between Andersen and Tomkins, and Ward is taking on Martinelli. You can see Tierney’s elbow in the bottom left part of the image. One important thing here: Guehi is marking no one. He is effectively out of play, as he is not contributing in any way. This is not necessarily his fault, but him not marking anybody means everyone else is rotating by one. Better seen in the second frame.
Frame 2. This is a fantastic angle. Tomkins has now taken on Aubameyang, Ward has Martinelli, Macca has lost the aerial duel with Lacazette, and now Guehi and Andersen are both not contributing to the play. We have 8 players in the box (if you count Kouyate and Gallagher), they have 5. And SOMEHOW, one of those 5 is literally completely by himself. Because of the awkward positioning in the back 5 (and this is where familiarity plays a huge role), Tierney is in miles of space. Of course, one could also argue that if this rotation occurs, it is only natural for the right winger to pull into the space left empty by the right back. In this case, Olise is in front of the box.
After this sigh of relief, we went back to being dominated and looking shaky. In the 95th minute, Arsenal got a corner. Pepe delivered it into the box, the ball was cleared, but only back to Pepe who put it in the box again. After some mumbling and fumbling the ball gets to Lacazette, who scores from 4 yards out. Now, I want to analyze this goal as well.
Frame 1. Notice the positioning of our players. Olise and Andersen were trying to close Pepe down and stop him from crossing, but they were unsuccessful. Honestly, I don’t know why Andersen was trying to close him down. He has no business being there in the 95th minute after a corner.
Frame 2. 1 Arsenal player vs 2 Palace players (Ward & Tomkins) in an aerial duel, and somehow the Arsenal player wins it. Notice how 2 Arsenal players are pretty much free betwen Benteke and Mitchell. Onto Frame 3.
Frame 3. Last-ditch scrambling to try to get the ball away. Benteke heads it out, but he’s also falling so his header has no power. Notice how Ward has literally not moved between frames, and no one is closing down White (except for Tomkins who is just now turning towards him).
Frame 4. We have Guehi and Tomkins throwing themselves in front of the ball, and it just goes through a small gap between them. Very unlucky, a few inches to the left or right and I wouldn’t be writing about a draw, but rather a win.
Frame 5. Not sure if anyone caught this live, but White’s shot would have gone out, if not for Martinelli’s fantastic flick. Even more fantastic is Guaita’s reflex, and even more fantastic than his reflex is how unlucky we are for the ball to reach Lacazette. Who, of course, is by himself 4 yards from the goal.
Some stats:
- First game of the season when we lost possession less than the opponent: 28 ARS; 22 CRY
- Possession: 54.6% ARS – 46.4% CRY
- Shots at Target: 17-9 ARS – CRY
- Shots on Target: 6-6
- Interceptions: 7-7
- Saves: 4-4
- Fouls: 7-4 ARS
- Aerial Duels Won: 20-8 CRY (Christian Benteke with 6)
- Passes: 544-475 ARS
- Pass accuracy: 87%-85% ARS
- Touches: 719-657 ARS
- Total dribbles: 23-20 CRY
- Successful dribbles: 8-7 ARS (Christian Benteke 2/3 successful, most for CRY)
- Unsuccessful dribbles: 16-12 CRY (Odsonne Edouard 6/8 unsuccessful)
- Tackles: 30-24 CRY
- Successful tackles: 22-17 CRY (Tyrick Mitchell 4/4, Conor Gallagher 4/5)
- Forward passes: 349-296 ARS
- Backward passes: 245-213 ARS
- Pass in def 3rd: 140-105 CRY
- Pass in mid 3rd: 278-272 ARS
- Pass in final 3rd: 211-98 ARS
- Crosses: 19-10 ARS
- Corners: 6-3 ARS
- Most CRY passes: Marc Guehi (78), Joachim Andersen (71), James McArthur (59), Tyrick Mitchell (58)
- Most interceptions: Tyrick Mitchell (3)
- Most successful tackles: Tyrick Mitchell (4/4), Conor Gallagher (4/5)
- Loss of possession breakdown CRY: 4 dispossessed, 18 turnovers;
- Dispossessions: Conor Gallager (2/2 ball losses); Odsonne Edouard (1/6); Jordan Ayew (1/4)
- Turnovers: Odsonne Edouard (5/6); Tyrick Mitchell (4/4); Jordan Ayew (3/4)
Key Takeaways
- It is quite apparent that we are lacking depth in the winger department, especially left. I know Edouard can play there, but he’s not a natural, and his struggles against Arsenal were quite evident.
- I did not mention it in the main text because I didn’t want to take away from other things, but for the first time this season we lost possession fewer times than our opponents. In fact, we managed to keep it to a very low number (22). A big reason for this was Zaha not playing, as he is the leader in being dispossessed and turning the ball over (33 each).
- I believe the 5-4-1 system change and bringing on Tomkins was a mistake. I understand the reasoning behind it, as Arsenal were playing almost exclusively with balls in the box from Pepe’s side (see heatmap in the main text), so crowding the central defense was perhaps good in theory. But as we saw for Tierney’s chance, not having played this system in a professional setting and with 3 defenders that are playing for the first time together led to positioning issues. This in turn allowed Arsenal to eventually score.
- Continuing in this vein, I don’t think the time for experiments (no matter how much you practised it in the international break) is in an extremely tight affair with 10 minutes to go into the game, away from home. Save it for when we batter Newcastle.
- Impressed with how we took control of the game after Arsenal scored the 1-0 goal. I feel like teams are starting to fear us and our ability to play out from the back, but we definitely need more work on the creative side and in thinking more on the spot.
- Macca needs to tone it down slightly. At the beginning of the season we were all joking about how many games it’d take Gallagher to get suspended, but I fear Macca will get there before him, as he’s already on 3 yellows.
- I believe one reason for our good form this season is that we’ve used the same back 4 in 7/8 games. Tyrick Mitchell is growing into a reliable PL-quality left back, Ward is putting a shift in, and Andersen/Guehi look more comfortable with each other by the game. This is the sort of consistency we lacked last season due to injuries.
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Matchday 9: Crystal Palace – Newcastle 1-1
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Preview
Matchday 9 in the Premier League and we’re playing at home vs. Newcastle. Freshly out of a manager (with the sacking of Steve Bruce becoming reality earlier in the week), Newcastle was coming to Selhurst Park after a 3-2 loss at home vs. Tottenham, while we were coming into the game after a heartbreaking 2-2 draw at Arsenal. Based on recent performances, we were likely favorites to win the game, and some fans and pundits argued that this was a must-win for Palace (as we had only had 1 win in 8 games). PV, however, was of a different opinion:
“I don’t think is a must-win. I think the performance that we are going to put on the field will tell us if we have a chance of winning the game or not. I think we have played, at times, some good football but it’s important for us to is to turn those good performances into a win. And to do that we have to play even better. So that means making less mistakes taking more of our chances and that will allow us to win games.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
We were coming into the game with Zaha on the bench following his recent illness, and without Eze and Ferguson, both with long-term injuries, while Newcastle were missing Dubravka, Woodman, Shelvey, and Dummet.
The Setup
PV sent out his already common 4-3-3 formation, with Edouard on the left wing, Benteke up front, and Olise on the right, the latter making his first PL start. On the other hand, Graeme Jones sent out a defensive 5-3-2 formation, intent on sitting very deep, defending narrowly and overloading the spaces, while hoping to strike on the counter with the speed of Saint-Maximin and Wilson.
The Game
The game started as expected based on the teamsheets and tactical systems – with Palace in full control of the possession. In the first 20 minutes, we had already raked up an astonishing 79% possession, with 90% passing success rate! Although our possession was impressive, we had managed to have only 3 shots at target, with 0 on target and a post hit by Benteke from Olise’s cross. On the other hand, Newcastle had also 3 shots, out of which 1 on target. Newcastle’s gameplan looked eerily similar to what we used last season – sitting deep and conceding possession.
We had our first shot on target only in the 25′, but it was not converted into a goal. One interesting thing about our possession is that we were unable to convert it into shots after the 25′, or corners after the 20′. We only registered one corner in the first half, while Newcastle had 2. I’ve written before about our stale possession, and how it’s very hard for us to convert it to something meaningful.
In fact, we’re one of the lowest shooting sides in the PL after 8 games (not counting this one) and we’ve managed to not score in the first half in 8/9 games (the only one we scored was Zaha’s penalty v. Brighton, in the 46+4 minute). We’re 19th in shots attempted, 19th in shots on target, 19th in shots attempted/90 minutes, and 19th in shots on target attempted/90 minutes. All this while being upper-midtable in possession (7th) and pass accuracy (8th). This all supports the eye test – now that we’ve got the ball, what do we do with it?
We started the second half as well as the first, and we pressured Newcastle mercilessly, but again, without success. This until the 57′, when Mitchell made his way on the left side, put in an excellent cross into the box, where Benteke used his aerial prowess to make it 1-0. Nothing less than we deserved, but there was still an air of mild anxiety in the air, knowing that we had to score once more to put the game beyond doubt.
The opportunity arose for Benteke, who remained one-on-one with Darlow, but his shot went agonizingly past the post. An excellent chance that, as we’ll see, would come to bite us right in the bottom. Fast forward to the 66′, when Darren £ngland, who missed a blatant foul on Joel Ward, awarded Newcastle a corner. Now, if you’ve looked at Figure 1, you’d have seen that we rank 1st in goals conceded from set pieces, with 7 so far. Well, add one more to that, as Callum Wilson scored an absolute worldie bicycle kick to make it 1-1.
Frustration all over, and mostly with the referee, who should not have awarded a corner in the first place. In any case, right after the goal, PV brought Zaha on instead of Olise, while seven minutes later he brought on Schlupp for Milivojevic. We poked and prodded, but could not find the way to goal. To understand the frustration and anxiety, PV brought on JP Mateta for Gallagher in the 86′. Right after that, in the 87′, McArthur’s corner was fabulously converted by Big Ben, who leapt like a salmon to make it 2-1.
Palace fans rejoiced, staff rejoiced, VAR rejoiced because it would ruin everyone’s celebrations. Turns out that on the come-up of the ball, Guehi was pulling a Newcastle player’s shirt. £ngland blew his whistle, disallowing the goal. Frustration all over x 1000. Following some disgraceful time-wasting by Newcastle, which saw a couple of players booked, £ngland blew the full time whistle before the added time was even up! It finishes 1-1, and we’ll have to settle for the 6th draw of the season. 9 points, 15th place. Onto Man City away!
Key Takeaways
- I apologize for starting with this, but Darren £ngland has absolutely no business refereeing in the Premier League. First of all, he booked Andersen for a “high boot” on Fraser, but the boot was about waist high. Second, he booked Joel Ward after being pushed and provoked by Callum Wilson. Third, he allowed Darlow to start timewasting in the 6th minute, and in general made some strange decisions throughout the game, the biggest being booking Joelinton and Ritchie in injury time for fouls/time wasting and then blowing the full time whistle before the initial time was added up.
- Olise looks like the real deal. I’ve been keeping my opinion on him quiet over the past few weeks, mostly because I don’t want to add to the unnecessary pressure that fans put him under, saying he’s a star and so forth. The kid needs time to adapt, he’s only 19; he’s technically fantastic, but it would not be fair to him to put him under pressure to succeed immediately. Great to see him develop steadily, but he’s still got much to learn.
- My god – can we please, please, please do something to figure out set pieces?!?! I’ll set up a GoFundMe or whatever, please just get in a set piece specialist. Our crosses don’t even pass the first man, we haven’t scored a set piece goal yet, and we’ve now conceded 8 goals from set pieces in 9 games.
- We’ve gone back to our good old days of giving the ball away a gazillion times (33 gazillion to be exact, 23 turnovers and 8 dispossessed – Edouard gave the ball away 8 times), but it was still less than Newcastle (37 gazillion).
- We have a big problem against low-block teams, as we don’t attempt to play vertically and instead pass the ball round the imaginary semicircle around the opposition box. We had the same problem against Brighton, where at literally our first vertical run into the box we got a penalty. We really need to play like this more.
- Benteke had a very solid game, although he hit the post, had a goal disallowed, and had an incredulous miss. Gets into good positions, and looks confident playing up top. With more service like that provided by Mitchell and Olise he’ll definitely score a few more this season.
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Matchday 10: Manchester City – Crystal Palace 0-2
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Preview
Game 10 of this season saw us travel at the Etihad to face Manchester City. City, who had not conceded a goal at home the entire season, were to be another stern test for Patrick Vieira’s side. Before the game, here is what PV had to say about his return to City, where he spent time both as a player and coach:
“It’s a really good challenge to look at it, there is no doubt about the strength of Manchester City’s squad, it’s going to be challenging for us. It’s going to be challenging for any other teams that are going to play there. But we have to be brave, we have to play with a strong personality and we will try to score those goals because against those teams when you create chances, you have to take it.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
In terms of availability, we were still without Ebere Eze (lacking match fitness) and Nathan Ferguson (still injured), while City were without Ferran Torres (injury) and Benjamin Mendy (prison).
The Setup
PV chose to set up in his usual 4-3-3, but with a few small (albeit significant) changes. In midfield, PV opted for Kouyate as his holding midfielder. Perhaps surprising to some, PV chose Kouyate instead of Luka because 1) he expected to have less of the ball (understandably, as we were playing City away), 2) to supplant Benteke’s ability at set pieces, and 3) Kouyate has been more defensively-oriented this season, with higher per90 numbers in tackles, blocks, and interceptions.
Up front, Edouard-Zaha-Ayew. An interesting combination, as Zaha was instructed to play through the middle, with Edouard and Ayew on the wings. Ayew on the right wing is a preferred move when a defensive winger is needed, while Edouard has been used on the left wing often throughout this season, but Zaha as a central striker was new this season.
The Game
We started the game well, and held off City at distance. In the 6′, Laporte misplaced a pass, which was intercepted by Gallagher, who then released Zaha into space. Wilf didn’t think twice and shot with his left foot, putting the ball past Ederson. 1-0 Palace, and our first real first half goal of the season! Fabulous start!
With 84 minutes to go, we knew it’d be a tough ask to keep the scoreline 1-0. However, we performed admirably in defense, where Kouyate, Andersen and Guehi were fantastic, along with Ward and Mitchell. City’s first shot on target came in the 19′, when Rodri’s shot was saved by Guaita. City tried to put lots of balls in the box, but we were there to block or clear them out. In fact, in the entire game, we cleared the ball 29 times to City’s 4, we blocked 26 shots/passes/crosses to City’s 6, while also winning 14 aerial duels, compared to City’s 13.
City’s biggest chance of the half came in the 31′, when Jesus’s shot went inches past the right post. By the 45′, City had attempted 8 shots, out of which 6 were blocked, and only 1 (the one from Rodri) made its way remotely close to Guaita’s post. Before I discuss the biggest controversy of the half, I want to give a shoutout to Ward, who absolutely annihilated Grealish on the right hand side. His defensive plays made Grealish put the ball into the box instead of penetrating inside, which was mostly futile given that City were playing without a striker. Also, Ayew did very well in holding the ball to give our defense some respite, and also in getting fouled and helping Ward with defensive duties.
In the 45′, right before half time, Edouard’s header found Zaha, who turned with Laporte on his back. Zaha was clear on goal, Laporte pulled him back, and Andre Marriner gave a foul and a red card for Laporte. After VAR, a melee, and general dissent, Laporte’s card was upheld, a few yellow cards were dished out (including to Ederson), and we went to the locker rooms with 1-0 on the board and 1 extra man on the pitch.
In the second half, City maintained possession as we dropped back, but most of it was stale at midfield. In the 49′, Rodri had a chance to score, but his shot went way over the bar. In the 52′, Guehi had a fantastic chance to score from a set piece, but his header went over the bar. In the 59′ Zaha scored once more, but it was disallowed as he was a mile offside.
In the 59′, Guardiola made his first change – John Stones for de Bruyne. Realizing that passing the ball into the box would likely not work, Guardiola introduced Stones to dish out balls over our defense from the halfway line. In fact, this is exactly what happened a minute later after he was brought on, when his pass over the defense found Foden, who crossed into the box, finding Jesus, who scored with a tap-in. Luckily, the goal was disallowed for an offside that Foden was in, but it showed that now we had to be careful in defending these long passes (a similar approach that Brighton used against us earlier in the season).
Even with this sub made by City, our defense performed in a stellar fashion. The lack of out-and-out striker really hurt City, as at times there was no one in the box to latch onto crosses and passes. In the 66′, Joao Cancelo got the rebound right outside the box, but his shot was easily saved by Guaita.
As we were moving closer to the end of the game, the gaps started appearing in City’s midfield. First, in the 77′, Gallagher found himself on the end of a fantastic shot, which was brilliantly parried by Ederson. Right after, Guardiola brought on the big guns in Mahrez and Sterling, who replaced Grealish and Joao Cancelo. Even so, City continued to cross and try to put the ball into the box, but to no avail. In the 85′, PV made what would turn out to be the crucial sub of the game – Olise for Kouyate.
Compared to the Arsenal game, when we were 2-1 up with a few minutes to go and PV chose to bring on Tomkins and changed the system to a 5 at-the-back, this time he opted for the offensive sub to try and score a second. Of course, the situations are not necessarily identical – here, City was playing in 10, and they were tired from being a man behind for an entire half. However, it is my belief that PV chose to bring on Olise as he had witnessed how a defensive sub failed when it mattered most. Managers are paid to adapt and overcome adversity, which is what PV did in this case.
Fast forward to the 90′, when a Palace counter-attack saw the ball reach Zaha in the box. It looked like the moment had passed, as Zaha opted to hold onto the ball instead of shooting. His few seconds of waiting allowed Olise to get into a good position at the far post, unmarked by any City player, and Zaha’s pass found its way to him. Olise served Gallagher with a great short pass, and the latter let fly a superb shot that hit the post before stopping in the net. 2-0 in the 90′, and the game was over. A fantastic victory for Palace, whose luck is finally looking to turn!
Key Takeaways
- PV got his selection spot on. Kouyate on for Luka because he expected (rightfully so) to concede possession, as well as to substitute Benteke’s height at set pieces. Ayew on for Olise not really a shocker, as Ayew is an excellent defensive winger. Wilf through the middle to run at the defense, while Edouard on the wing because he defends slightly more than Wilf.
- Speaking of PV, he is adapting and learning from his mistakes. If 5atb would have worked against Arsenal, I guarantee you he would have brought Tomkins again today instead of Olise. But since that didn’t work, he went the attacking route, which paid off. Excellent move by him.
- While we lost points against Brighton and Arsenal with 95th min equalisers, the mistakes made during those games now allow both the team and PV to tweak things and ensure we’re not dropping them as much. The points we will hopefully gain during the season with these tweaks should offset those lost in these 2 games.
- Clean sheet at City, who would have thought? Defense was immense today, TM annihilated De Bruyne, at one point Guardiola brought on Stones for KdB to dish out long balls over the defense but we dealt with them quite well. Andersen/Guehi (although Guehi’s passing was suspect at times) were great, so was Ward. Fantastic performance all around.
- VG was good, I think the City disallowed goal was partly his fault as he was unsure if he should come out for the ball or if the ball was going out for a goal kick. VAR got us out so that’s what matters. His passing was a bit suspicious as well, but when necessary he did his job without a fuss.
- Gallagher – what a player. Covered every blade of grass, was involved in both goals, did everything right. I really hope we can keep him.
- Ayew had an excellent game (apart from, you know, missing that awful shot in the second half). He’s just such a pain to deal with from the opponents’ perspective, always gets himself between the ball and the opponent. Covered his side of the pitch very well, and helped Ward against Grealish.
- Grealish – quiet as a woodlouse. Kept on tripping on his big calves and then asking for fouls.
- Wilf – fabulous. First open play goal this season, first goal conceded by City at home. Tormented Dias and Laporte, got Laporte sent off, wound up the fans and City players. What a stud.
- We’ve defended set pieces slightly better, helped by the fact that City don’t have that many tall players that could wreak havoc. Still some last-ditch defending happening, but reassuring we did not concede again.
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Matchday 11: Crystal Palace – Wolverhampton 2-0
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Preview
Game 11, back at Selhurst following our incredible win at City! This time facing Wolves, who were on a good run of form and would likely give us a very tough time. We were also on a good run of form – 5 unbeaten – and would look to extend it. Here’s what PV had to say before the game, when asked about keeping excitement in a young squad:
“It’s about as a football club, how we keep them grounded. Because they still have the potential, but we know that the potential will not be good enough to perform in the Premier League or to make a career. We have the support that they need to to be a Premier League player and they will have to go through a good period but also a bad period. And when they’re going to go into those difficult periods, we will have to give them the support they need. But I believe that we have the support in the football club to help those young players to keep developing themselves.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
Going into the game, we were missing Eze (still lacking match fitness although he had played 60 minutes for the U23s), Nathan Ferguson (Achilles), and Will Hughes (back injury), while Wolves were without Jonny, Marcal, Neto, Mosquera, and Bueno, all injured.
The Setup
There is an old adage in football that says you do not change a winning team. This is something that PV does not seem to believe in, as he makes changes as needed, even if the team has won the previous game. While the system was the same (4-3-3), Benteke took Ayew’s spot in the team, and the front three had a target man once more, with Zaha on the right and Edouard on the left.
On the other hand, Bruno Lage set his team up in a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Ait-Nouri and Semedo as wing-backs. Out of possession, this formation would turn into a 5-2-3, with Jimenez/Trincao/Hee-Chan up front, pressing our defense. This approach seemed peculiar, especially against a 4-3-3 formation, as breaking out of their pressing meant their midfield would have huge gaps since only 2 players were available – Neves and Moutinho.
The Game
The game started under the auspices of a hard-fought game between two solid teams. Palace, as they have accustomed us this season, had more of the possession in the first half. This however did not translate into dangerous chances, as we have seen throughout the season. Having 336 passes at the end of the half is great, but only 69 were in the final third. Our play was not helped by how whiny and annoying the Wolves players were, who went down like shot at every single duel. One particular culprit was Ait-Nouri, who embarrased himself the entire game with his diving. This fragmentation saw 15 fouls being blown in the first half, one every 3 minutes!
While the first half was slow and uninteresting, the second started with us piling on the pressure. You could feel it in the air that a goal was coming. By the 60′, the shots attempted stat was 7-2 in our favour, with 3 efforts on target for us and 1 for Wolves. Zaha and Edouard changed places on the wings, and this move led to us opening the score in the 61′.
A poor pass by Ait-Nouri in front of our box saw Mitchell expertly clear it straight to Edouard, who went on the counter. Passing to Gallagher, Edouard made his way on the right, and receiving the ball back in acres of space, crossed into the box. The ball made its way to McArthur, who ignored all the shouts to shoot, and passed it onto Zaha, who finished it coolly at the far post. However, the linesman instantly lifted his flag, signalling for offside. An overall sigh of discontent went throughout the stadium, and the crowd waited for the VAR decision. When the decision came, the entire stadium erupted, as the goal had been incorrectly flagged offside, and we were 1-0 up!
Eight minutes later, what turned out to be the most contentious moment of the game happend in the Palace box. Ait-Nouri went down following a Ward challenge, and the referee Graham Scott pointed to the spot. The decision was checked by VAR, who overturned it by reason that the foul happened right outside the box! 4th VAR decision going our way in 2 consecutive games, how we should all rejoice!
Four minutes after the penalty scare Edouard had a fantastic chance to score, but Jose Sa made a brilliant save. In the 78′, Gallagher made a fabulous run forward, slalomed past a few defenders, and let out a shot towards the Wolves goal. Whilst the shot would have arguably been saved easily by Sa, it was deflected in the opposite direction of his jump, and the score became 2-0! Right after the goal, PV made two changes, with Olise and Schlupp coming on for Edouard and McArthur. These substitutions showed that PV wanted to push for another goal and put the game to rest.
In the 82′, arguable the biggest Wolves chance came, when Guaita was required to make an excellent save following Moutinho’s free kick. After that, Wolves never looked like scoring, and our players looked fully in control. It was probably the least nervy ending of a game this season! (if we don’t count the two 3-0 losses to Chelsea and Liverpool).
Key Takeaways
- Second consecutive clean sheet. We’re starting to tidy up our defensive performances, and our entire back line is doing some excellent work.
- Something I’ve noticed as a pattern this season – we take the first half to get to know our opponent, before turning on the dial in the second. Probably the reason we only have 2 first half goals so far.
- We lost the ball again a bit too often (26 times), but not nearly as often as in other games. We’re also starting to tidy up our attacking game, but we’re still lacking that killer through ball or last pass to tie everything up. Will probably change with Eze’s return.
- Zaha is finding his feet, so is Edouard. Gallagher with a second consecutive MoTM performance. Such an exciting front three!
- These are the games we need to win. Even if we don’t perform in a stellar fashion, we need to edge out the Wolves, Burnleys, Newcastles of the PL.
- Sitting 10th before the international break, and with a good form before Burnley away. Will be a tough test, but I don’t think we’ll leave Turf Moor without 3 points!
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Matchday 12: Burnley – Crystal Palace 3-3
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Preview
Game 12 of the season, and we travel northwest to face Burnley at Turf Moor, in grim conditions (awful rain, cold, wind, and the general Burnley setting). Refreshed by (or perhaps, a bit rusty from) the international break, we had a tough task ahead of us, as Burnley away is always a cause for concern. Even though we were sitting in 10th Place and Burnley wallowing in the bottom three, the weather conditions would likely even out things. When asked about the international break, PV had this to say:
“The international break is good, the ones that are going are focusing on qualification and the ones here we work on going to a different level tactically and physically. The good news for us is everybody is back with no injuries from international and that is good. It’s important to keep challenging ourselves, it’s important for me and the staff to demand even more from the players. They still have a lot to give to the team and we want to keep winning games.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
We were coming into the game with Macca (hamstring injury) and Ferguson (Achilles), but with Eze back in the squad. On the other hand, Burnley were without Barnes and Stephens, both injured.
The Setup
In the absence of Macca, PV started with Luka-Kouyate-Gallagher in midfield, staying true to his 4-3-3 formation. Luka would play the holding midfield role, while Kouyate would play Macca’s role. As front three, PV chose the Zaha-Benteke-Ayew trio, while the back 5 was the same as in previous games. On the other hand, Sean Dyche set up Burnley in their classic 4-4-2 formation.
The Game
Any sane person that watches a match v. Burnley expects a cagey affair, with lots of set pieces, game fragmentation due to fouls, and general shithousery. Cue in the weather conditions, and the game would likely end a bore 0-0 or a late 1-0 for either team.
Well, everything you expected from this game, throw out the window. First, in the 8′, Gallagher’s cross is dealt with poorly by Cornet, who clears it only to Andersen. The latter lays down a good ball for Benteke, who takes a touch and launches a left-footed shot in the bottom left corner, beating Pope. 1-0 Palace, and the game could not have started better!
Bring minute 19. Burnley corner, and I’m sure all Palace fans were nervously holding their breath. Since Burnley are great at set pieces, and we are poor (conceded the most goals from set pieces in the Premier League so far, 7), we expected the worst. And yet, we didn’t expect it to be quite this bad.
Frame 1. This frame looks busy, so let’s desconstruct. The majority of the players are gathered around Guaita, Kouyate has taken on man-marking Mee (dark blue circle), Ayew is marking Cornet right next to him, while Andersen is battling Taylor. To begin with, Kouyate is 1) too far from Mee and 2) on the wrong side. There is literally nothing stopping him from running where the dark blue arrow points. At the same time, Ayew is on the wrong side of Cornet, who can just move slightly to block Kouyate from ever reaching Mee. Lo and behold, this is what happens next.
Frame 2. Kouyate is now in front of Ayew/Cornet, with Ben Mee just preparing his run to meet the header. Because Kouyate runs to meet Mee with his back at the ball, all the momentum he has will be lost the moment he needs to turn and face the ball. This gives Mee the advantage, as his momentum is unchanged, since he is running perpendicular to the goal. Onto Frame 3.
Frame 3. At first glance, the reaction is – how can Mee win the aerial duel with both Mitchell and Kouyate? Is it Mee’s aerial prowess? Yes, and no. Notice how before either Kouyate or Mitchell are off the ground, Mee is already half in the air. Again, this is given by the momentum he carries following his uninterrupted run. This is where his aerial prowess comes in, as he found the path of least resistance between himself and where he would meet the ball. Meanwhile, Kouyate had to reposition himself, losing all momentum in the run, while Mitchell is basically jumping flat since he was close the ball in the first place.
Eight minutes after conceding the equaliser, Burnley get a free kick about 30 yards from our goal. The ball gets cross into the box, and we concede yet another set piece goal, the 9th of the season. Let’s analyze this one as well.
Frame 1. First of all, notice the two circles. Ben Mee (#6) is absolutely unmarked as he makes his way towards the box, while James Tarkowski is coming full speed at the far post. While Mitchell (175cm) is good in the air, he is no match for Tarkowski (185cm). The ball is making its way towards Tarkowski at the far post.
Frame 2. Busy frame, let’s deconstruct like we did for the first goal. First off, Andersen jumps too early, while Mitchell has misjudged the speed of the ball, has outrun it, has to stop, and then jump. Meanwhile, Tarkowski is timing his header perfectly. Just like for Mee with the first goal, no way he loses the header. Second, notice in the light blue circle that we have 4 players in and around 2 Burnley players, while Chris Wood and Gudmundsson are relatively free (orange circles). Luka is marking none of them. Onto Frame 3.
Frame 3. The ball has made its way to Wood, who is free to head the ball from 8 yards. Two yards in front of him are 3 Palace players, yet none of them are marking him. He coolly guides the header in the right hand side of the post, making it 2-1 for Burnley.
As frustrating as these set pieces goals are, it’s refreshing to see that we haven’t lost our battling spirit and our resilience when playing from behind. In the 36′, Andersen lifts a gorgeous pass over the Burnley defense for Gallagher, who does great to get rid of Taylor, and lays a simple pass to Benteke, who coolly slots it in! 2-2, and we had already equaled the number of first half goals that we had scored in the entire season.
Five minutes later, a cross by Ayew from the right meets the head of Benteke, who heads it across the six yard box, where Andersen heads it powerfully towards goal. His effort is saved by Pope, but the rebound gets to Guehi, who puts it away with a good shot. 3-2 Palace, in what was becoming an incredible encounter.
After half time, with hopes of keeping our goal advantage and pushing for another to give us a 2-goal lead, we started slightly on the back foot. In the 49′, a cross into our box was headed by Tarkowski towards the far post, where Cornet met it with a beautiful volley that went straight into the top corner. 3-3, and it was game on again!
The end-to-end type of football we saw in the first half continued in the second. In the 54′, VAR had a look to see if Andersen was gonna get sent off after supposedly fouling Wood as the last defender, but the decision was made in our favour. In the 64′, Zaha let fly a super volley that was pushed by Pope into the crossbar and out for a corner. Afterwards, we were under the cosh, and Burnley had chances to score at Tarkowski’s header in the 77′, and at Vydra’s shot in the 90+3 minute. The latter was expertly saved down low by Guaita, and it absolutely won us the point in the end.
Final note: – Burnley pretty much bullied us the entire game with their gung-ho style. They never let us settle into our passing game, and they never let us take the calm, slow approach we usually take when playing. We were a bit disheveled in midfield, absolutely missing Macca’s leadership and composure. Respect a hard-earned point, obtained in difficult conditions. Onto Villa at Fortress Selhurst!
Key Takeaways
- We’ve scored 2 goals in the first half the entire season, and then we go to Burnley and score 3. Typical Palace.
- Burnley dragged us to their level, and (almost) beat us with their experience. They went gung-ho, didn’t let us settle into our passing game, and we looked all out of sorts for a good bit.
- After Burnley, we have now conceded 9 goals from set pieces in 12 games (according to WhoScored), first in the Premier League.
- It is quite clear man-marking is not working at set-pieces. We need to defend zonally.
- Not impressed with the defending. Andersen made a few errors, Wardy had a bit of a shocker. Defending set pieces was atrocious in the first half, second half was slightly better.
- Benteke with 2 excellent goals, should have had 2 more. Ayew consistent, Zaha poor (apart from that super volley saved by Pope).
- Gallagher had a good first half, getting an assist, second half he was quiet. Guaita saved us so many times, my MotM award goes to him jointly with Benteke. His last minute save was fantastic.
- Missing Macca’s composure and leadership in midfield. I think that had he played, our midfield would have not been so disjointed.
- Olise looks great with the ball at his feet. Showed cynicism with that foul on McNeil, and showed he has proverbial “balls”.
- This needs to be a learning experience for when the game does not go our way. Overall, a point well-earned, but could have easily gone against us today.
- Unbeaten in 7 – 5 draws, 2 wins.
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Matchday 13: Crystal Palace – Aston Villa 1-2
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Preview
We were coming into the game after a frantic 3-3 draw at Burnley, which again highlighted our woeful set piece defending. At Selhurst we were undefeated, and the entire Palace fanbase was expecting a good response following our poor performance against Burnley. Villa were coming into the game after Gerrard’s first game in charge, a 2-0 late win against Brighton. Invigorated by this new appointment, Villa were looking like a very tough team to beat. PV had this to say about our game:
“The season is so long and you go up and down, and at the moment we are in a really good period. The challenge is now to maintain that level and the challenge to myself and the players is about how long can we maintain the quality of the football that we are playing, the hard work we put in every day and then it will be interesting to see how we react when we go through a difficult period. It’s too early to talk about success or how well we are doing – we are doing well, yes.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
Unfortunately for this game we would have McArthur unavailable, but also Andersen who suffered a muscle injury. On the other hand, we would have Eze in the team, as he was slowly regaining his match fitness following his Achilles tear. Villa on the other hand were devoid of the services of Bertrand Traore and Trezeguet, both with longer term injuries.
The Setup
Palace set up in the 4-3-3 shape PV has favored throughout the season so far, with Gallagher, Milivojevic and Kouyate in midfield, Tomkins and Guehi as the CB pair, and Olise/Zaha/Benteke up front. The selection itself was strange, in the sense that Milivojevic and Kouyate did not perform well together vs. Burnley, and the expectations were that PV would try a different combination of players, perhaps even including Will Hughes in the selection. In my collaboration with the FYP Fanzine, we highlighted the possibilities of replacing McArthur, but it seemed that PV wanted to go with a solid, physical midfield just like in the Burnley game. On the other hand, Gerrard also set his team up in a 4-3-3 formation, with Ramsey – Nakamba – McGinn in midfield, and Young – Watkins – Bailey up front.
The Game
The game began with us on the back foot. We looked a bit scared and disorganised, and we gave away dangerous set pieces in the first 10 minutes. In the 11′, Zaha had an excellent solo run to the edge of the box, let a shot fly but it went slightly past the post. Big chance, which if score could have changed the course of the game. In any case, in the 15′, Villa get a corner – outswinger by Young, ball gets to Targett who finished with a deflected shot. I did a full analysis of this set piece goal in my extensive set piece report for the first 14 games and it shows how poor communication between Tomkins and Kouyate led to the goal.
After scoring, Villa went into turtle mode. They let us have the ball and pass it about, especially because we couldn’t create any chances. Our Milivojevic-Kouyate duo in midfield is awful at picking the ball from defense and linking to the attack – this was a big reason why our first shot on target came in the 80′. Olise was pinned to the touchline and got completely annihilated by Targett, while Cash on the other side taunted Zaha the entire game. We were very poor and without any ideas.
I want to mention the referee, Michael Salisbury. In his PL debut, he managed to send Douglas Luiz off in the 72′ for a straight red that got overturned immediately by VAR. Apart from that, a couple of advantages not let continue, lots of fouls and yellow cards that were not deserved.
In the 87′, McGinn scored a beauty from outside the box, a curler with his left foot. 2-0, and the game was over. We were not at the races at all for the entire game, and it was likely the most disappointing performance at Selhurst the entire year. To make matters a bit more bittersweet, Guehi scored in the 95+ for 2-1, from Kouyate’s cross. However, too little too late.
The most important highlight from the game in my opinion was Eze’s return. Even if he came on as a sub and did not impress in any way, it was fantastic to see him run about and gain some match fitness. It will take some time for him to get back up to speed with the PL conditions, but I’m sure he will do it in no time.
Key Takeaways
- First home defeat of the season after a most uninspiring performance.
- Another game, another set piece goal.
- Selection was uninspired – Olise was hugging the touchline and was completely annihilated by Targett; Olise had trouble defending and Ayew would have been a better choice (in hindsight).
- Milivojevic and Kouyate do not work together in midfield. Sticking with them as a pair after the Burnley game was a mistake. Luka seemed off pace the entire game and he lost the ball multiple times.
- Tomkins was rusty, and he was at fault for the first goal. We’ve also missed Andersen’s passing a ton.
- First shot on goal in the 80′ is simply not good enough. Villa did not do enough to deserve the win, they basically handed us the keys to the game but we didn’t know how to even get close to the door.
- What a catastrophic refereeing performance. Trigger happy for cards, gave Douglas Luiz a straight red that was immediately rescinded by VAR, overall poor handling of the game.
- Ollie Watkins deserves an acting performance, his dives are quite beautiful.
- Ebe Eze back in the team!
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Matchday 14: Leeds United – Crystal Palace 1-0
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Preview
Following our 2-1 home defeat against Villa we were going on a 2-game roadtrip up North to face Leeds and Manchester United. Our first game of the two would be against Leeds, a team in a somewhat small crisis. This would be a very tough game, as the traveling, injuries, and weather would certainly work against us. Here’s what PV had to say about the game:
“When you go to places like Arsenal, City and Burnley you’ll concede chances. It’s difficult going away from home and not conceding a goal in 90 minutes. We want to play on the front foot, score goals and the players enjoy that. We have to find the right balance to score goals and concede less to win football matches.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
We were coming into the game again without Macca and Andersen, but with Eze on the bench, still working on his match fitness. Leeds on the other hand were without Ayling, Bamford, and Koch, all injured.
The Setup
PV set up the team in his normal 4-3-3 system, this time with Schlupp instead of Luka (Gallagher – Kouyate – Schlupp). Interestingly, Gallagher was used in the Macca role, with Schlupp in the Gallagher role, something we hypothesized could happen in the FYPxTnA article. This setup is more balanced, in the sense that Kouyate can retain his natural CDM role, Gallagher can work within the Macca role, and Schlupp can easily slot in the box-to-box role. On the other hand, Bielsa sent out his team in a 4-1-4-1 system, with Kalvin Phillips in the CDM role and Tyler Roberts as the sole striker.
The Game
From the offset it looked like we were much more balanced than in our previous game. Irrespective of this fact, Leeds looked like a team possessed – the Leeds players were running incessantly, closing down passing lanes and trying to intercept the ball or wayward passes. In fact, for the entire of the game, the passes per defensive action (PPDA) metric (which I explained here) shows that Leeds kept us to under 4 passes, while we allowed them almost 13.
In the 19′, what is arguable the most important moment of the first half happens in the Leeds box. Ayew, who by that time was our best player on the pitch, having tricked Struijk yet again, is brought down in the box right under the nose of the referee and assistant. However, Kevin Friend waves play on. Now, any objective observer would tell you that, while Ayew was looking for the foul, Struijk does himself absolutely no favours by actually fouling him. A penalty which would have changed the dynamic of the game. VAR (what a surprise!) does nothing to correct the “clear and obvious error”.
Another important moment occured in the 37′, when Tomkins’ poor pass towards Ward is intercepted, which compels Ward to foul a Leeds player. Yellow card, and Ward would miss the United game on yellow card suspension. It was a stupid and unnecessary pass, and it would cost us the next game.
At half time, Struijk is brought off for Junior Firpo, as we has turned inside out by Ayew and he got himself a yellow card as well. However, surprise surprise!, Junior Firpo gets a yellow for a foul on Ayew 1 minute after half time. “The Ghanaian Prince toying with Leeds fullbacks” should have been the title of any post-match analysis.
In the 52′, the biggest chance of the game arose when Rodrigo latched onto a Daniel James pass in the Palace box, but he managed to only put it out for a goal kick. We got lucky, but overall Ward kept Daniel James in check (only 1/7 dribbles successful), especially since Ward was on a yellow from the 37′.
Apart from this chance, there was nothing of note for almost 20 minutes, until Zaha’s cross found Benteke free at the back post in the 74′, but his header went wide. Big Ben had his head in his hands, knowing how big of a chance he squandered. Six minutes later, another cross finds Benteke in the box, who extends a leg, fooling both the Leeds defender and Meslier. The ball was heading towards the empty net, but Meslier recovered and pulled off a stunning save.
In the 80′, the miracle Palace fans had been awaiting for finally happened – Will Hughes came on for Jeffrey Schlupp. A player we’d all been dying to see, Hughes did quite well in his limited 10′. He showed a bit of bite, good positioning, and even took an excellent corner. Definitely someone to look out for in the future!
After these misses, the game looked like it was going to head for a well-deserved draw. Both teams were tired and looked incapable of making something happen. However, in the 92′, a Leeds corner is deflected by Guehi, and the ball goes out of touch. The Leeds players surround Kevin Friend asking for a penalty, but he waves play on. This time, VAR calls Kevin Friend to the screen. After a few seconds, the referee awards a penalty for a handball committed by Guehi. In my opinion, having seen the replay multiple times, I can’t argue that the ball hits Guehi’s hand, but it was absolutely a soft penalty to give. If anything, it was softer than the one that Ayew deserved to get in the first half. In any case, Raphinha converts and the game ends 1-0 for Leeds.
Key Takeaways
- Ayew had a great game. Tormented Struijk, who got a yellow after a foul on Ayew. Forced his sub at half-time, and made his replacement Junior Firpo get a yellow a few minutes after coming on. Ayew is so good at holding up the ball and frustrating opponents, but he still lacks confidence in creating chances.
- Joel Ward suspended is a major blow before our United game. He did very well vs. Daniel James, restricting him to 1/7 successful dribbles. We’ll be without both Andersen and Ward for the United game, with Clyne and Tomkins likely replacing them. It will be Clyne’s first official game since February.
- Undeserved loss in my opinion. Very soft penalty for Leeds, and it hurts more that it came so late. A draw would have been a fairer result.
- This being said, we again did not create enough. I don’t know why this is, but we really need to work on the last pass/touch/shot. The Pitch Tilt metric (discussed here) shows the game was mostly played in our defensive third.
- Lowest pass accuracy (69%) so far this season. Got to tidy up our act.
- Kevin Friend is not my friend is the chant of choice for Palace fans. Penalty in the first half not awarded on a foul on Ayew, and Leeds’ penalty was very soft. Other inconsistent decisions came up throughout the game.
- Good to see the Kouyate-Milivojevic pair broken up and Schlupp making an appearance, as he was quite comfortable in midfield. Gallagher taking the Macca role and Kouyate as CDM worked well.
- Finally, Will Hughes! I thought he did well for his cameo, looked lively and with a bit of bite in him. Will be very excited to see him going forward (also the corner he took was excellent).
- 2 losses in a row, not great at all, especially coming after poor performances. Tough game ahead at United, as they are looking to have their “new manager bounce”. 3 losses in a row could really throw a spanner in our works.
- The biggest losers of this game are the Leeds fans chanting homophobic chants towards Conor Gallagher. What a bunch of sorry tossers.
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Matchday 15: Man. United – Crystal Palace 1-0
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Preview
The second game of our roadtrip was at Old Trafford against Manchester United. Coming after two losses, this was potentially one of the worst match-ups we could get, as Old Trafford is a place where teams don’t really win easily. Before the game, PV had to attend to some urgent family matters, and as such assistant manager Osian Roberts took over the press conference duties:
“The players have been professional in how they applied themselves. Everything has been seamless today and we’ll obviously speak to Patrick this afternoon and make sure. All the plans are in place in terms of what to do, we know what we’re doing. We hope Patrick is back with us later on today for tomorrow morning for sure.”
— Osian Roberts, Crystal Palace Assistant Manager
The Setup
Without Ward (suspended), Macca (injured), and Andersen (injured), a very tough game awaited us at Old Trafford. In an improvised defensive line, Clyne would make his first appearance since February. In midfield, PV opted for the same three players as against Leeds, while up top we had Zaha-Edouard-Ayew. On the other hand, Ragnick chose to leave Wan-Bissaka on the bench for his first game in charge. Otherwise, he used the same 4-2-3-1 system that Ole had used previously, with Rashford-Fernandes-Sancho as the front 3 + Ronaldo up top. United were also missing: Cavani, Lingard, Martial, Pogba, Shaw, and Varane, all injured.
The Game
The game started with us sitting very deep and inviting United to come at us. Not a great move to be honest, as they pressed us a lot when we were in possession. We were also trying to play out from the back for the longest time, but Clyne and Tomkins’ passing is not on par with the Ward/Andersen pair. This made United look much better than they were, and it was frustrating to see us take so long to change up things.
The biggest chance of the first half came in the 26′, when Bruno Fernandes’ shot was saved by VG in the bottom-left corner. Afterwards, nothing of note really happened the entire half. It was in all honesty very boring and dull, and United did not look close to scoring. They had multiple set piece opportunities but we cleared all of them. It is worth noting though that United are the only team in the league that has not scored a goal from set pieces this season so far.
After the start of the second half, we looked as toothless and clueless as before. We were just happy to concede possession and to sit tight and try to strike on the counter. However, we did not get many chances to do so, and de Gea was rarely troubled. One of the bigger chances of the half came in the 69′, when Telles’ free-kick struck the crossbar. Apart from that, still the dull football from the first half.
In the 75′, Ayew had a great chance to score from a corner, but his shot goes narrowly wide of the left post. I know lot of people would blame Ayew for his missing, but the angle was very tight, and de Gea had the far corner covered. If the ball had been on target, de Gea would have saved it. However, as it usually is in football, when you don’t take your chances you will regret it, which is what we did 2 minutes later. Schlupp and Kouyate failed to close Fred down, who let off a curler with his right foot, straight into the top corner. 1-0, and it looked like we were heading for the third consecutive defeat.
To try and salvage something from the game PV brought on Eze for Kouyate. Unfortunately, even with Eze’s introduction, we could not create any meaningful chances, and we finally slumped to a 1-0 defeat. Undeserved again, as United did not look remotely capable of scoring. A draw would have been fair, as the game itself was … awful. However, it looks like we’ve now started to turn draws into losses, as opposed to turning wins into draws at the beggining of the season. Lots of things to think about on our trip back home.
Key Takeaways
- Third defeat in a row. We made Man Utd look better than they were, as they really did not threaten us almost at all the entire game.
- Our atrocious passing accuracy continues – 71%. Two games in a row to forget.
- Clyne did well defensively, but passing wise he was poor. His accuracy was 68.3%, much lower than what Ward has accustomed us to.
- It seemed again that we just wanted to get rid of the ball. We look toothless and without any semblance of offensive ideas, as we just looked content to defend.
- We sat back way too deep. The pressure in the first half was mostly due to this, as we kept on trying to play out from the back and giving the ball away.
- Goal we conceded was because Kouyate/Schlupp did not close Fred down. It’s the 7th goal from outside the box we have conceded this season.
- No Hughes, which was a disappointment. Was looking forward to seeing him play.
- Speaking of Schlupp, he was a passenger the entire game. Only attempted 19 passes the entire 90mins.
- I know a lot of people will blame Ayew for not scoring from that one chance we had the entire game, but the angle was tight and De Gea was on it if it had been on goal. We didn’t lose the game because of that chance.
- Need to sort ourselves out. 3 games lost in a row is tough to take, and there’s a festive period coming up with tons of crucial games – Everton, Southampton, Watford, Tottenham, and Norwich.
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Matchday 16: Crystal Palace – Everton 3-1
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Preview
Back at Selhurst after our awful roadtrip. We were coming into the game after three consecutive defeats (2 on our Northern roadtrip), while Everton were coming after a last-minute home win vs. Arsenal. However, Everton were on a very poor run of form, compounded by their injuries, discipliniary issues (Lucas Digne), the war between the fans and Rafa Benitez/board, and the mass exodus from the Everton top management (director of football, director of operations, director of scouting have all left in the last week or so). Thus, this game was a must-win for both teams. Here’s what PV had to say about our game:
“The home game is coming at the right time. When you need to win games and you play at home, with the fans, we know the support will be there. We have to perform well and try to win that game. We know the fans will have a massive part to play in our performance.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
Coming into the game we were without Macca, Andersen, and Ferguson (all injured), while Everton were without Calvert-Lewin, Davies, and Mina (injured), as well as Lucas Digne, who was kicked out of the squad for disciplinary reasons.
The Setup
The game started with us in the nailed-on 4-3-3 formation, this time with Will Hughes starting as CDM, Kouyate in the Macca role, and Gallagher in the box-to-box role. In front of a full crowd at Selhurst, Will Hughes starting was welcomed with a huge roar. In defense, Ward was taking back his spot following the United suspension, while up top we started with Zaha-Edouard-Ayew. On the other hand, Rafa Benitez set Everton up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Delph as holding midfielder, Doucure-Gomes as central midfielders, Townsend and Gray on the wings, and Richarlison up front. In defense, Holgate and Keane started as CBs, with Coleman and Godfrey as fullbacks.
The Game
We started the game really well, buoyed by our fans and the fact that everyone expected a strong response from us after 3 successive defeats. We were also helped by how awful and passive Everton looked; they allowed us 5 shots in the first 15 minutes. Zaha had a fantastic chance to make it 1-0, but his shot was excellently saved by Pickford. Even if this chance did not materialize, we were in full control of the game, holding the ball and dictating the tempo.
It did seem however that we would eventually work ourselves into a “Newcastle” situation, where we would completely dominate the game but not find the way to goal. This fear was allayed in the 41′, when Ayew found Gallagher inside a box with an excellent pass after a failed Gray clearance. Gallagher converted Ayew’s pass with great aplomb, and we were 1-0 up right before half time.
After the break, we were still the better team, helped by the fact that Everton were catastrophic. Ayew toyed with Doucure and Gomes, leading the Everton pair to commit a series of hard fouls on him. In the 50′ and 55′ Gallagher had a chance to make it 2-0, but his header and shot went wide of the post. Following these misses, there was a sort of anxiety floating around Selhurst Park, perhaps compounded by the history of our earlier games in the season, when we couldn’t close out games like the one vs. Newcastle.
In the 62′, an excellent Hughes cross was smartly finished by Tomkins at the far post, and it seemed that we had complete control of the game. Four minutes earlier Benitez had substituted Richarlison off, who became very angry with his manager’s decision. The fans started singing “You’re just a fat Spanish waiter” at Benitez, who seemed to lose control of the game and of his team. Little did the fans know that Richarlison was taken off because of a torn calf, which is going to keep him sidelined for months.
Speaking of Hughes, he absolutely bossed the midfield. In excellent form, he dispatched balls to attackers in a very calm fashion. His positioning and game sense are top quality, and he is incredibly composed on the ball. There was even a sequence where he did a beautiful pirouette leaving Everton players dismayed.
Richarlison’s substitute, Salomon Rondon, managed to get his name on the scoresheet in the 70′, following a rebounded shot. Of course, in typical Palace fashion, we lost our composure and nerves and started gifting the ball away to Everton. What looked like a calm ending to the game suddenly became a very nervy affair. Fifteen minutes later, an Everton counterattack saw Gordon run clear of the Palace defense on the right side of the pitch, and the entire stadium held its collective breath. Gordon’s shot was hard, low, and very well-placed, but Guaita managed to pull a stunning save to keep the scoreline 2-1. In the process of saving the shot, Guaita dislocated two fingers and had to be patched up by the medical team.
After what was arguably the most important save of the game, we regained our composure slightly and started pushing Everton back. In the 93′, a freekick taken by Coleman found its way to Ayew in front of the Everton box, who miscontrolled it, but it somehow reached Gallagher. Gallagher took the ball on his right foot and launched a screamer straight into the top corner – 3-1 Palace, and the points were ours.
Key Takeaways
- Absolutely key win after 3 straight defeats. Brings us to 19 points, and 3 points closer to staying up.
- Dominated the proceedings for the entirety of the game. Would like to see more chances created, and a bit more clinicality.
- Again, we gave away a goal and become incredibly nervous and lost our composure. Have to work on the mental aspects of the game, we need to not lose our cool so fast.
- Gallagher had an excellent game, capped by a double. He is now our top goalscorer with 6 goals.
- Ayew had a great game – he absolutely bossed the right wing, and even assisted Gallagher for the first goal. Not going to lie, we are going to miss him tons come January when he leaves for AFCON.
- I think, after the 3 points, the most important win of the game was Hughes. Even though he was subbed off after 70 minutes (due to lack of match fitness), he played really well and kept the midfield nice and solid.
- Guaita saves us yet again. Didn’t have much to do during the game but when push came to shove, he delivered. Worried about his dislocated fingers, as it looks like he might be out for Southampton.
- Onwards and upwards! Next game, Southampton at home!
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Matchday 17: Crystal Palace – Southampton 2-2
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Preview
Still at Selhurst, and buoyed by our 3-1 win vs. Everton, we were all looking forward to the match against Southampton, who were coming after a 3-0 defeat at the Emirates vs. Arsenal. Lacking multiple players due to injury, Southampton looked like a good team to meet at this time of the year. Here is what PV had to say about our game:
“Every game that we are going to play in this busy period will be massively important. But it was good to win the game against Everton because losing the last three was difficult for us and we wanted to bounce back. We did it in a good way. Now what is important is to focus on the next one, Southampton.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
Coming into the game we still had Macca and Ferguson out with injury, but Andersen was back on the bench, in the hopes that he would get a few minutes to build his match fitness. Guaita was also out as he had dislocated two fingers in the game against Everton. Southampton on the other hand were missing their two goalkeepers Forsters and McCarthy, and had to sign the 40-year old Willy Caballero on a 2-month contract right before the Arsenal game. In addition to their goalkeepers, they were without Adam and Stuart Armstrong, as well as without Che Adams.
The Setup
In the absence of VG, Butland made his first league start in the PV era. In defense, Ward – Tomkins – Guehi – Mitchell took their rightful places, while in midfield we had Hughes (as the pivot), Kouyate as the #8, and Gallagher in his box-to-box role. Up front, Zaha-Edouard-Ayew was the trio of choice. On the other side, Hasenhuttl set up Southampton in a 4-4-2 formation, with Broja and Tella up front, Romeu and Ward-Prowse as central midfielders, and Lyanco and Salisu as central defenders.
The Game
The game started great for us, as we opened the scoring through Zaha in the second minute, after an Odsonne Edouard through ball. After that, we were on the front foot, pressing and creating chances, but we did not manage to double our advantage. This has been a mainstay this season, with us starting a game well but not capitalizing on our chances.
In the 23′, Edouard had a golden chance to make it 2-0, but he fluffed his lines and put the ball wide of the right post. In classic Palace fashion, 10′ later Will Hughes gave away a free kick (which was absolutely a dive from the Southampton player, even more weird that it happened in front of the referee) about 20 yards away from goal. Cue James Ward-Prowse, who showed again why he is the foremost set piece taker in the league, and the score was (undeservedly) 1-1.
After the goal, Southampton took complete control of the game. They pressed us high, did not allow us to settle into our passing game (same as Leeds), and created the more chances to score. However, you can clearly see in the xG plot vs time below that even though they had more shots at target, their efforts had a very low chance of scoring. Even so, three minutes after Ward-Prowse’s goal, Armando Broja latches onto a pass, breaks through the defense and unleashes a low shot from long range that beats Butland. 2-1 Southampton, and the fans are left asking if perhaps Butland could have done more to save the shot, as it was from very far out, not very strong, and he had time to see it all the way through.
In any case, we were scrambling to get to half-time, being outplayed by Southampton in the last 15 minutes of the half. After the break, Southampton dropped deep and allowed us to settle into our game, and we then started being more in control. In the 58′, Edouard had another golden chance to score, but his effort was saved by Caballero.
In the 64′, Benteke takes Kouyate’s place, in an obvious attacking move made by PV. One minute later, Edouard gets the ball inside the box, somehow manages to let a shot fly (after the ball hits his hand), Caballero saves it but the ball reaches Jordan Ayew, who scores! 2-2, and Palace fans were breathing sighs of relief.
While we pushed to score again until the end of the game, we did not have any luck in doing so. Even though PV brought on Olise for Ayew, and Andersen for Tomkins (to give the former a bit of match fitness), we were not capable of creating any meaningful chances by the end of the game. 2-2, and on we go on our busy festive period!
Key Takeaways
- Jack Butland had an ok performance. Conceded two goals, one of which was unsaveable. Other than that, he was not really tested, so I can’t say for sure what his level is for now.
- We are really hurting against teams that press us high and disrupt our passing game. Especially with Andersen out, who is the one dishing out 70-yard diagonal passes to relieve the pressure on the defense.
- Zaha had an excellent finish, and was in general a nuisance to Southampton. Edouard was good, he is getting more and more used to how the team plays, but he needs to work on his finishing.
- Our passing accuracy this game was low once more, 74%. Lots of passes going straight out of bounds or to the opposition. This being said, Southampton was even worse, only 64% accuracy.
- We really need to start making these offensive set pieces count. We have tall players, an excellent set piece taker, and yet we can’t manage to have even one dangerous attempt per game.
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Matchday 18: Watford – Crystal Palace POSTPONED
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Match postponed to a later date due to COVID.
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Matchday 19: Tottenham – Crystal Palace 3-0
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Preview
After our postponed match vs. Watford due to a COVID outbreak in the opposition team, we were about to face Tottenham away on our Boxing Day clash. In his pre-match press conference, PV confirmed that there was one COVID positive case in the team with 1.5 days before the game. He also had this to declare about the festive period:
“I’m not worried about the players’ welfare regarding the games in this period as it’s been like this for years. I am worried regarding Covid. Players coming back from Covid situation and asking them to play without training is a lot on them. This is what I’m worried about.”
— Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace Manager
The night before the game however, a new batch of test results was received and 8 confirmed cases were reported in the team, four players and four staff. The game was in major doubt, and the players were sent home from their hotel that night, with the expectation that the game would not go through. HOWEVER, the Premier League, in their almighty STUPIDITY, decided to have another batch of tests ordered before the game to see if there were anymore cases. PCR tests are not quick, and can take anywhere between 3-8hs to complete, thus some test results would likely be received after the game.
In any case, the real reason why this game was going through is far easier to understand: BT had taken over the broadcasting of the game since the Liverpool one was postponed due to COVID. Unwilling to get into a fight with BT, and taking advantage of the fact that Tottenham is a Greedy 6 team that was ready to play after their recent COVID outbreak, the PL decided for the game to go through. PS: One of the staff members that tested positive was PV, so the game was handled on the sideline by Osian Roberts.
I won’t dwell too much on this game as it was a simulacrum of a fixture. We lost 3-0, Zaha got sent off in the 35′ for two yellows, and Ferguson made his Palace debut. There’s nothing to learn from this game, as we had only 7 subs on the bench, out of which 3 were just coming back from positive tests and were not allowed to play because they had not trained enough. Onto the Norwich game!
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2022-2023
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