MATCH FACTS
- Date – 26th November 2016
- Venue – Liberty Stadium
- Attendance – 20,276
- Referee – Kevin Friend
- Bookings – Fulton, Cork, Naughton, Routledge, Cabaye, Puncheon, Kelly, Hennessey
- Goals – Zaha (19), Sigurdsson (36), Fer (66, 68), Tomkins (75), Cork (OG 82), Benteke (84), Llorente (90, 90)
- Star Eagle – Christian Benteke (8.8)
TEB VERDICT
Quite game for the neutral but very hard to take as a Palace fan. Just when you thought you had experienced every emotion in football, a game like this happens. How a Premier League game can end up with such a scoreline is quite unbelievable but the defensive performances from both sides could be described in much the same way. Where Palace go from here is quite difficult to pinpoint but some soul searching and accountablility is required in the coming days. A run of six defeats in a row, seven without a win is quite astonishing.
PLAYER RATINGS (courtesy of Who Scored)
13 Wayne Hennessey (6.1) – There is not a huge amount of confidence in the Welsh stopper by either fans or players if this game is anything to go by.
2 Joel Ward (6.1) -Bullied out of the wall leading the hosts first goal and struggled throughout as part of an out of form back line.
5 James Tomkins (7.6) – The only defender to come out of this game with any credit and managed to get himself on the score sheet.
6 Scott Dann (6.4) – Can the real Scott Dann please step forward? We have yet to see the Palace captain return to anything like his usual form since recovering from injury. Played a big part in a couple of goals with his aerial threat.
34 Martin Kelly (6.3) – Clearly targeted as a weak link by the hosts but stood up to the challenge better than in recent weeks for the most part. Replaced by Zeki Fryers (6.1) on 73 minutes in a like for like change which really seemed a bit of a wasted substitution.
18 James McArthur (6.6) – Worked as hard as ever throughout the game in what was a real battle in the midfield. Replaced by Bakary Sako (6.0) on 82 minutes who injected a bit of energy late on.
7 Yohan Cabaye (6.7) – Not as impressive as in recent games, appearing lazy when on post duty as his faliure to clear led to a goal.
42 Jason Puncheon (6.5) – Guilty of giving away a soft free kick that led to a goal but continued to try and get things moving during the game. His ball retention critical at times.
11 Wilfried Zaha (8.1) – Outstanding once again from the winger and this latest defeat hurts him as much as it hurst us fans.
10 Connor Wickham (6.9) – Another injury after what was turning out to be a good performance. Prognosis does not sound very good even at this early stage. Replaced by Andros Townsend (5.8) on 52 minutes who failed to be an influence on the game.
17 Christian Benteke (8.8) – Worked the line well and got his goal in the end. Should have done better when called back for defensve duties but was not alone.
Unused substitutes – 1 Julian Speroni, 27 Damien Delaney, 16 Joe Ledley, 9 Frazier Campbell,
FYPTV
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID
‘I thought Swansea did well and we were hanging on and then the game went into a period of madness of goals. Bad goals for them and bad goals for us. In the end, five bad goals for us and four for them. I’m very disappointed the way we defended, particularly the last two goals when we got ourselves in front.’ – ALAN PARDEW courtesy of BBC Sport.
‘The players have shown a good way throughout and, for them to have something positive, I think it’s important to have something to change the luck man. I can’t say it enough, it’s a great bunch of guys and an unbelievable club but when things are going in the wrong direction, it just takes sometimes a lot of determination and courage.’ – BOB BRADLEY courtesy of BBC Sport.
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Leroy Fer (8.8) while Gylfi Sigurdsson had the most shots (7). The most tackles were made by Jay Fulton (5) while Wilfried Zaha made the most dribbles (4).
- Team rating: 6.93 – 6.71
- Total shots: 18 – 12
- Shots on target: 9 – 4
- Possession: 56.8% – 43.2%
- Pass success: 78% – 71%
- Dribbles: 8 – 9
- Aerials won: 20 – 33
- Tackles: 19 – 14
- Corners: 10 – 6
- Dispossessed: 6- 14
POSITION IN THE TABLE
The Eagles remain on eleven points and are seventeenth in the Premier League, level with Hull City in eighteenth and a point behind Middlesbrough and West Ham United.
