In many ways Tuesday’s late defeat to Leeds summed up Palace’s season so far. Rarely have they got more than they have deserved out of games. Here is what I learnt from the match at Elland Road:
Palace pay the price for lack of killer instinct
I actually thought this was really close to being quite a clever away performance. For the most part this season Palace have tried to dominate possession but were happy to let Leeds have the ball at Elland Road in the knowledge that their hosts have been struggling to break teams down. And for much of the game it worked. Outside of Rodrigo’s poor touch the home side rarely threatened Vicente Guaita’s goal and it was Palace who were getting into the better positions on the counter. As the game wore on, it felt increasingly likely that the Eagles would be the ones to win the game on the break. The problem was that the visitors were extremely wasteful in the final third throughout and when the big chance fell the way of Christian Benteke he failed to take it. So instead of a clever away performance we have to talk about another late lapse of concentration which once again saw Palace fail to get what they deserved from a game this season.
Another late lapse of concentration
The next stoppage time goal always stings more than the last. Palace have developed an unhealthy habit of finding creative ways to lose games late on, whether it be through a scuffed goal kick against Brighton or a goalmouth scramble against Arsenal. At Leeds, Liam Cooper’s header struck Marc Guehi’s raised arm and after seeing one replay it was inevitable that the VAR would tell Kevin Friend to award the home side a penalty. It’s difficult to get annoyed at Guehi given the promising start he has made to his Palace career, but the cumulative impact of conceding three goals so late on already this season is extremely dispiriting. For all that’s been good about the start to life under Patrick Vieira, the Eagles must find a way to eradicate the late lapses in concentration that have already seen them drop five points in stoppage time this campaign.
Benteke’s miss sums up Eagles night in front of goal
Was that Benteke’s Palace career summed up in about 27 minutes? The away side looked infinitely more threatening once the Belgian replaced Odsonne Edouard, with his aerial presence and link-up play proving to be a real handful for the Leeds defenders. And with the form he’s been in this season there’s no other player Palace fans would have wanted leaping to meet Wilfried Zaha’s cross at the back post. But when Benteke nodded wide he may as well have picked up the ball, walked up the other end of the pitch and plonked it in the Palace goal before telling everyone to pack up and go home – such was the predictability of the events that would unfold next. Edouard, meanwhile, presents something of a conundrum for Vieira. After an electric start to life at Selhurst Park the Frenchman has fallen behind Benteke in the pecking order and against Leeds didn’t look entirely comfortable out on the left or up front on his own. Perhaps the solution is to play a front three of Benteke, Zaha and Edouard, which proved to be a threatening trio earlier in the season.
Hughes shows promise on Palace debut
It’s difficult to judge a new player on a ten-minute cameo but I thought Will Hughes offered Palace something different when he came on. The former Watford man snapped into a couple of tackles and moved the ball well – he was even ordered by Benteke to take a corner ahead of Conor Gallagher, suggesting he might also be able to improve Palace’s currently tame threat from attacking set pieces. The question is who would he come in for? Gallagher won’t be dropped and, alongside Tyrick Mitchell, Cheikhou Kouyate was Palace’s best player at Elland Road. That leaves Jeffrey Schlupp, who looked good in flashes, almost scoring in the first half, but his influence on the game waned after the break as Leeds saw more of the ball. Playing Hughes ahead of Schlupp would also free up Gallagher to influence games in the final third, which he wasn’t able to do so much against Leeds because of the deeper role he was playing.
Recent results a reminder that patience is required
After picking up more points than anticipated from a difficult start to the season, the expectation was that Palace would proceed to win more games against the teams closer to them in the table. However, the Eagles have now taken just two points from home fixtures against Newcastle and Aston Villa and trips to Burnley and a struggling Leeds side. It has perhaps been a reminder that Palace remain in the midst of a rebuild and are still far from reaching the end of that process. It’s a young squad learning under a new manager, and that’s going to require patience.
