Eagles Fight Back After Quick Start To Grab Point

In what was a decent contest between the two sides, Palace sprinted out of the blocks only to enter into a peculiar lull which allowed the hosts back into the game.

DATE

15th December 2021

RESULT

Crystal Palace 2-2 Southampton

VENUE

Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU

OFFICIALS

Referee: Simon Hooper. Assistants: Dan Robathan, Derek Eaton. Fourth official: Robert Jones. VAR: John Brooks. Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes

DISCIPLINE

BOOKINGS – Marc Guehi (25), Valentino Livramento (67), James Tomkins (73), Mohammed Salisu (84), Lyanco (88), Caballero (90+4)

RED CARD – none

GOALS

Wilfried Zaha (2), James Ward-Prowse (33), Armando Broja (36), Jordan Ayew (65)

ASSISTS

None

TEB VERDICT

This was an odd game for Palace who started brightly and should have been at least two goals in front before what appeared to be a period where they just stopped and looked leggy all of a sudden. That allowed the hosts to force their way into the game with two goals, the first from a free kick which should never have been given and the second a speculative effort which ended up in the bottom corner.

Having said that, you have to admire the battling qualities but there will be concern that for some of the game the Eagles could hardly string two passes together and really lost the plot. In the end it was a well earned point and whether the significant efforts of the victory over Everton at the weekend played a part, it is perhaps a heads up ahead of the third game in a week at Watford this weekend, should that go ahead.

BOB’S POINT OF VIEW

Bob White was a coach at Palace under the tenure of Steve Coppell and Alan Smith and will be sharing his point of view each week in our review article.

“It looked like the momentum of the win over Everton on Sunday was going to continue when we opened the scoring within two minutes. However, what followed was a rather disjointed performance with too many misplaced passes especially in the final third. The Saints capitalised on our inconsistency and went ahead with two fine goals going into the break. It says much about the resilience of our team that even when not at our best, we manage to claw ourselves back into the game following an acute angle finish at the far post by Jordan Ayew. His work ethic and approach over a number of games this season certainly deserved the reward of a rare goal.

For whatever reason, maybe two games in four days affected the intensity and general quality of our play in key areas. Essentially when the final whistle sounded, it felt like a well earned point with neither team doing quite enough to gain all three points. No real standout performances but I continue to be impressed with the qualities that Hughes brings to our midfield. Vieira possibly needs to freshen the team up for the game at Watford without making too many radical changes in personnel.”

PLAYER RATINGS

1 Jack Butland (6), 2 Joel Ward (6), 5 James Tomkins (6), 6 Marc Guehi (7), 3 Tyrick Mitchell (7), 23 Conor Gallagher (7), 8 Cheikhou Kouyate (6), 12 Will Hughes (7), 11 Wilfried Zaha (7), 9 Jordan Ayew (8), 22 Odsonne Edouard (7)

SUBSTITUTES – 4 Luka Milivojevic, 7 Michael Olise (6 – replaced Ayew on 75 mins), 10 Eberechi Eze, 13 Vicente Guaita, 15 Jeffrey Schlupp, 16 Joachim Andersen (6 – replaced Tomkins on 81 mins), 17 Nathaniel Clyne, 20 Christian Benteke (6 – replaced Kouyate on 64 mins), 44 Jairo Riedewald

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

13 Caballero, 21 Livramento, 4 Lyanco, 22 Salisu, 2 Walker-Peters, 20 Smallbone, 8 Ward-Prowse, 6 Romeu, 11 Redmond, 23 Tella, 18 Broja

SUBSTITUTES – 7 Long (replaced Broja on 70 mins), 15 Perraud, 19 Djenepo (replaced Smallbone on 70 mins), 24 Elounoussi, 27 Diallo, 32 Walcott (replaced Tella on 82 mins), 25 Bednarek, 41 Lewis, 43 Valery

POST GAME QUOTES

PATRICK VIEIRA “At the end of the first half, we got punished by stopping playing after scoring the first goal. I think we were making too many touches, we were playing individually and not collectively and they started to build confidence. Then they scored those two goals and, in the first half, I think we played for 10 or 15 minutes. When I look at the game overall, I’m pleased to take a point because they played some really good football, they pressed us high and we didn’t manage to play through that pressure. The point we took tonight regarding the way we played, I don’t think we deserved more than that.”

RALPH HASENHUTTL – “After not a very good start, it made it not easy for us. We then had a little bit of luck because we could have been two down and then it’s tougher to come back. But the reaction we showed afterwards was brilliant. We had opportunities for scoring more often. In the second half, I saw both teams fighting for everything. After 20 minutes, there was a little bit of time where we were running out of energy. Shortly before I wanted to make the first changes, we conceded a stupid goal. Maybe this was the most disappointing part of the game because it was the only chance of the second half they had. When we made the changes, we put them back on the back foot… We had a few good moments… In the end, we’ll take the point and keep on going.”

MATCH STATISTICS

The Who Scored man of the match was James Ward-Prowse (7.9) who also had the most shots along with Odsonne Edouard (4). The most tackles were made by Kyle Walker-Peters (8) as the most dribbles were by Conor Gallagher (4)

  • Team rating: 74 – 6.75
  • Total shots:  9 – 15
  • Shots on target:  6 – 4
  • Possession:  59.7% – 40.3%
  • Pass success: 74% – 65%  
  • Passes: 448 – 299
  • Dribbles: 11 – 7  
  • Aerials won: 24 – 22
  • Tackles: 20 – 24
  • Fouls: 16 – 20
  • Corners: 4 – 6    
  • Saves: 2 – 4
  • Dispossessed: 13 – 16   

POSITION IN THE TABLE

At the final whistle, Palace were 11th in the Premier League with 20 points from 17 games played, level with Brentford in 12th and two points behind Villa in 10th.

UPCOMING FIXTURES

18/12/21 Watford (a) – Premier League (3pm)

26/12/21 Tottenham Hotspur (a) – Premier League (3pm)

28/12/21 Norwich City (h) – Premier League (3pm)

 

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