Eagles Succumb To Haaland After Giving City Scare On Their Own Patch

Not many truly believed lightening would strike twice at the Etihad, but Palace fans were still not comfortable at being two goals to the good against the defending champions, and so it unfortunately proved.

DATE/VENUE

27^th August 2022 – Etihad Stadium, Ashton New Road, Manchester M11 3FF

RESULT

Manchester City 4-2 Crystal Palace

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 4 Luka MILIVOJEVIC, 21 Sam JOHNSTONE, 23 Malcolm EBIOWEI, 41 Joe WHITWORTH, 78 Kaden RODNEY

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNSED SUBSTITUTES – 81 Claudio GOMES, 18 Stefan ORTEGA, 97 Josh WILSON-ESBRAND, 82 Rico LEWIS, 96 Ben KNIGHT

TEB VERDICT

A blistering first half performance from Palace shocked many with a John Stones own goal and a bullet header from Joachim Andersen putting the visitors two goals to the good at the break. It could well have been so much more had a Jordan Ayew goal not been disallowed rather controversially but our nemesis Darren England.

For as good as Palace were in that first 45 minutes, City were better in the second and a combination of pressure and fatigue saw the hosts claw their way back and once they got going it was always going to be difficult to stop them, especially after Tyrick Mitchell left the pitch with an injury making the back line a little lop sided.

You can pick holes in each of the goals conceded and we can all be disappointed at not holding out, but this is one of the best teams in world football right now with arguably the best striker in Haaland who grabbed his first hat-trick in England football after Bernardo Silva had given them a sniff of hope. That is all they needed and from that moment on it was a steam train that just could not be stopped.

This was a Palace side without Wilfried Zaha, but the positive is that we are going toe to toe with these talented sides and giving them more than a game, but the key this season will be beating those sides outside the those big six.

POST GAME QUOTES

PATRICK VIEIRA – “It is a tough place to come to play. We did really well in the first half and managed to score those two goals. We knew it would be a different City team in the second half.

We conceded too early then momentum was on their side and it was hard to deal with. We were a little less aggressive in the second half, maybe because we ran a lot in the first half. It was difficult for us.

Of course you have regrets because you are hoping to get something from the game. I am really pleased and happy with the players. We want to compete. We did well against Arsenal, Villa and Liverpool and in the cup game.

Today we knew how tough it would be. We put our sleeves up and worked well as a team but in the second half it was a bit too much.”

PEP GUARDIOLA – “The last two games have had a lot of goals and a lot of goals conceded. It was a good game. We have always struggled against them but we came back. In the previous seasons we didn’t have it but now we are starting to do it. It is a good lesson for us what happened in the first half but now it is a good game.

We have to improve. We are soft in some departments. There are parts we need to be in the competition more. The Premier League doesn’t wait. When you are waiting a while it is difficult.

It was not a frustration for the goals to happen in set-pieces, it is that we didn’t do what we planned.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE

UPCOMING FIXTURES

30/08/22 Brentford (h) – Premier League (7.30pm)

03/09/22 Newcastle United (a) – Premier League (3pm)

11/09/22 Manchester United (h) – Premier League (4.30pm)