Another Poor Away Day As Palace Pay Price For Zaha Penalty Miss

We head into the break for the World Cup after a very disappointing showing at the City Ground which will linger until the Eagles can attempt to put things right on Boxing Day against Fulham.

TIME/ DATE/ VENUE

• 3pm
• 12^th November 2022
• City Ground, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 5FJ

RESULT

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Crystal Palace

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 4 Luka MILIVOJEVIC, 5 James TOMKINS, 21 Sam JOHNSTONE, 44 Jairo RIEDEWALD

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNSED SUBSTITUTES – 3 Steve COOK, 9 Taiwo AWONIYI, 13 Wayne HENNESSEY, 26 Scott McKenna, 36 Dale TAYLOR

TEB VERDICT

Let’s be clear – Palace do not have a divine right to win games but this is one that they really should not have lost. Had Wilfried Zaha netted his spot kick, things would likely have been different but the best away crowd that we have witnessed for some time cheered on the hosts to a narrow victory.

The game was there for the taking as Forest were no better than Palace even though the visitors just could not get going in any department all afternoon. The one shining light from the afternoon was Joachim Andersen, who along with Jordan Ayew, heads to the World Cup in Qatar with our very best wishes.

This defeat will hang in the air throughout the duration of the break and gives Patrick Vieira plenty to think about and work on before the Premier League resumes.  

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.

“The poor miss from the spot by Zaha just before half-time probably summed up our performance at the City Ground. The 68% possession sounds positive as a team statistic but the fact that much of this possession rarely threatened the Forest defence was confirmed by the fact that their keeper didn’t have one save to make during the whole game.

Much of our possession was played in front of their defensive shape without any real purpose or cutting edge. We rarely, if at all, managed to cause problems behind their back four. However, all credit to manager Steve Cooper and his tactics especially once Forest went a goal up. Their in-game management was very effective frequently frustrating the efforts of our players to gain any sustainable rhythm to our approach.

The home support and atmosphere at the ground was excellent and I’m sure played an important role in ensuring their team maintained high intensity and full commitment right to the final whistle.

For Vieira and his staff, defeat confirmed once again that away performances are consistently inconsistent. I’m certain he will feel as frustrated as our fans who travelled. With potentially only two players away on World Cup duty, following a two week break for those not involved in Qatar, Vieira has time on the training ground with the rest of the squad to work on the tactical and technical areas which obviously require addressing. There were no particular individual performances worthy of a mention in dispatches except to say it was a day to remind our players that we win, draw or lose together as a team!”

POST GAME QUOTES

PATRICK VIEIRA

“The game reflects our season so far. We had a good first half, we had the penalty, we had a couple of situations to take advantage but we didn’t.

We came back in the second half and slowly we lost our discipline. They started to believe they could win the game and defended well. We conceded the goal and after that it was really difficult to create chances”

The way we managed the second half wasn’t good enough and we can see there’s a lack of experience. There’s still a lot of work to be done to improve, be more consistent and win those games when the opportunity is there.

We have to be clear about who we are as a football club and how we want to play the game.”

STEVE COOPER

“We’re really pleased – great to win going into the winter break. We’ve had a really good week. We got let down last week against Brentford with some of the decisions that went against us, so for the players to respond as they did with the performance and result against Spurs, and the same today, is really pleasing.

The players deserve it – I think we were good for the win. I know we rode our luck on the penalty but I can’t remember Dean Henderson making another save, and we’ve had some real good chances. No doubt the best team won and it’s an important win.

It’s been a tough few months with the turnaround in the squad but these guys have been brilliant in terms of their attitude. We know at times we haven’t been the team we need to be but that’s a natural process of putting the team together.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)

UPCOMING FIXTURES

26/12/22 Fulham (h) – Premier League (3pm)

31/12/22 Bournemouth (a) – Premier League (3pm)

04/01/23 Tottenham (h) – Premier League (8pm)