Palace Guilty Of Missed Chances In Defeat To City

It was a familiar story as while the Eagles succumbed to the strength of the visitors at Selhurst Park, it should really have been a different story had a plethora of chances been converted by the hosts.

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 8 Jefferson LERMA, 21 Romain ESSE, 23 Jaydee CANVOT, 24 Borna SOSA, 44 Walter BENITEZ, 55 Justin DEVENNY

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 1 James TRAFFORD, 6 Nathan AKE, 52 Oscar BOBB, 45 Abdukodir KHUSANOV, 63 Divine MUKASA

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“It feels a little bit wrong, but we have to accept it. This is how big games are decided. It was small margins. I think City were better in the boxes. We had 16 shots and losing 3-0 is a tough moment. We will take our lessons from this game. We need these games to grow and develop and progress.

We had three or four big chances and we tried to get our goal and get back into the game. It felt like if we got it something could happen.”

ADAM WHARTON

“The gaffer said after the match he was really happy with our performance. He said it was a lot better than even when we beat them in the [FA] Cup. I think there’s obviously positives to take, but also, we’ve lost 3-0. We need to look at where we went wrong and rectify that.”

MATCH STATISTICS

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.

“One of the key questions pre-match was whether following a Conference League game on the Thursday would we see a similar outcome to last time against Manchester United after the Strasbourg match?

To be fair from the outset there were no complaints about our overall performance, commitment and energy levels. The key difference between the two teams was in clinical finishing. We created a number of opportunities in the City penalty box but a lack of composure combined with poor decisions meant we drew a blank. City only had one opportunity in the whole of the first half when an uncontested cross was met and converted by Haaland heading back across Henderson into the net. Efficiency at its ruthless best.

A similar pattern was repeated in the second half. Some nice neat possession and incursions into City’s box but again a failure to convert any openings cost us dearly when Foden struck a clean finish past the outstretched hand of Henderson.

Their third goal from the penalty spot certainly flattered City but was a reminder of the difference in class in those key areas of the pitch between the two teams.

Overall it was a tough loss to take but the biggest loss may be that of Kamada for a spell due to what looked like a hamstring injury. He was excellent today showing his high technical ability to the full especially in the range of his passing. The partnership with Wharton provided much creativity in possession each complementing the other in the central midfield areas.

With Sarr now off to the AFCON tournament and the potential loss of Kamada, it will be interesting to see how Glasner shuffles the pack over the next three games in six days against KuPS in the Conference League, Leeds in the Premier League and finally Arsenal in the EFL Cup. What we all know for sure that if we are going to continue being competitive for the rest of the season some new recruits are urgently required in the January transfer window. That window may well define the success of our season and maybe the future of our manager.”

TEB VERDICT

This was not as bad as the scoreline suggests as the Eagles pushed City all the way, but their opening goal at the end of the first half was a real knock after the hosts had performed very well from the first whistle.

The game saw several chances come and go for the Eagles with Yeremy Pino and Adam Wharton hitting the woodwork, so the post European hangover continues.

It is clear that the absence of Daniel Munoz impacts the natural game down the right immensely, and while Nathaniel Clyne is an able deputy, it just shows how good the Colombian is.

The return of Ismaila Sarr was good to see and he bids a fond farewell until after the AFCON, with Senegal expected to go deep in the tournament.

An injury to Daichi Kamada could be a real blow if he has to have an extended spell on the side lines after landing awkwardly in the second half, making it difficult to know what kind of injury he had but he was in a lot of discomfort.

Perhaps this result is payback for the FA Cup Final with Erling Haaland scoring from the penalty spot after a foul by Dean Henderson in the box, a calamity of errors which started with Tyrick Mitchell slipping over just inside his own half.

LEAGUE POSITION

UPCOMING FIXTURES