For all the chances that the Eagles created on a sunny winter afternoon at Selhurst, it was the clinical visitors that handed out a beating that was not deserved.
Post Match Assessment
Top performers (according to Fotmob):
- Erling Haaland (8.9)
- Gianluigi Donnarumma (8.5)
- Rayan Cherki & Phil Foden (8.4)
As we see above, City players make up the list of top performers from the game. The 3-0 loss drops the Eagles down one place to fifth, still sitting in a potential Champions League spot, while goal difference falls significantly, meaning that they no longer hold the power of a higher goal difference compared to the clubs around them.
Arguably the strongest fittest line-up Palace could have put out their against the Citizens just was not enough to beat them. The one key difference between the two sides was the finishing quality. City simply took their chances while Palace did not. An XG of 1.88 for Palace versus only 1.19 for City proves that. Adam Wharton and Yeremy Pino striking the woodwork alongside other big chances missed as well was extremely frustrating for the home fans, especially when all it took was one Erling Haaland chance, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole game, to head it home to put City’s noses in front, which set the story for the rest of the game.
Patel’s Perspective
A few positives we can take from the game is that we can create huge chances, and also outclass a world class team. If any of you didn’t get a chance to watch the match, trust me, do not judge us from the score line alone. We were toying them in the first half and the majority of the second up until that Phil Foden finish.
Another positive is that absolute wonder of a player Wharton was in that game. He is so unlucky to still somehow not have a goal for the club, literally hitting the post this time. Regardless, his ball playing and passing through the lines were amazing. He was our real threat in the game. It looked like if anything was going to happen, it would happen through him. Daichi Kamada alongside him also played brilliantly and hopefully the knock he picked up is not too bad.
Moving on to the harsh truths, Jean-Philippe Mateta was bog standard again. He did not offer a lot of attacking threat. He had 16 touches all game, and 3 passes. I have heard some people saying “Let’s just sell JPM in January, he’s awful, he can’t finish.” That is harsh, but on the other hand, if rumours are true that he wants to leave, now is perhaps the best time to cash in.
The Frenchman is attracting interest from big clubs, he is getting older and his form is slowly diminishing. If he continues like this, are we going to this opportunity again to sell at around the £30million mark? That’s a lot of cash for us and for Oliver Glasner to work with. However, at the end of the day, he is our main finisher – top goal scorer of this season and last season. For now, we’ve just got to trust our man and hope that this poor run of form is just a blip. He thrives off our support, he lives for it. We want that Mateta back!
Our substitutes, Christantus Uche and Eddie Nketiah, did not provide that spark from the bench that we perhaps needed for us to infiltrate the City defence. We really need them to step up for our compact in upcoming fixtures.
Looking into the future, Steve Parish will need to invest in some new signings in January. Investing in our manager is much more important right now then upgrading our stadium. If we look at our squad depth, it is not the most full right now. This will be impacted more heavily with Ismaila Sarr at the AFCON and Daniel Munoz out with a knee injury at least until the end of January. We, respectfully, cannot rely on Nathaniel Clyne for a string of around ten games especially as they come thick and fast at the moment. We need at least one more attacking midfielder and a forward. Links with Brennan Johnson which is exciting, so let’s just hope it’s not the only player.
What are your thoughts on the form of Jean-Philippe Mateta lately? Is there anyone that you would like to see us buy in the January transfer window in particular? Would you take Brennan Johnson from Spurs?
