That opening half of football was arguably the best from Palace so far this season when in truth a two goal lead was the bare minimum the visitors deserved at the half time break.
DATE
5th March 2022
RESULT
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Crystal Palace
VENUE
Molineux Stadium, Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton WV1 4QR
OFFICIALS
Referee: Andy Madley. Assistants: Eddie Smart, Derek Eaton. Fourth official: Craig Pawson. VAR: Graham Scott. Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis
DISCIPLINE
BOOKINGS – Conor Gallagher (53), Vicente Guaita (88), Will Hughes (90)
RED CARD – none
GOALS
Jean-Philippe Mateta (19), Wilfried Zaha (34 pen)
ASSISTS
None
TEB VERDICT
A lot has been said about the away form this season but two wins in as many trips away from Selhurst has silenced much of that. You cannot really argue with a return of 6 goals and only conceding 1. Neither was a fluke either, and each of the two teams are in different parts of the table too which is perhaps all the more impressive. Talking of being impressed, that first half was something else – free flowing, exciting and too much for the hosts to cope with. The second half was less so but it was a professional job with the hosts being the ones having to find something but they just could not break the Eagles down.
Palace now have a point less than at the same stage last season but with a far superior goal difference which when you consider we were all expecting a season of transition, we are sure you will agree it has been a pleasant surprise. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, City at home coming up and an FA Cup Quarter Final against Everton at Selhurst and that is more than enough to get our teeth into.
PLAYER RATINGS
13 Vicente Guaita (8), 17 Nathaniel Clyne (6), 16 Joachim Andersen (7), 6 Marc Guehi (7), 3 Tyrick Mitchell (7), 8 Cheikhou Kouyate (6), 15 Jeffrey Schlupp (7), 7 Michael Olise (8), 23 Conor Gallagher (7), 11 Wilfried Zaha (8), 14 Jean Philippe-Mateta (8)
SUBSTITUTES – 1 Jack Butland, 4 Luka Milivojevic (6 – replaced Kouyate on 69 mins), 9 Jordan Ayew, 10 Eberechi Eze, 12 Will Hughes (6 – replaced Olise on 82 mins), 20 Christian Benteke (6 – replaced Mateta on 69 mins), 22 Odsonne Edouard, 34 Martin Kelly, 44 Jairo Riedewald
OPPOSITION LINE-UP
1 Sa, 23 Kilman, 16 Coady, 27 Saiss, 2 Hoever, 8 Neves, 28 Joao Moutinho, 5 Marcal, 7 Neto, 26 Hwang Hee-Chan, 10 Podence
SUBSTITUTES – 3 Ait-Nouri, 9 Jiminez (replaced Neto on 63 mins), 11 Machado Trincao, 15 Boly, 17 Fabio Silva, 19 Castro Otto (replaced Hoever on 25 mins), 20 Tomas Oliveira (replaced Kilman on 79 mins), 21 Ruddy, 32 Dendoncker
POST GAME QUOTES
PATRICK VIEIRA – “It was the perfect performance away from home. We were really solid, created a lot of chances. I’m really pleased with the attitude, character and organisation we showed today. That is the best 45 minutes we have played since I have been at the football club and it is important for us to build on the last couple of games. Today it was not just about the result it was about the performance, and the performance was really good. We know we are capable of playing good football but we weren’t consistent enough so far. So the challenge is to be demanding of ourselves and our team-mates to keep playing as well as we did today and keep winning games. It will be difficult, but we are happy with what we have been doing and consistency will be really important for us.”
BRUNO LAGE – “We gave them 45 minutes in advance. It was about the duals. It was so simple for Palace. They won the duals, were aggressive with the ball and when we suffered with the goals it was so easy. When you play against these teams it’s more about what we did in the second half. We need to move the ball fast and we need to win the duals, and the big difference is we lost all the duals, especially in the first half. When you looked at what we did in second half it was a little bit better. When you play against these teams you have to have that mentality and courage to play our game. We have lost three games in a row and we are still in the same position so it means we did something good since we arrived.”
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Jean-Philipe Mateta (8.2) who also had the most shots (5). The most tackles were made Marcal (5) while the most dribbles were by Michael Olise (4)
- Team rating: 6.43 – 7.15
- Total shots: 12 – 12
- Shots on target: 5 – 8
- Possession: 64% – 36%
- Pass success: 81% – 74%
- Passes: 561 – 308
- Dribbles: 12 – 13
- Aerials won: 13 – 14
- Tackles: 20 – 14
- Fouls: 13 – 8
- Corners: 7 – 7
- Saves: 6 – 5
- Dispossessed: 8 – 15
POSITION IN THE TABLE
Palace are 10th in the Premier League with 33 points from 28 games played, level with Villa in 11th and two points behind Southampton in 9th
UPCOMING FIXTURES
14/03/22 Manchester City (h) – Premier League (8pm)
19/03/22 Everton (h) – FA Cup (3pm)
04/04/22 Arsenal (h) – Premier League (8pm)
