Just when it did not seem that long ago when the last campaign ended, Luke Plange was the only new squad member to feature in the first game of pre-season heading into the 2022/23 campaign, despite the recent announcements of Sam Johnstone and Malcom Ebiowei.
The new boys missed out on their first Palace minutes due to a lack of training time. With the rest of the squad only managing a couple of extra training days, they understandably lacked match fitness and sharpness.
Palace announced two starting XI’s before kick-off, with both featuring a mixture of academy and first team players.
The first half side contained a wealth of first team experience, with support from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and 19-year-old centre back Noah Watson. Former Eagle Jay Rich-Baghelou, started at centre-back for the visitors upon returning from international duty at the Under 23 Asia Cup. The Australian missed the young Socceroo’s third place play off defeat to Japan after seeing red in the semi-final.
Despite the lack of match readiness, the Eagles showed glimpses of quality. Eberechi Eze looked especially controlled, often luring the League One opposition into committing late fouls. It was, however, Jean-Philipe Mateta that made the breakthrough, assisted intelligently on the break by Odsonne Edouard holding off his man and playing the ball over his shoulder, around the 20-minute mark. JPM showed strength and finesse to slot the ball past the oncoming keeper.
It’ll be an interesting few weeks for Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, as Mark Bright hinted on commentary that the youngster may go out on loan until the winter break, with Accrington already expressing interest. The young winger certainly showed the visitors his ability to ask questions of League One opposition, regularly beating his man and showing a good amount of comfort in defensive situations.
With eleven changes at the break, a young palace side were led out by seniors James MacArthur, Christian Benteke, Jairo Reidewald, Nathaniel Clyne and Remi Matthews. But just minutes into the second period, the visitors equalised after a lapse from youngster Killian Phillips at centre-back. The Irishman, like a number of players in the second half, was playing slightly out of position as the back four looked shaky.
New man Luke Plange started the half on the left of a front three, with Benteke through the middle, and Rob Street on the right. Due to a young defence struggling to deal with Accrington’s pressure and balls into the box, former Derby man Plange’s attacking opportunities were limited. With the absence of first team players the Palace attack were forced to mostly feed off long balls, and when coming deep to collect the ball Benteke and Plange rarely managed to create anything meaningful, in a game which saw a distinct drop in quality after 45 minutes.
With little action to mention in the second period, 18-year-old Wales Under 19 midfielder Jadan Raymond came on for a five minute cameo to see out the 1-1 draw, while Scott Banks and Cardo Siddik remained the only unused substitutes.
Perhaps surprisingly Patrick Vieira chose not to sample a formation featuring three centre-backs, despite rumours of his intention to explore such a tactic. However, with Guehi, Andersen and many more senior players set to return to training on Monday, due to their involvement in internationals last season, we may see Vieira tinker with the back four against Millwall in the next pre-season fixture.
FIRST HALF LINE UP – Guaita, Ward, Tomkins, Watson, Mitchell, Hughes, Eze, Schlupp, Rak-Sakyi, Mateta, Edouard
SECOND HALF LINE UP – Matthews, Clyne, D. Boateng, Quick, Phillips, Riedewald, McArthur, M. Boateng (Raymond 85), Street, Benteke, Plange
PRE-SEASON FIXTURES
09/07/22 – Millwall (a) – 1pm kick off
15/07/22 – Liverpool (n) – 1.35pm kick off
19/07/22 – Manchester United (n) – 11.10am kick off
22/07/22 – Leeds United (n) – 11.05am kick off
23/07/22 – Queens Park Rangers (a) – 3pm kick off
30/07/22 – Montpellier (h) – 3pm kick off
