Palace Found Wanting In Opening Day Defeat to Arsenal

It was great to get back to a packed Selhurst Park as the new Premier League season got underway and while we witnessed a defeat for Palace, there were plenty of positives, if there is still some work to do.

DATE/VENUE

5th August 2022 – Selhurst Park, London SE25

RESULT

Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 2 Joel WARD, 21 Sam JOHNSTONE, 26 Chris RICHARDS, 44 Jairo RIEDEWALD, 48 Luke PLANGE

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNSED SUBSTITUTES – 16 Rob HOLDING, 17 Cedric SOARES, 19 PEPE, 24 Reiss NELSON, 25 Mohamed ELNENY, 30 Matt TURNER

TEB VERDICT

All the hopes and dreams of a new season and then the opening game ends in defeat. It is not all doom and gloom though as while it was disappointing to lose the game, it was a tight game and it was harsh on the Eagles perhaps to concede a second goal. However, some of the old habits continue to die hard such as being clinical in front of goal and conceding from set pieces. Palace more than matched their opponents but it just was not to be on the night.

There is plenty for Patrick Vieira and his staff ahead of the upcoming trip to Anfield but it was good to see new signings Cheik Doucoure and Malcolm Ebiowei make their full debuts for the club. Meanwhile, Joachim Andersen had an outstanding game.

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.

“Early doors for sure but a couple of key questions from the game as it unfolded:

 Were we slightly undercooked after a squad effectively split in two across the globe pre-season?

Are we going to be vulnerable at defending corners this season with a distinct lack of height in our squad?

On the first question, I sense Vieira wasn’t particularly happy with having to prepare our starting XI with very little game time. He spoke about a couple of good days on the training ground immediately prior to the opening fixture. Obviously that may not have been anywhere near enough time to prepare for a game against a team who had spent heavily and will have aspirations for a top four finish. However, we know for certain there will be improvements within the team as each competitive game passes.

The second question will only be answered as the season unfolds but Arsenal’s first goal from a corner kick should alert our coaching staff to a potential weakness which teams will attempt to exploit. Offensively it was a relatively passive first half which we immediately picked up the tempo in the second half. This was more like the difference in approach we witnessed last season. The positives were definitely the atmosphere created by our supporters, a much more pro-active second half and individually, Doucoure showed that he is a classy addition in the defensive midfield area. Conversely, clinical finishing when chances are created remains an obvious challenge for our squad.

Overall, a disappointing result but enough positives to look ahead for a successful season. Andersen was my man of the match.”

POST GAME QUOTES

PATRICK VIEIRA – “We created two really good chances to score and we didn’t take them. In this game, you get punished. Of course I’m disappointed because we could have scored, even if we didn’t create much.

“Football is about trying to score goals and we played against a good side. It’s really difficult to control the game against teams that have really good players. We had the ball, we had situations but we didn’t create very much. In the key moments, we didn’t score to lift the crowd and build momentum. That is something we have to work on.”

MIKEL ARTETA – “I’m really pleased with winning, getting the three points and a clean sheet against a really difficult opponent in a tough place where they really got their people going. As we expected we were going to have tough periods during the match, but we showed great resilience to get through them.

“You need the right balance because if you come short in terms of physicality in this game, you’re going to be exposed. To have players at the back of the right size is really important in these kinds of matches. That’s the resilience we need to win football matches and see them through. Aaron Ramsdale did incredibly well from the one-on-one and won the game for us.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE

UPCOMING FIXTURES

15/08/22 Liverpool (a) – Premier League (8pm)

20/08/22 Aston Villa (h) – Premier League (3pm)

27/08/22 – Manchester City (a) – Premier League (3pm)