Points Shared As Palace Mount Fightback Against Everton

After the joyous scenes at Selhurst in midweek, the Eagles managed to take a point after going behind twice against Everton to be mathematically safe for another season.

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 10 Yeremy PINO, 17 Nathaniel CLYNE, 19 Will HUGHES, 34 Chadi RIAD, 44 Walter BENITEZ, 55 Justin DEVENNY, 59 Rio CARDINES

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 2 Nathan PATTERSON, 7 Dwight MCNEIL, 12 Mark TRAVERS, 20 Tyler DIBLING, 23 Seamus COLEMAN, 45 Harrison ARMSTRONG

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“I am pleased with the performance, especially in the second half. We made so much pressure, created chances and missed a few. I am proud of the team’s effort and the belief we had and also the mentality to play for a win. I think it was a huge performance.”

ISMAILA SARR

“It’s a tough game. Our team was ready for this game. I’m happy to take one point, but we needed three points today and came out with a draw. We will prepare for the next game. This team is very good, I’m happy and I give 100% to the team.”

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.

A game that could have ended up 5-5, ultimately finished with a deserved point for both teams.

Unfortunately though, whilst enjoying an entertaining game, many of us left the ground discussing the inept standard of officiating. From the award of a dubious penalty against Bournemouth last week with hardly a touch on the opposing player to no award for a clear push on Strand Larsen by Garner today, sums up the inconsistency of both refereeing and use of VAR across the whole season.

This inconsistency has meant a loss of trust by supporters in the competence of officiating in the Premier League. It needs to be urgently addressed before the start of next season.

The game was between an Everton team who played a direct approach with physicality to a Palace team that struggled to come to terms with the tactics Moyes applied utilising the undoubted strengths of their players. This was one of the very few games where I’ve seen our back three bullied and unsettled by the physical approach and high pressing of the opposition.

To be fair to our players, they showed resilience in coming back from being behind twice but our vulnerability at defending corner kicks remains a real concern. I’m not sure why we weren’t wise to the predictable movement to the far post by Tarkowski. Also, I’m not convinced that zonal marking at corner kicks suits our players defending the ball from a standing start position.

Ironically though, as the game entered the latter stages, especially as we had only two clear days rest from the Shakhtar Donetsk match, we looked the team more likely to win the game.

My man of the match goes to Tyrick Mitchell. For sheer consistency of good performances over the course of the season, he should be in the England World Cup squad this summer. In my opinion it will be a travesty if he isn’t on the plane to the USA.

As an added note, we are now mathematically safe from relegation following the result between West Ham and Arsenal and can now begin planning for a fourteenth consecutive season in the top flight. Such an incredible achievement for a Club of our size. Up the Palace!

TEB VERDICT

An entertaining game at Selhurst will mostly be remembered by a seriously inept performance from the officials, the quality of which seems to be at an all time low and the best league in Europe deserves better.

Regardless of several dubious decision, the hosts made slow starts in both halves with the visitors scoring early after both kick offs. Thankfully, Palace managed to fight back on both occasions and even had the chances to take all three points.

Goals from Sarr, his 20^th in all competitions this season, and Mateta from the bench ensured the points were shared and safety in the top division for yet another season.

You could forgive many of the starting players to have the emotion zapping evening against Shakhtar in the legs, and while it took them a while to get going, the game did turn out to be an entertaining one against a side with hopes of European qualification.

With three games left of the league season to pay, Glasner will no doubt start looking at resting players in up-and-coming games ahead of the Conference League final at the end of the month.

One particular call out for Tyrick Mitchell – the coaches have worked hard with the left back and the improvement going forward this season has been immense and Thomas Tuchel in the stands watching the game will be a fool to ignore.  

LEAGUE POSITION

UPCOMING FIXTURES