Andrew McSteen’s four takeaways from Crystal Palace’s 4-2 loss against Manchester City – expected loss but positives to take
BY ANDREW MCSTEEN
As expected, Crystal Palace were defeated by current Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Club World Cup title-holders Manchester City at Selhurst Park on Saturday but it did not go to plan early on for Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team.
Another Jean-Philippe Mateta opener in the fourth minute, expertly set-up by Adam Wharton, was cancelled out by a Kevin De Bruyne equaliser less than 10 minutes later.
Despite having plenty of chances to score again, Oliver Glasner’s men went into the break all-square at 1-1.
However, most of the second half was a different story to the first, with the visitors going ahead early on through Rico Lewis in the 47th minute. His side then extended their led to three (4-1) through an Erling Haaland tap-in (66th minute) and another De Bruyne strike moments later.
But a strong ending to the game saw the home side continue to push and were rewarded when Odsonne Edouard poked home from close range in the 86th minute to reduce the deficit to two.
Here are Andrew McSteen’s four takeaways from Selhurst Park:
ADAM WHARTON AND THE NEW PALACE DNA
After signing for the Eagles just two months ago, midfielder Adam Wharton has effortlessly transitioned from the Championship to the Premier League.
An unexpected early debut for the now 20-year-old, saw him make his debut away at Brighton just 48 hours after putting pen to paper, and since then, he has worked out the league, the players around him and where he fits in Glasner’s side.
This was evidenced in his play on Saturday against, arguably, the best team in world football right now.
His assist for Mateta’s opening goal was one for coaches to show any players about spatial awareness, positioning and footballing intelligence.
With John Stones’ attempt at a Manchester City through-ball, Wharton stood his ground, highlighting the importance of not moving, a lost quality in modern-day football.
Palace captain Joel Ward, in his 300th Premier League game, cut Stones’ ball out, passed to Jordan Ayew, and in a passage of play which lasted barely two seconds, Wharton had assessed the run of Mateta, the positioning of the City defenders and the expectation of receiving the ball from Ayew to thread a sublime ball through to the French striker.
The weight of pass was exquisite and provided evidence of the quality and future excitement that the youngster – recently promoted to the England U21 side – will bring to SE25.
More telling in many ways, was the reaction of Wharton himself to a misplaced moments later on when the home side were in an overloaded 4 vs 2 attacking situation.
His errant touch towards Ebere Eze, which should have seen the former Blackburn player notch his second assist in the game, resulted in Wharton grabbing his head in anger and frustration before the ball had even reached Eze.
This shows the standard which Wharton sets himself and this can only rub off on everyone around him.
Wharton now represents the new Palace DNA. Upon joining the Eagles, he commented that the “big reason” for joining was “…the way they’ve brought players from the Championship and developed them into world-class players in the Premier League”.
While the club was known for bringing through academy prospects into the first team, what Wharton said was very telling with Eze, Michael Olise and Wharton himself evidence of the new direction for the club now.
Academy prospects will still come through, but the days of players like Victor Moses, Wilfried Zaha, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and, to a lesser extent, Tyrick Mitchell (who joined from Brentford’s academy) coming through the Palace underage teams and became Premier League regular starters may become rarer and rarer. Maybe we can expect one every five to 10 years or so before being sold on for a profit to fund the academy.
Now, it appears the academy serves the purpose of providing the very best environment to develop, loan and then sell on players regularly, with the money being invested into scouting the lower leagues, especially the Championship, for players who are ready for the step-up.
This is the way the football business world works – Palace now provide a valuable platform to showcase all the wonders that players like Eze, Olise and Wharton have.
Not one Palace fan expects that trio to be at the club for their whole career and but will enjoy them while they are.
GLASNER-BALL STARTING TO SHOW?
Ahead of the City clash Glasner had set his sights on taking three points. “If I don’t have this passion to win every single game, I retire,” he said in the pre-match media conference on Friday.
He assured those gathered that he and his coaching team had “…found one or two situations that have happened more often, and that also can fit to us, and this is what we want to use,” and this was evident as his side put in one of the best halves of football seen in SE25 this season.
The first half saw a Palace side understand fully their tasks and the concentration levels were evident.
Despite City dominating most of the second half, the welcome return of Michael Olise to the pitch as a late sub, along with Edouard and Naouirou Ahamada all saw the Eagles put City under pressure in the last 15 minutes.
Glasner is almost on a free pass for this season – as long as he keeps the side up – having come in earlier than expected, but the signs of progress are evident.
If key players come back from fitness and, most importantly, retained, next season is an exciting prospect under the Austrian.
EASY ON EZE
One substitution which showed the decisiveness of Glasner was withdrawing Eze for Jeffrey Schlupp after an hour of football.
The England midfielder struggled to find his form in the game, over on the left side of a midfield four featuring Wharton and Hughes in the middle and Ayew on the right.
The Greenwich-born player never really had the opportunity to run one-on-one against the City defence or showcase his entire toolbox of skills and was rightly replaced by Schlupp, who went on to assist Edouard late on.
For Eze, the window for inclusion in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the European Championship this summer appears to be closing, despite looking almost a certainty earlier on this season.
The entire Palace fan base and most football fans in England will be crossing their fingers that not only can Glasner find a way to utilise Eze in the best possible way, but that the former Millwall academy player can once again light up the league as he has done on so many occasions previously.
LACK OF 3PM SATURDAY HOME KICK-OFFS
This season, just five of Palace’s 19 home Premier League games will have kicked-off at 3pm on a Saturday – the traditional day and time for games to be played.
With so many things to consider – European games, TV broadcast, policing, transport, for example – it is no wonder that the Eagles will end the season having played Premier League games at Selhurst Park on every single day of the week.
The previous four seasons it had been seven home games each, while in the 18/19 season it was 10, but does it matter? Does it affect the atmosphere? Are floodlit games better than afternoon games? Are midweek games better than weekend games?
A lot of questions, but the days of the ‘traditional’ 3pm, Saturday kick-offs are a thing of the past now and we all have to get used to it.
