Eagles End Year On High With Southampton Victory

12/29/2024 01:30 PM

It was a welcome end to the year as Palace fought back from going a goal down to take the three points at Selhurst in game that the Saints pushed the hosts all the way.

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 15 Jeffrey SCHLUPP, 17 Nathaniel CLYNE, 30 Matt TURNER, 34 Chadi RIAD, 55 Justin DEVENNY, 58 Caleb KPORHA

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 1 Alex MCCARTHY, 16 Yukinari SUGAWARA, 21 Charlie TAYLOR, 37 Armel BELLA-KOTCHOP,

TEB VERDICT

It ended up hard work against the bottom side which looks to be the influence of a newly appointed manager, but the Eagles successfully navigated their way through to take the points.

Ebere Eze has been struggling of late but he found the quality to pop up with the winner which completed the fight back from going a goal down. Hopefully this will be a real boost to his confidence heading into the New Year with a busy January on the cards both on and off the pitch.

The game was a very scrappy affair in the fog but the hosts had plenty of chances to improve on the scoreline but visiting goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was in fine form between the sticks.

There were several notable individual performances but one to pick out was Ismaila Sarr who has really found his feet at Palace and continues to be a real threat working well with Jean-Philippe Mateta.

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.

"Not a vintage game, but the result was all important.

Despite going a goal down early, we managed to gain control of the games with a goal either side of the break to ensure all three points.

Southampton offered very little apart from high work rate and organisation which are exactly the type of teams we traditionally find hard to break down.

We certainly created a number of half chances during the game but our final pass or cross so often let us down. This meant for a tense final ten minutes to see the win out with a lack of game management by a few players causing unnecessary anxieties.

However, four points from the two games over Christmas means we are looking up the table rather than over our shoulders. An excellent return.

As an aside on the overall game, I thought the referee was way below standard required. He would not have looked out of place at a Step 4 match and completely out of his depth at the top level. He was so poor that both teams regularly felt aggrieved at his decision making.

We now go into the New Year with some optimism again and hopefully with at least two key additions in the transfer window that will ensure further progress in our results and performance."

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“I’m very pleased. Everybody expected us against the bottom team at home, but these games are often the difficult ones. We were very strong from set-plays and scored the goals.”

IVAN JURIC

"I think the first goal for me is a foul. This goal changes the situation and it’s the second goal we have conceded from set-pieces. Like against West Ham we do good things but it wasn’t enough today because we conceded stupid goals.They are fighting every game. We have to believe, there is no other option.”

MATCH STATISTICS

UPCOMING FIXTURES

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