Palace Run Liverpool Close But Pay Price For Slack First Half

Today at 11:45 AM

There was little expectation for this early kick off but fans left Selhurst Park ruing the fact that the Eagles ended the game empty handed after a welcome second half performance.

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 2 Joel WARD, 15 Jeffrey SCHLUPP, 30 Matt TURNER, 46 Franco UMEH-CHIBUEZE, 58 Caleb KPORHA

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 2 Joe GOMEZ, 9 Darwin NUNEZ, 78 Jarrell QUANSAH, 84 Conor BRADLEY

TEB VERDICT

Once again, this was a story of two halves – an opening 45 minutes of mistakes, followed by a second taking the game to the visitors which saw the Eagles go close to taking a point.

It was a half of football that will give Oliver Glasner something to work on during the international break but another injury to be concerned about is the only wing back at the club, Daniel Munoz, who limped off early in the first half.

That is now no wins in the opening seven games of the season but there are positives to take into the next couple of weeks before a trip to take on Nottingham Forest. The starting line up needs to be settled and they need to perform as we cannot keep saying that things just need to click. While it seems to be very much that way at the moment, Glasner and his players just need to find a way to get that all important victory.

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.

"On my return to Selhurst after a holiday, I was looking forward to seeing if progress had been made in our team since watching us lose to West Ham. The challenges I noted then were could Oliver Glasner create a threatening attacking front line without the exceptional talents of Michael Olise, a combative pressing midfield plus a solid settled back line.

Unfortunately, those same issues remained during the first half of our performance against Liverpool. To be fair, the visitors pressed in all areas of the pitch denying space to create any pressure on their defence. However, we gave possession away too cheaply and frequently. It looked at times as though Liverpool had at least two more players on the pitch. Additionally, our press was often uncoordinated with some players caught betwixt and between when searching to regain possession.

During my time away, I had read calls on social media from our fans to drop Daichi Kamada and Jean-Philippe Mateta and play a starting front three of Eddie Nketiah, Ismaila Sarr and Ebere Eze. During the first half, I certainly didn't see any particular improvement from the previous selection in the final third of the pitch.

Whatever, Glasner said at half-time appeared to have a positive effect on our attitude to the game. Our press was more coordinated and there were early signs that we could cause problems for the opposition back line. However, it took the introduction of Will Hughes and Mateta on the hour mark to completely change our approach to playing on the front foot, winning more first and second balls whilst creating some clear goal scoring opportunities.

The second half performance arguably deserved a share of the spoils but only 'winning' halves of games whether in goals or dominance is not enough to see us gain the results required at this level. From a more long-term perspective, I wonder with the current players at his disposal, whether Glasner needs to seriously consider playing a back four as an alternative shape against specific opponents which also allows more bodies in the key midfield areas. Additionally, Adam Wharton does not look 100% fit and we do miss the presence of Cheick Doucoure in front of our back line.

I was particularly impressed by the performances of Jefferson Lerma, Maxence Lacroix and  Hughes today. There are definitely green shoots of improvement and hopefully the second international break gives Glasner more time to work on team shape and develop a greater cutting edge in the final third of the pitch. There is no doubting the overall attitude and mentality of our players and sense gaining that important first league win will be the catalyst to a movement up the table."

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

"Second half we did really well. First half Liverpool showed why maybe at the moment they are the best team, not just in England but also Europe.

We showed a great reaction in the second half, we created chances but did not take them. We also didn’t get the penalty. The second half gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.

I don’t expect that we have so many chances all over the game because they are very well organised, very good defending and don’t concede goals. We had a lot in the second half and that is what we have to continue.

We have to stop talking about last season. It was a different squad. Now everybody is focused 100%. We see we are always close, we were close to get the result against Liverpool. We can also be the opposite. This is the Premier League, this is where we have to improve.”

ARNE SLOT

“Really satisfied with how we started the season. It is a good start not only the results, but I liked our performance today. There was a period of the game we conceded free-kicks and that was a difficult period. For the last 10 minutes we kept the ball very well.

The fixtures are difficult, but I have felt how difficult Wolves and Palace are away. It is good that we have won these games and it is up to us to show ourselves in the big games."

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)

UPCOMING FIXTURES

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