21st Aug 2024 • Written by Haris Armstrong

Unlucky Palace must improve if they want good form to continue

Crystal Palace began their Premier League campaign with a frustrating defeat to Brentford in West London. 

Despite controlling the game for large spells, the Eagles were wasteful in front of goal and ultimately fell to Yoane Wissa’s 76th-minute strike.

Oliver Glasner’s side were inefficient and indecisive but will point to a number of officiating decisions that went against them over the course of the 90 minutes. 

Referee Sam Barrott admitted that he had made a mistake in blowing for a foul just milliseconds before Eberechi Eze’s free-kick had found its way into the back of the net. 

More patience from the man in the middle would have allowed VAR to intervene and adjudge whether Will Hughes had fouled Nathan Collins in the box - a decision that may well have gone Palace’s way. 

In the second half, Odsonne Edouard looked to have given Palace the lead just minutes after the Eagles had brought themselves level, only for the offside flag to be raised. A brief VAR check showed the Frenchman to have fractionally mistimed his run. 

On another day, Palace could have been returning to South London with an impressive and clinical opening day victory. As much as events seemed to conspire against them on the day, there are areas that need improvement if the form shown at the end of last season is to continue. 

Palace defended poorly and paid the price 

The opening 29 minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium had gone according to plan. Palace were sharp and tidy and resembled the side that had looked unstoppable throughout April and May. 

Without creating many clear cut-chances, the Eagles had control. 

However, Thomas Frank’s side were providing a nagging threat on the break and with the pace they possessed in forward areas, were frequently catching Palace off guard. 

Just moments after Eze’s disallowed free-kick, Glasner’s men were carved open with relative ease. A flurry of incisive Brentord passes bypassed the Eagles’ midfield and saw Bryan Mbeumo beyond Palace’s backline.

Credit: HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP/Getty Images

The timing of Palace’s press was off and it lacked intensity - they were too easy to play through. 

A fully match-sharp and battle-hardened Palace XI does not allow this to happen as easily as it did. There will be occasions where an opponent has the quality to overcome a press, but Glasner will not be happy with the ease and frequency at which the Bees were able to cut Palace open. 

The defending in the box also left a lot to be desired. The manner in which Mbeumo was able to shift inside and fire beyond Dean Henderson was far from ideal. Marc Guehi should have been tighter to make life more difficult for the Cameroonian. 

The second goal was also avoidable. Palace’s backline was in disarray as the deep cross was played in by Mikkel Damsgaard. Joachim Andersen mistimed his header and allowed the ball to fall to Collins in the box. 

The Eagles failed to deal with the situation and were unable to react as sharply as their hosts. 

Mistakes such as these are symptomatic of a lack of match sharpness but Glasner and his coaching staff undoubtedly will be hoping for an improved defensive display against West Ham. 

Defensive reinforcements are highly likely before the end of the transfer window, with the club currently in talks to sign Wolfsburg’s Maxence Lacroix and Benfica’s Tomas Araujo.

Personal terms with Lacroix were agreed last week after months of contact with the Frenchman’s representatives, The Palace Way understands. 

More creativity is needed if Palace are to turn dominance into points

In many ways, the performance at Brentford was encouraging. Palace exercised the territorial dominance we have been accustomed to seeing under Glasner. 

When in possession, the side were high and were able to pin their opponents back.

It was the ability to unlock a packed defence that proved to be Palace’s attacking downfall once again. 

Without the defence-unlocking ability of Michael Olise, attacks were often slow and cumbersome.

Eze was the bright spark but frequently found himself starved of room to work his magic. It is hoped that the technical ability of new signing Daichi Kamada will help in this respect. 

Credit: MI News/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Japanese international showed promise but struggled to have the impact he would have hoped for on his debut. 

Palace are in desperate need of quality attacking reinforcements that can add ingenuity and creativity. It’s clear the strategy is to ‘replace’ Olise’s output through multiple players, however, these characteristics of his game will need to come from a new signing in his position.

With a forward and left wing-back cover high on the club’s shopping list, fans will be hoping the answers can be found before the end of the window - or Palace risk wasting a season with the best manager and strongest squad in their history.

Thumbnail Credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport via Getty Images

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