On reflection this is a game we should have won, considering we created two golden opportunities that Samuel Di Carmine and Adel Taarabt failed to capitalise on, but apart from that we were a little bit flat going forward.
I was a bit surprised at the style of play we adopted in terms of the way we distributed the ball from defensive and midfield positions. It happened before after a two-week international break when for some reason I expected us to bring something new and clever to the table, but instead we seemed to revert to smashing the ball high and to Wayne Routledge’s head.
Crystal Palace didn’t really offer very much and I thought Matthew Connolly and Kaspars Gorkss were the pick of our players. They were excellent defensively and actually the team itself did a good job of nullifying any threat the Eagles possessed. Radek Cerny also showed safe hands whenever called upon so in that regard it was another job well done at the back.
But going forward remains a bit of a problem. After working the ball so well in central areas for the previous couple of games, we just seemed to lack any invention right across all of our flair players and that meant we didn’t really carve them open in the manner we probably would have hoped to. We were a bit sloppy centrally as well, with the midfield, despite being five-strong in the first-half, a bit anonymous at times really.
The 4-5-1 definitely felt a bit restrictive and although we tinkered a little in the second half we didn’t really gamble enough to warrant three points, even if we did create those two chances that maybe on another day we might have tucked away.
We should of course be absolutely thrilled to see Rowan Vine back on the pitch. His return to the side is excellent news and I hope he can find some sharpness and confidence before the season is out and come back raring to go next season. You just wonder if Patrick Agyemang, when he’s back, will benefit from Vine’s creativity again too as will the team.
Between now and the end of the season is a chance to really put things in motion for next term and it’s important we don’t waste this opportunity to progress, but something tells me we need a clear message from the club and its intent with the remaining games we have to go. If we stick with 4-5-1 for the remainder of the season then we will need to bring in some players over the summer who can fit this system and style, if not, why not be a little more adventurous between now and the end and attempt to generate a feel-good-factor about the place again?
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