Written by kirsikka
Changes for the Cherries as Kroupi Jr came in for his full PL debut with Evanilson suffering an injury, whilst the Brooks injury saw Kluivert come in to start. Jiminez started at right back in place of Hill, although that was a tactical choice. Meanwhile, on the positive injury front, Smith and Cook were fit enough to make the bench.
Recent games against Palace have been amongst the dullest I’ve seen as they’ve looked to spoil and play for a 0-0 from the first minute. Genuinely among the most boring teams we’ve ever faced. So there seemed to be a good chance today would be set to be another snooze-fest.
Then again, their recent success may have changed their outlook and ambitions…
Man of the Match against Crystal Palace
Kroupi Jr
Kroupi Jr
Vote
Tavernier
Tavernier
Vote
Senesi
Senesi
Vote
Petrovic
Petrovic
Vote
Someone else
Someone else
Vote
How to describe that match? It was like watching the footballing equivalent of the boxing match at the end of the first Rocky movie. Two teams that have stood there trading blows for 90 minutes, one in particular taking immense punishment but refusing to hit the canvas, only for the result to end as a last-ditch draw. Only this one was ref assisted.
This is a complicated afternoon to describe, especially when it comes to Jarred Gillet. We have some history with him where he’s been up there as possibly my least favourite ref for the way he has consistently stuffed us in matches.
It seems a shame to talk about him after a feast of football, but let’s get it out of the way early since it’s unavoidable.
First half, he was pretty even-handed, letting go of some robust challenges from both sides. I’m ok with that when it’s equal. Second half, he went full Palace on those decisions, with them regularly allowed to scythe down AFCB players or wrestle them to the ground with nothing given but immediately giving free kicks for the same offences in the other direction.
Those are the balance of play decisions, though, there are also the big ones, and he had possibly four to make in the afternoon. There was a penalty claim for a foul on Semenyo that wasn’t given, and, to be fair, I think he got that right. There was also a penalty claim for an alleged shove on a Palace player from Senesi, also not given. Also correct.
Then the two big ones.
Senesi tried to slide and take the ball away from a Palace player running at the goal. However, the Palace player got a touch first that took it away from goal, so Senesi’s slide ended up taking him over. Given Gillett’s record against us, I assumed it would be an immediate red despite it being borderline, at best, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the yellow come out.
VAR got involved, though, and took an immense amount of time before finally deciding to call him to the screen. Again, countless replays ensued. In total, the VAR check took four minutes. At that point, how anyone can claim it’s a clear and obvious mistake, I don’t know. I think even Gillett realised that and he decided to stick with his on-field decision. Gosh, did he do us a good reffing turn for the first time ever?
Anyone who thinks that was clear-cut either way is talking nonsense, but that’s kind of the point of how VAR is meant to work. It was debatable, at best, and so shouldn’t overturn the original call.
There was still number four, though.
An injury time corner is swung over and Guehi starts rugby tackling Diakite, who responds in kind. Guehi collapses to the ground and Gillett points to the spot. As soon as I saw the replay, I thought it would be overturned as that was definitely a clear and obvious error. I can only assume whoever was on VAR was hacked off over not getting their requested decision against AFCB earlier in the game, because they waved it through.
It’s a shame to have lost so much space to the ref, but, in the end, he handed the point to Palace. I’m not saying we deserved all three on the balance of chances or play, because we didn’t, yet that isn’t what decides football matches.
Enough about that for now, the rest of the match.
It was a rollicking game of utter chaos almost from the start. I’m not sure the quality was as high as you’ll see in some other PL matches this weekend, but for pure entertainment it won’t be beaten.
There’s too much to cover going through it blow by blow, so I’ll pick out some themes and some key moments instead.
Kroupi Jr really announced his fox-in-the-box credentials this afternoon. The first snaffled from a corner that a Palace player flicked on and the second to finish off a glorious sweeping move, pouncing on a half-clearance to volley home with aplomb.
In a way, he was our strength but also our weakness out there. When they had us pinned back in the second half, we couldn’t get anything to stick with him. He’s a teenager making his first PL start and scored two goals, which is incredible, so don’t take this as a criticism. There’s no way he could be the finished article yet. However, we struggled without someone to offer us an outlet when they started to dominate.
In contrast, Palace were able to hit their target man time and again, and get the ball held up or laid off, opening up space for another attack. Exactly the kind of situation that led to them scoring.
The midfield battle was raw and aggressive. I think we matched them in the first half but came off as significant losers in the second. They kept picking up second balls time and again and running into the space that had been created by a tussle.
Hard to pinpoint where it was going wrong in the middle. However, of all our players, the one from whom I think I saw the least was Scott. Maybe the stats will tell a different story.
At 84 minutes, they’d had ten shots in the second half to our two. They had battered us. Of course, they will be pushing forward more to try and get back into the game, but that should have left us space to work with when we broke. Yet, it rarely showed.
The first period saw us take our chances and them spurn theirs; aside from that, I thought it was pretty even. Second half, we were mostly steamrolled, and nothing AI tried changed that.
After piling on the pressure, it finally told with a Palace pass wide right that saw a cross fired across the goal and turned. Initially disallowed for offside, VAR correctly gave it. Nothing controversial there to discuss.
A few minutes later, Palace hit a wide curling far post cross that was met first time with a low cross/shot. Petrovic got low to knock it wide, but Mateta came sliding in at the back post to score.
That was the match that turned around in about five minutes, but the truth is it had been coming for some time.
As usual, AI went for it and made a triple sub. However, without a natural striker left on the pitch, it seemed like Tavs was leading the line, but it was quite fluid, so that may not be correct. Interesting, at least!
When we did get on the ball, we caused problems as evidenced by switching the ball nicely, Truffert bursting forward and giving it to Gannon-Doak. He again showed good composure to play in the run from Tavs to the byline, and his cross was turned home by Christie.
With only injury time left, that should have been the winner. We all know what happened next.
Please remember this is a stream of consciousness, so won’t always come across correctly. If I sound negative, then please let me state and be clear: we battled and fought for everything out there and gave it all. No criticism for effort, and sometimes that’s enough.
It wasn’t a game we deserved to win, though. You could even argue we didn’t deserve a point. Still, a draw shouldn’t have been handed to them with a nonsense penalty. Despite the red card decision, I find myself, once again, after an AFCB match officiated by Jarred Gillett, thinking I wish he’d piss off.
Selected Player Watch
—– Kroupi Jr —–
Two goals and it looks like a handful, but faded from the match. He’s young and will learn to impact matches more outside of scoring over time. Brilliant to have him on the books, and I’m very excited to see him develop.
—– Senesi —–
Got away on an umpire’s call with the red card – it wouldn’t have been overturned if it had been given. Apart from that, he was the rock on which our defence was built today. So many challenges, headers, and interceptions.
—– Diakite —–
Again, we saw some towering leaps from him, which were impressive. Mostly stood strong, but we did concede three. As for the penalty, I don’t know what to say. If we’re giving spot kicks for that, then there are going to be seventeen in every match.
—– Petrovic —–
There were a couple of times where he looked a little nervy out there. I’m not sure any of the goals were particularly his fault. However, I don’t think he took the chance to stand up and win us the points. It felt like the sort of game in which he is meant to excel. He didn’t.
—– Scott —–
It felt like Adams was getting stuck in and trying to clear up a lot of messes out there, but I didn’t see an awful lot from AS. He was significantly outshone by Wharton, whom he wants to replace in the England squad. A learning experience.
—– Jiminez —–
Tough test but I thought he mostly came out of it well. Another one with a lot of promise.
AI and Tactics Watch
A day when AI didn’t have it all his own way. The half time changes from Glasner took the game away from us and they never relented until they finally capitalised on it. I don’t think it was a case of us sitting back on a lead because that isn’t really AI’s style; I think it was them taking the game to us and us not having the right answers.
Truth be told, the first half was pretty even, but we took our chances, whereas they spurned theirs. The second half was almost all of them and an AFCB win wouldn’t really have been deserved on what took place on the pitch. However, it should have been earned by goals scored, until Gillett decided to get involved in injury time.
I can imagine AI is frustrated in many different ways tonight. The result, the officiating, tactical plans that didn’t work and maybe one or two individual performances. I hope he doesn’t overlook all the positives though, including the tactical plans that did work and the immense heart shown throughout.
It’s been said already this season, but we do struggle against a team that wants to be physical and hit high balls in. With the height we’ve lost, even given the prodigious leaps of Diakite, it’s an obvious way to try and hurt us.
Ironic that their two open play goals came from low balls, but the Palace’s second-half momentum was all built around a physicality and presence we couldn’t match.
It’s a point away from home in the PL, so it’s never a bad result. However, let’s be honest and admit that we got away with it a little today.
If I wanted to pick holes, I’d have taken off Scott earlier for Christie, not that his presence ended up stemming the tide. However, it was the obvious move and may have slowed them down if we’d have made the change before they scored their first.
I don’t feel like there was any time when I thought the result was safe at 2-0. We simply didn’t take control and were sucked into the slugfest Palace wanted.
Given how they travelled triple the distance compared to us and yet were still going at it right to the last second, I guess we can finally put to bed the whole international break travelling thing that gets repeated every time. It didn’t stop them, so it shouldn’t stop us.
For a while there, we were almost Pretty In Pink at the top of the table, but clearly John Hughes hasn’t finished the script for this season yet. If anything, today was the day that Kroupi Jr sent him a message about the rest of the plot – Don’t You (Forget About Me).
Still, going well, isn’t it? Onto a Forest team next who will, presumably, be led by AFCB’s krypton-Dyche. Urgh.
Your say…
Ice8cold said…
Mixed emotions big time.
Hurts to not win, but also relieved that we got a point as Palace were the better side and they should have won really. Before this game, I’d taken a point, but it always feels very different when the opposition score a late equaliser like that.
As much as I adore Iraola, I think he made a mistake by not bringing on subs before when Palace scored their first goal. We were a shambles at the back and allowed far too many chances; the whole defence has a lot to learn from this match.
Not much anyone can do, obviously, but we missed Huijsen and Zabs today.
Onto Forest, hopefully, they don’t appoint Dyche by then. – To join the conversation, please click here.