Post Match report for the Crystal Palace game - Sunday, 9th November 2025
PREMIER LEAGUE 25/26: Palace V Brighton - 9/11/25 P11
* * * * * GOALLESS ALL ENDS UP * * * * *
RESULT: 0-0
VENUE: Selhurst Park, outer Croydon SE25 - sixth away match of 11 fixtures to date . Sun 2:00pm.
BEFORE KICKOFF: it was Remembrance Sunday on a fine autumn afternoon.
Travelling support arrived around Whitehorse Lane for a lunchtime meeting at our annual bash with regional opponents.
We were still at a loss as to how they had reached Europe, whilst we were often hyped but flatter to deceive then fall short at those psychological moments.
WEATHER: mild . GATE: tba . KIT: yellow . ATMOSPHERE: probably best not to yawn.
FABIAN HURZELER knew lack of depth in the squad and shortage of numbers would hinder progression, then realised he had to find an ongoing solution after scraping into the top ten on goal difference by completion of the first quarter Q1.
FH checked with qualified assistants to confirm a match-day group that remained unchanged and thus selected by default.
SQUAD: 14 Watson 22 Mitoma 38 McGill (gk)
INJURED: 8 Gruda 13 Hinshelwood 20 Milner . REHAB: 4 Webster 7 March
OOL: 3 Julio 16 Cashin 28 Ferguson 32 Sarmiento 33 ORiley 39 Rushworth (gk) 40 Buonanotte
STARTING SHAPE: 4-2-3-1
TEAM . . . . . . . . . 1 Verbruggen
. 27 Wieffer 6 van Hecke 5 Dunk 24 Kadioglu
. 11 Minteh 17 Baleba 26 Ayari 25 Gomez
. . . . . 10 Rutter . . . 18 Welbeck
SUBS: 19 Kostoulas (75), 34 Veltman (75), 9 Tzimas (85), 29 de Cuyper (85)
BENCH: 23 Steele 21 Boscagli 42 Coppola 49 Knight 58 Oriola
GOALS: none
YELLOWS: Baleba 60, Rutter 65, van Hecke 91, Veltman 95
CHANGES: 75 Kostoulas & Velltman for Rutter & Baleba
85 Tzimas & de Cuyper for Welbeck & Gomez
FIRST HALF: hosts allowed travellers majority of possession as per their usual game-play. Momentum varied, if not exactly alternated, although despite opportunities at both ends it stayed nil-nil by the intermission.
SECOND HALF: after the hour mark VAR sends Ref to the monitor to disallow visitors penalty shout.
The match continued much as before even following late substitutions & positional alterations by Seagulls.
IN THE END: a defensive shut-out versus a club looking slightly jaded from playing on the Thursday night Euro merry-go-round.
NUMBERS: poss 42%-58%, on target 2-3, off target 8-4, corners 4-8,
fouls 10-12, yellows 1-4, subs 2-4, shape 3421-4231 . . . . . gd2 pt16 po11
FS
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