Always Wolves
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Crystal Palace MATCH REPORT Wolves by Always Wolves 1 minute ago
Missed Penalty, Harsh Red, Late Goal: Wolves Fall Again at Selhurst Park
Stretch talks about a missed penalty, a debatable second yellow for Krejci, and a 90th-minute Palace winner.
It took a few days for the warm glow of joy from the glorious draw against the team tipped to finish in second place to drift from the memory. Whilst reliving the match from Wednesday it confused the mind into forgetting we are still getting relegated. Apart from clinging to FA cup hopes there seems little left to fight for but there is. There is a need to rebuild confidence and head into the Championship with some belief and a stronger mentality, it matters.
That said, in the games that are left it will generally matter more to the opponent. Today’s game is no different with Palace still looking to ensure their place in the Premier League and there is no doubt they, like the other teams, will see Wolves as cannon fodder. We can only hope that the Arsenal result changes that formality.
There seemed a good case for starting with the team that played most of the match on Wednesday once Tolu had replaced the injured Angel. However Joao Gomes seemingly rested on Wednesday is likely to be in the manager’s mind.
In the end Edwards resisted a recall of Joao Gomes and he sat with 3 other Gomes’s on the bench.
Of course Larsen was in the opposition line up and a sense of football fate awaited.
Starting Line Up
SA, S Bueno, Krejci, Mosquera, H Bueno, Tchatchoua, Andre, Bellegarde, Mane, Armstrong (3-4-2-1)
FIRST HALF
Wolves started with positive intent and created a number of opportunities down the right with good work between Tchatchoua, Andre and Mosquera. Either Mosquera has been working on his throw ins or it is a narrow pitch, as they were actually reaching a potentially dangerous area but to no avail.
Whilst Wolves enjoyed the control and the best of the first ten minutes a miskicked back pass by Mosquera presented Palace with a good chance fortunately it was guided wide with Sa stranded.
A decent free kick by Bellegarde was covered well by the keeper and the resultant corner saw Tolu misplace his header.
After 10 minutes Palace regained a little more equality but rarely threatened, albeit there were a few corners for the home side.
Andre was finding positive forward passes along with his usual competitive play. Mane was also looking sharp turning and feeding Tolu for a weak finish that was easily saved. Another shot from Bellegarde wickedly deflected very nearly beat the despairing hand of the Palace keeper managed to tip it over. Wolves were playing with a good degree of creativity and confidence with Armstrong having his best half in a Wolves shirt.
With 5 minutes to half time there was a growing feeling that half time would be reached with parity despite the better efforts of Wolves. This injustice looked to be rectified when Tolu who set up Mane to surge into the box and he would surely have scored but for a lunge by Wharton that took his legs away. The clear penalty was quickly agreed by VAR and it was a question of who would take it with Larsen in the opposition colours and Hwang injured. Up stepped Tolu and unfortunately, he fluffed his lines his effort lacking both power and direction.
Wolves should be ahead and the inevitable feeling that we would pay for missed opportunities prevailed.
SECOND HALF
Palace substituted the slightly fortunate Hughes whom a had been lucky not to be sent off for a tackle that could easily have incurred a second yellow.
The first 15 minutes of the second half passed without incident with both teams struggling to find any rhythm or quality. Wolves had shaded the first half and were now locked in an even battle which either side could go on and win.
The game was about to change in the space of two minutes. Krejci picked up a yellow for a collision that he might have got away with but a yellow was not unduly awarded.
Shortly after Krejci defending a through ball turned and kicked the ball out being unsure if the ball had already gone out for a throw. He was shocked to see another yellow and then a red flash before him The referee was super quick and acted with great relish and enthusiasm in producing the cards. Not only was there doubt the ball had gone out but the clearance came almost instantly after the ref had blown for a throw in. The clearance did not hinder Palace in any way, another ball lay on a cone ready to be used. No Palace player was interested in taking a throw as every throw from that position had involved a slow set up for a long throw, something Palace were clearly thinking at the time. There was no hinderance to Palace and clearly Krejci was not time wasting. However, when you are hoping for a Premier League referee to act with common sense you are always going to lose out to their desire to find a pedantic reason to play a big part of the game.
This completely and unnecessarily ruined what was a half decent game until that point.
From here on there is little Wolves action to report on a game of attack versus defence ensued. Wolves actually coped pretty well and did get the ball into the Palace box a few times. Eventually the inevitable happened, it was Palace’s only clear cut chance which was clinically taken as the game closed in on 90 minutes. Sa was rarely called to make a save and Wolves missed a penalty yet we still managed to lose the game.
The result does not greatly matter but the sense of disappointment is real.
Started in 1970 standing on a stool in South Bank and have been screaming at referees ever since. Worked my way round the ground, Billy Wright, North bank and now made it to the Steve Bull. Moving as various friends came and went as well as accommodating age changes of the pesky kids who are also bitten. As passionate as ever despite the stress of VAR shortening my life expectancy.
Missed Penalty, Harsh Red, Late Goal: Wolves Fall Again at Selhurst Park
Pukka