A tantalizing tie for Crystal Palace wrought by marvellous and, arguably, deserved fortune for Wolves who took until the penultimate kick of the game to force a share of the spoils at Selhurst Park.
When you pit two largely counter-attacking teams in the ring, against each other, the expectation is that action will be aplenty throughout the 90-minute bout; but the only punch that mattered in the end came with the last true action of the match.
Diogo Jota unexpectedly found the ball at his feet, courtesy of an Adama Traoré cross, after Joel Ward’s unfathomable slip endowed an inconceivably fortuitous chance so late in the piece to Wolves’ little Português.
Jota had no trouble slashing home the equalizer, mere seconds before the end of the extra five minutes after the full 90, negating teammate Leandro Dendoncker’s unfortunate own goal from earlier in the half.
This fixture at Selhurst Park was certainly a tale of two halves and both sides were guilty of squandering gilt-edged opportunities as Wolves took the points in the first half while the second 45 was dominated by the home side, Crystal Palace.
Only 15 seconds had eclipsed in the first half before Jeffrey Schlupp found his way into Wolves’ box from the left-hand side, threading the ball through Willy Boly’s legs on his way there. After a parried shot and a couple of passes, Joel Ward endeavoured on to a perfectly weighted lay off from James McArthur, and to his fortune, a shot that was going wide was deflected by Dendoncker into the back of the net.
Not even two minutes after Schlupp missed a one-on-one opportunity, Wolves squared it up 1-1. All it took was a bit of luck and, now, the rest is history.
Second-half goal-mania all too familiar for the Red and Blue
Last season it was almost not worth watching Crystal Palace games in the first half. Of the 104 goals that were scored in matches they were involved in, only 33 out of 104 (33.2%) came in the first half. In fact, this was the least by a staggering 6.4%, with the first half of Tottenham’s games only consisting of 39.6% (42/106) of goals in their fixtures, the second-lowest by any side.
Not to outdo their own level of hysteria, Palace’s games also featured the most goals of any side in the last 15-minute slot (from the 76th minute to the 90th minute of the match, which includes added time) with 33 – three more than Cardiff in second.
This means it was an all too familiar occurrence for Crystal Palace fans that there was a score made in the last 15 minutes. Unfortunately, for Palace fans, it was in the wrong net for their endeared men donning their famous red and blue.
Coincidentally enough, the final 15-minute block of play was by far Wolves’ most fruitious period. They scored 17 of their 47 goals (37%) from the 76th minute to the 90th minute of the match (including extra time), a whopping nine more goals than any other 15-minute block of play. Talk about leaving it late.
With 11 games in 46 days since the 9th of August, Wolves’ last gasp effort is all the more emphatic considering the level of fatigue the players must be experiencing. Seven of Thursday night’s 11 starters from their Europa League loss to Braga, also made the pitch for the first whistle against Palace.
The Europa League has claimed many ‘smaller’ Premier League sides as victims over previous years. Most recently Southampton, Burnley and West Ham, who have all failed to replicate their impressive league form the very next season, while trying to cope with European duties. So far, Wolves have done nothing to kill that curse as they sit in 19th spot on the league table. However, could Saturday’s courageous draw spark a flame to reignite their domestic season?
Patrick van Aanholt the culprit again
There is no doubt that Patrick van Aanholt’s 94th-minute history-making winner at Old Trafford earlier this season will go down as one of, if not, the left back’s best moment in a Palace shirt, and rightly so. It was a moment for the ages.
However, in a season, a moment like that can only buy you so much time before your performances begin to fall under scrutiny again. van Aanholt’s honeymoon is over and he has returned worse for wear. Last week’s performance was shambolic, by the entire Crystal Palace side in all fairness, but Spurs’ game plan was simple, and they executed it sublimely.
All four of Tottenham’s goals came from attacking the left-side of the Palace defence, occupied by a returning-to-fitness Mamadou Sakho and left-back, van Aanholt. In fairness to him, van Aanholt was powerless for the first goal, but what about the other three?
The Dutchman was arguably at fault for all of the last three goals. He was either in no man’s land, defending nothing but space and gesturing to the midfielders to close down on the winger, his man, or he was scoring an own goal. It was much the same against Wolves, except for the unfortune of an own goal.
The plan was clear from the onset of this weekend’s match as Wolves tried to find van Aanholt’s opposite man, Adama Traoré, repetitively. Time after time, van Aanholt would sit off of his opponent and allow him room to manoeuvre and the freedom to run at him. Full-backs should be pressuring forwards, not allowing them time or space; pressuring them into making decisions, not allowing them to dictate the situation. Palace’s left-back did the polar opposite and his lack of effort to close down Traoré allowed the match-winning cross to be delivered and two points dropped for Palace.
Following a well-documented and lackadaisical summer transfer window, van Aanholt – at least until January – remains Palace’s only fit, first-team left-back. With no news on aspiring 20-year-old left-back, Tyrick Mitchell, who showed a vast amount of ability in his short cameos during the pre-season, there seems to be no relief on the horizon soon for Palace fans.
Roy Hodgson, or van Aanholt’s teammates, will need to question his quarried disdain for basic full-back duties and will need to do so immediately. If teams are allowed to continuously bombard van Aanholt’s blank without improvement from the left-back, then it may be a long season, yet again, for Palace fans.
Wolves’ unheralded Portuguese maestro
Wolves bought João Moutinho as a 31-year-old at the end of the summer transfer window of 2018 to help nurture a younger squad lacking in big-time football experience. As of last weekend, Moutinho has been capped 116 times for his country Portugal, playing in World Cups, Euro tournaments and appearing in the winning UEFA Nations League Final for Portugal.
However, his miniature (by the Premier League’s standards) 61kg, 1.70m frame was not supposed to withstand the weekly trenches of the Premier League. Experience and leadership were meant to be his only attributions to the newly-promoted side, but no one told Moutinho.
Only club-captain, Conor Coady, leading goal-scorer, Raul Jimenez, goalkeeper, Rui Patricio and defensive stalwarts, Willy Boly and Matt Doherty have played more league minutes for Wolves than Moutinho, since the start of last season.
Moutinho, since the start of last season, has provided the most assists, averaged the most tackles, made the sixth most interceptions (second out of the midfielders at the club), the most key passes and has the highest pass success rate of all players at the club. These are staggering numbers for a midfielder who is up against some of the strongest players in the world, in the most physical league in the world on a weekly basis at the ripe age of 31.
On the weekend, Moutinho was in the top five players on the pitch for number of tackles, passes and key passes but statistics were truly not the measure of the man on Sunday. Wolves’ defenders will most certainly be indebted to Moutinho for his off the ball work, using his vast array of experience against a multitude of high-level opposition, Moutinho against Palace on the weekend – and weekly in the Premier League – frustrates the opposition.
How can a man so small, present so large on the pitch?
Palace’s own midfield stallion
In the form of Cheikhou Kouyaté, the Eagles have their own midfielder in whom they can well and truly be proud of. Arguably, the man of the match on Sunday – or at least in the conversation – Kouyaté’s performance was sublime.
To be successful in a Hodgson-led system, a player must be capable of adhering to a system, without a margin of error, whilst still being able to attack and defend simultaneously whilst being incredibly fit. Kouyate’s aerobic capacity is quite literally breathtaking, whilst his anaerobic capacity is substantial for a player of his size and frame. Hodgson is trying to tailor Kouyaté to become a hybrid midfielder after he was brought over to the club as a pure defensive midfielder.
The Senegalese midfielder’s ability has rarely been questioned, but it has always been his ability to provide an attacking threat; whether it be as a creator, a foil for other players or a finisher, that has been questioned. Whilst it still is only early days, Kouyate’s performances over his last four starts for Palace have been stupendous, however, inconceivably, there was not much the midfielder could do to halt Spurs’ riot.
Surprisingly enough, the 29-year-old is averaging the most shots of all Palace players this season, thus far. This is accompanied by him averaging the fourth most amount of tackles, fifth highest interceptions and the sixth most key passes of all players at the club.
Much like Moutiho though, it is Kouyate’s off the ball presence that provides the club with the support. Often playing as the ‘spare’ player in attack, Kouyaté roams into the attacking box unmanned from the depths of midfield, creating mild-levels of chaos within the opposition defence. While in defensive mode himself, Kouyaté is not easily pushed off the ball nor does he lose his position so quickly.
For just £10 million, there is not many astute and reliable Premier League-calibre players you can acquire from opposition clubs. Although entering his second season for Crystal Palace, £10 million seems like a shrewd piece of business thus far.
The mere margins of the Premier League
If you were following the live ladder on Sunday night, you would’ve noticed Crystal Palace sitting abnormally high up on the table so early on in the season.
With 94 minutes and 40 seconds gone on the clock, on the live ladder Palace had 10 points and Palace were sitting sixth (on goal difference), which would have been their best ever return from the opening six games of a Premier League season. It was only a matter of moments later, that after conceding a goal, Palace found themselves languishing in 12th spot (on goal difference).
Currently in 2nd place, Manchester City are as close to 12th-placed Palace as they are to Liverpool in top spot.
So early on in the season, the teams in relegation positions have many an opportunity ahead to revive a season. Wolves, without a win, find themselves just three points shy of 13th spot with Tottenham in 7th just four points clear of 19th placed Wolves.
With four of the infamous ‘big six’ sides struggling to start this season, Palace and Wolves would hope to capitalise on the potential availability of European qualification. On paper, the first XI’s of both sides are more than capable of challenging the league’s elite, which has already been depicted so far this season. However, football is never that simple.
With Wolves already straggling in the Premier League, struggling to cope with European and domestic life, and Palace’s shortfalls in front of goal despite numerous big chances, it has kept any dreams of European tours at bay. Such is modern football, that a win can propel a team so quickly up the table that anything is possible.
Up Next
A second home fixture in a row for Palace who welcome a currently difficult-to-read but identity-assured Norwich City who have conceded eight goals from three league trips away from home so far this season. Wolves host Watford in an unmitigated bottom of the table clash, where a loss to either side could leave them in a glum and lonely position on the Premier League ladder.
