Palace Put On Show With Thrashing Of Hammers

Oliver Glasner celebrates back-to-back wins in charge of the Eagles with what was a very one sided affair at Selhurst Park, all but sealing another season in the top division.

MATCH INFORMATION

• 3pm – 21^st April 2024
• Crystal Palace 5-2 West Ham United
• Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 2 Joel WARD, 4 Rob HOLDING, 5 James TOMKINS, 31 Remi MATTHEWS

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 23 Alphonse AREOLA, 42 Kaelan CASEY, 45 Divin Mubama, 61 Lewis ORFORD

TEB VERDICT               

This was a complete master class in the first half which left Palace thinking what could have been this season had Ebere Eze and Michael Olise been injury free. Regardless, they both linked up well with each other and Jean-Philippe Mateta to put the game beyond the visitors by the break.

It would be so easy to gush over this performance for a long time, and there would be nothing wrong with that whatsoever as it is rare to see the like of this result at Selhurst Park.

While the front three were on fire, they were more than ably assisted by Will Hughes and Adam Wharton in the middle and Joachim Andersen and the returning Chris Richards both shoring up the back line.

The results pretty much puts to bed any fear of being dragged into any kind of trouble this season, and we can all look forward a full season under the stewardship of Oliver Glasner.

BOB’S POINT OF VIEW

Bob White was a coach at Palace under the tenure of Steve Coppell and Alan Smith and will be sharing his point of view each week in our review article.

“Two consecutive excellent wins and results over the past week has finally ensured Premier League status for another season.

The performance at Anfield last Sunday was of course impressive, but today we totally imposed ourselves on West Ham controlling the whole game and the outcome from the first to last minute.

Like all the best managers, Glasner has created a tactical shape and approach which suits our players’ strengths. The objective is to regain possession as soon as possible combined with the majority of passes played with purpose. This requires high intensity from every outfield player with associated fitness levels. Overall we look a fitter team.

Today we created so many goal scoring opportunities which on another day we could have scored several more. Although West Ham looked so far off the pace both in and out of possession, this shouldn’t in any way detract from our outstanding performance. They were second best in all aspects of the game.

The performance both last weekend and more so this weekend highlights the importance of Eze and Olise being on the pitch together. They are both good enough to grace any of the so called big clubs. Their movement and technique on and off the ball would cause problems for any defence plus add in the continuing improvement of Mateta under Glasner, together it creates a very potent front three.

Apart from the goal contributions of this trio, as at Liverpool, it was once again a complete team performance. Wharton and Hughes dominated the key central midfield areas providing a solid platform for our attacks.

Onwards we go to Wednesday against Newcastle who will undoubtedly pose a more serious and different threat. Our players now require a couple of days to recover and hopefully produce another performance of such high intensity and quality.”

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“Firstly, congratulations to the team on this amazing performance and this impressive win. West Ham are one of the best teams in transitions and we didn’t give them the situations. When we got a little bit sloppy, we conceded a goal, but in the second half we were still very concentrated. I’m very pleased.”

PEP GUARDIOLA

“I’m giving no excuses whatsoever. The players got praise for their performance on Thursday but today was so bad. I can hardly put it into words. We need a response from the players. We’ve lost a bit of the tough culture that we had – pride, making sure we didn’t concede and were hard to play against. Today we were none of them. I’m so disappointed for the supporters who came here today. I’m embarrassed to sit here and be speaking on behalf of the team. I’ve not had many teams who played like that in my whole career.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)

UPCOMING FIXTURES

24/04/24 Newcastle (h) – Premier League 8pm

27/04/24 Fulham (a) – Premier League 3pm

06/05/24 Manchester United (h) Premier League 8pm