What would Graham Potter give for a striker like Jean-Phillippe Mateta?
As the new West Ham boss once again started without a recognised front man on the pitch while his bosses thrash about trying to sign one in this month, it was the Palace assassin who put on a masterclass of high-quality centre-forward play.
Mateta scored both goals at the London Stadium, one from the penalty spot, to make it four in his last three outings and wrap up this most straightforward of victories.
Not only did he almost set up substitute Eddie Nketiah for another with a splitting through ball, he also drew both fouls from Konstantinos Mavropanos that earned the West Ham defender two yellow cards and an early bath. How Potter must long for a focal point like that.
For this was only his second league game and the Hammers was still tweaking and tinkering. He started against Fulham with four central midfielders and no strikers and, for Palace, he switched to a back three to match the Eagles’ system – again, no striker.
Maybe that was why hardly anything happened in the first half. Maybe this was just the case of two run-of-the-mill mid-table sides playing the same formation, locked in stalemate and cancelling the other out.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored twice as Crystal Palace earned a 2-0 victory over West Ham
Mateta scored his second from the penalty spot as Palace earned a deserved 2-0 win
Graham Potter was helpless as he slipped to a first league defeat as Hammers manager
Maybe some people would describe the first 45 minutes as an ‘intriguing tactical battle’. Those people need to get out more.
Palace, more suited to their familiar system, can at least say they had the better openings but nothing was clear-cut as their new £14million signing Romain Esse from Millwall watched on from the stands.
Mateta forced an early save from Lukasz Fabianski from a difficult angle. Chris Richards flicked on an Eberechi Eze free-kick into the West Ham keeper’s arms.
Eze fired a shot over from distance, as did Daichi Kamada twice.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka fluffed a volley at the back post, Paqueta dinked a ball into the box that saw Tomas Soucek go down begging for a penalty but more out of desperation than hope.
If anything summed up the first period, it was Eze trying a rabona cross that failed to beat the first man before Paqueta attempted a scissor kick volley but shinned it wide.
So limp was the first half, Potter felt he had to change it so at the break, so off came Guido Rodriguez with Carlos Soler in his place.
There was nothing limp about Palace’s start to the second half and, within three minutes, they had the lead.
West Ham’s midfield struggled against the energy that Palace showed throughout the game
West Ham failed to register a single shot on target in the defeat as Palace outclassed the hosts
Mateta displayed all the skills that the modern day centre forward must master to score goals
Eze played in Mateta, who ran at Max Kilman while the Hammers defender backed off and backed off and backed off until the Palace striker thanked him for his generosity and drilled the ball past Fabianski.
Just before his goal, he nutmegged Mavropanos, the other West Ham centre-back, left him for dead and drew a foul and a booking.
Potter responded again with a triple change and a return to a back four. On came Danny Ings, his only fit striker, to replace Paqueta while youngsters Ollie Scarles and Lewis Orford, making his senior debut, replaced Aaron Cresswell and Emerson.
Ings saw his shot blocked amid a frantic goalmouth scramble before Alvarez hoiked his effort from distance halfway up the stands. That was about as good as it got, not a single shot on target.
Eze should have done better when he received the ball inside the area but a poor touch let him down.
His replacement Nketiah almost scored within moments of coming on to the pitch, played through by a beautiful pass from Mateta but was unable to get the better of Fabianski.
With 10 minutes to go, Mavropanos picked up his second yellow of the afternoon for a high boot on Mateta and was sent on the long and lonely walk around the pitch.
West Ham defender Konstantinos Mavropanos (right) was sent off for a second bookable foul on Mateta
It’s not just strikers Potter needs now with Aston Villa on the horizon. He now needs to find another centre-back too.
Just when Potter thought his afternoon had got painful enough, Kilman gave the ball away before Fabianski brought down Nketiah in the box and then let Mateta’s penalty squirm under his body.
‘You’re getting sacked in the morning,’ chanted the jubilant Palace fans as the full-time whistle blew.
Potter might not be in any danger of that quite yet but this was a fine example of how managing West Ham can quickly bring you crashing back down to earth.
