Kamada Sees Red As Fulham Beat Palace

An injury hit Palace side took on an in-form Fulham with only one outcome expected from many which turned out to be the case, with a sending off summing up the afternoon for the hosts.

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 2 Joel WARD, 26 Chris RICHARDS, 30 Matt TURNER, 31 Remi MATTHEWS, 63 Zach MARSH

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 21 Timothy CASTAGNE, 23 Steven BENDA, 31 Issa DIOP, 30 Ryan SESSIGNON

TEB VERDICT

The highlight from the game is probably seeing an academy player make his full Premier League debut for the Eagles, with more making appearances from the bench. However, that just goes to show how lightweight the squad is.

While there were glimpses, the opposition were the better team as the hosts were void of any real creative outlet and were looking to the likes of Ismaila Sarr and Daichi Kamada to just that. The foolish sending off of the Japanese international did sum up the afternoon for the Eagles who started the game with Marc Guehi and Justin Devenny in midfield with no other fully fit options.

If it had not been for Dean Henderson, the scoreline could have been much worse than it actually was.

It would be a travesty for the club to say goodbye for Oliver Glasner, he is the highest calibre manager we have seen in charge at the club and needs more time. However, the current injury crisis does highlight just how paper thin the squad is especially with injuries to key players.

Time will tell and with the international break now upon us, it is important to get players back otherwise we will soon be seeing the end of the Glasner tenure.

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.

“In mitigation, it should be acknowledged that the key midfield areas missing any combination of Wharton, Eze, Hughes or Lerma was always going to be a challenge. With Guehi in midfield alongside an Academy debutant Devenny, it confirmed how light we were against a decent Fulham team who played with pace and attacking intent.

We never really controlled any phase of the game leaving Mateta to feed off scraps of possession. Conceding a goal following a rare error by Lacroix in added time of the first half ensured it was going to be an uphill battle in the second. In all honesty, from then on we created very little to give any hope that we might ever get a foothold in the game.

During the second half, Glasner attempted various tactical and positional changes but our bench reflected the lack of offensive options for him.

It’s naturally easy to lay the blame on Kamada when he received a red card for a dangerous challenge but in reality, it made little difference to our performance and ultimately the result.

I would add one comment on Kamada who certainly has created much discussion by Palace fans. Technically he doesn’t tackle or compete for the ball correctly and a booking is never far away in a number of his challenges. His precise role in the team continues to present a conundrum for Glasner.

His error aside, Lacroix was excellent again but unfortunately too many players had below par performances. The one positive going forward is the forthcoming international break which means the return of Eze and Wharton particularly is shortened in games missing by two weeks.

In summary, Fulham fully deserved all three points but in a context that this was probably our worst performance of the season. A lot of thinking for Glasner to do in the next two weeks. Up the Palace!”

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“I don’t look for excuses. I think we had a competitive squad available. We have to be honest, Fulham were the better team today. We made too many mistakes, we gave them the chances and goals too easily. When we had our two or three chances we didn’t take them. Overall, they were the better team and this is what we have to expect today.”

MARCO SILVA

“I think we deserved much more but it is what it is. Great three points, great team performance. I think we have been seeing better things every match, every day that we are working with them. The confidence from the last game to this game is clear as well. The commitment, the attitude, the desire to do great things was there again.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)

UPCOMING FIXTURES