Our annual trip to Swansea follows predictable script: It rains; Swansea take an early lead at our end of the ground; Swansea then make a number of chances but fail to add to their lead; Palace are granted a relatively generous penalty & escape with a point. Why tinker with an established formula? It’s worked the last two years after all. Well we stuck to the script with a little twist – no penalty equaliser but one knocked in by our very own goal machine. The Swans will be kicking themselves for the third year in a row as they failed to win what was a match of variable quality. One notable difference to the last two away games was the vocal support from the Palace fans, who at least had something to cheer.
Palace lined up 4-2-3-1 with the returning Cabaye and Mutch in for the injured duo of McArthur & Puncheon, while Adebayor made his first start in place of the persevering but jinxed Campbell; Mutch filled the central role behind the striker. The real problem for Pardew came with Swansea’s fluid formation: notionally it looked 4-1-4-1 with Britton the holding midfield play; but the width came mostly from their full backs as their flanking midfielders came into the middle. On the left this left a huge gap whenever Routledge came inside, with Rangel left in acres of space. Souaré didn’t know whether to track Routledge inside or go to meet the new attacking threat, and often settled for the worst of both worlds by holding a position on the edge of our box. He didn’t get any help from Lee either who singularly failed to track their right back. It was a bloody shambles and one reason why Swansea should have killed us off before half-time.
Palace actually started really brightly and the new firm of Mutch & Adebayor worked well with Zaha and made three half-decent openings on the break, with Adebayor holding the ball up well & brining others into the game. Yet the structural deficiencies in the Palace team soon saw us penned back in our box, not helped by a worrying & continual inability to clear our lines. After one such episode a wild hack by Adebayor on the edge of our box conceded a free kick. Sigurdsson’s effort was brilliantly placed to Hennessey’s left and may have beaten the keeper anyway, but the half-step Wayne took to the right as the ball was struck ensured he couldn’t reach it.
After that setback Swansea missed several good chances, helped by our inept attempts at clearing the box. The two best missed were: Routledge, drifting in on our left and sending his shot just over; and Ayew, who slid in to meet the flick-on from a corner at the far post but missed from a couple of yards, although most of the home crowd believed he’d scored. Hints of a Palace revival came just before the interval, when Adebayor & Jedinak had headers off-target, while shots from Adebayor & Cabaye went close.
When we saw Chamakh stripped off a half-time I assumed Mutch, who had faded after a decent start, was coming off – instead Lee was hooked, perhaps as a response to our defensive problems down the left. Pardew went 4-4-2 with Mutch on the left wing: I thought this was a strange move but it worked in as much as Rangel never had the same freedom he’d enjoyed in the first half while Jordon was also more effective going forward that Lee had been. It was down the left that Palace first fashioned the equaliser, Mutch setting Souaré free and then meeting the cross with a header that was blocked. Cabaye’s delivery was skimmed in, flicked on by Delaney and forced home from close range by Dann, Fabianski only able to palm the ball into the roof of the net. That led to a short but stirring spell from Palace where for once it appeared we might overwhelm the home side. Chamakh helped Adebayor provide more focus up front, and although neither was outstanding individually they did help provide a better platform as the game wore on and more spaces appeared.
It didn’t last: Swansea soon started to press us back, and under pressure both Delaney & Jedinak were booked, while Wilf looked to have brought down an attacker inside the box: I thought contact started outside but from 100+ yards away was surprised Mike Dean gave nothing. Perhaps our luck was in as an extravagant overhead effort from Ayew dropped just wide. From a Swansea corner an effort ricocheted towards goal but straight to Hennessey who grabbed the greasy ball in the now pouring rain. Palace now lost Cabaye who looked to tweak a hamstring, and given our paucity of midfield options available he was replaced by Boateng; after a Mutch free kick almost made its way all the way past Fabianski, young Hiram nearly earned immediate Palace hero accolades when his shot was deflected inches wide. Mutch also had one long run in from the left but finally decided to shoot when he had four colleagues lined up for a pull-back; sadly the ball only bobbled through to the keeper.
As Swansea threw the kitchen sink at us Palace survived by pulling everybody back and trying to hit on the break. A free kick conceded by Jedinak gave Sigurdsson another chance from the other side of the box, but this time Hennessey made the save at full stretch. Campbell came on late for Adebayor but was a spectator when another Swansea corner saw the ball shoot towards goal only to be cleared off the line. In stoppage time Zaha wasted a break but we had run down the clock and escaped with a point, earned in part by Pardew’s switch at half time.
Hennessey – 6 – Not sure I fully agree with Shearer’s comments about the goal, given Sigurdsson’s effort went in right by the post, but he didn’t help himself by not trusting his wall. To counter that he did get across behind his wall to push another late effort away. Wasn’t an easy day for keepers in the rain, and he did drop one cross but snatched it up immediately, otherwise his handling was sound.
Ward – 6 – Decent display, not quite as threatened down the right as Pape was, and defended well under pressure at the end.
Souaré – 5 – First half Pape was constantly caught out by Rangel’s runs. Although Lee didn’t help him I thought his reluctance to come and close down the full back caused us plenty of problems. Helped in the second half by the switch but still had his hands full when Routledge was replaced by Barrow. On the credit side his run & good cross led to the corner & equaliser. Sported new haircut perhaps annoyed at Wilf copying his old barnet.
Dann – 8 – Wasn’t quite as affected by the panic that seemed to set into our defence in the first half and kept a cool head. At least he is scoring even if out strikers can’t!
Delaney – 7 – Some very important blocks and interceptions, although he was one whose clearances were inadequate during the first half. Great flick-on to set up Dann’s goal.
Jedinak – 6 – Made possibly the worst Palace pass ever when a 10-yard lay-off to Cabaye missed the Frenchman by about 20 yards! Seriously he did make some errors, such as conceding another dangerous free kick on the edge of our box, but also made challenges and interceptions that were important, and did lead a couple of breaks.
Cabaye – 6 – Midfield did look better with Yohan back, especially at the start when he helped create some good openings. Had an effort just off target but went down injured after a break early in the second half.
Zaha – 7 – Again always looked Palace’s best attacking option and continued his improved recent form, although he didn’t always make the most of his skill with the right decisions. His great run at the end an example: when he arrived he took the wrong option & lost possession. Still kept Swansea’s defence occupied the entire game.
Lee – 4 – Started well when Palace were on the front foot, one shot over, but then lost the plot defensively, leaving Souaré exposed to the rampaging Rangel. That seemed to rattle him and his attacking game also went south.
Mutch – 6 – Very much a Marmite player, he started well in the hole, but often looked to lack the diligence to do the hard defensive work. I was surprised when Pardew switched him to left wing but he did a decent job there: Rangel was never the factor he’d been before the interval; and Jordon made some good attacking incursions. Run & header led to the corner from which we scored, and one excellent late run was wasted by the twin evils of wrong option & poor finishing.
Adebayor – 6 – Was copping a lot of stick on train home which surprised me, as I thought he had a fair game holding the ball up. I was one unhappy at his arrival (I was over Kevin Phillip’s arrival too, and we know how that turned out!) so was pleasantly surprised to say that, although he doesn’t have Campbell’s work rate, he did work hard in a languid way. Rustiness showed with a couple of poor finishes, and the less said about his wild swing of the leg to concede that free kick the better.
Chamakh – 6 – Wasn’t impressive individually when arriving for second half but the team looked a lot better as he also held the ball up & brought others into the game.
Boateng – 6 – Looked a little lost at times, losing possession straight up, and unsure of when to close down in midfield, but oh so nearly scored on League debut with a shot just wide (given as a corner).
Campbell – N/A – Very late change for Adebayor which brought frenzy up front but little chance to do anything but chase the ball.
Although neither goalkeeper was overworked, it was an interesting cup tie, with both sides attempting to play a passing game, although at times one or two of Stoke’s recidivists resorted to the odd bit of clogging. A Palace player actually scored – yes, you read that right – and we just about deserved our place in the last 16.
An entertaining game but left with the nagging feeling that we were robbed of a point by a world-class finish (& Alli’s second wasn’t too shabby either) and our continuing woes in front of goal. Tottenham fan at work had commented this would be the sort of game the old Spurs would lose – and but for Lloris and the Selhurst woodwork we might even have grabbed a win – while I joked he’d have to name their player who put through his own net, which freakish prediction came true! Watched alongside a Spurs fan who felt Palace deserved a draw (he may just have been being polite) and was impressed with the way Palace pressed Spurs, but I was always worried that eventually we would run out of steam, which we did for long periods of the second half.
4-0 sounds so much more worse than 1-0, yet today’s display at the Etihad was by several volumes better than the appalling showing on Tuesday. Palace played quite well for the first hour against a City team that exhibited nerves and surprisingly did not dominate possession as they usually do against us. One old failing and one new undid us: the old favourite of lacking scoring options cost us once again; while Wayne Hennessey again gave us a goalkeeping error. At the end City were comfortable, as Chelsea were earlier this month, but only after a battle. So it’s not all doom & gloom... although it was a long, cold & soggy tramp back to Piccadilly.