Andrew McSteen’s four takeaways from Crystal Palace’s 1-1 draw with Brighton – rivalry does not have same spark

Crystal Palace held on for a 1-1 draw against Brighton at Selhurst Park on Thursday in their last game before the Christmas break.

Jordan Ayew opened the goalscoring with a close-range header in first half additional time following a Brighton defensive mistake, before an expertly-taken Danny Welbeck header equalled it up for the visitors with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Here are Andrew McSteen’s four takeaways from Selhurst Park:

JORDAN AYEW IS THE (CHRISTMAS) GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

I have always defended Jordan Ayew to those that criticise his goalscoring ratio, work ethic, skill, pace or even a lack of a smile when he plays.

In recent weeks, many of those who doubted him may just have come around to how much of a good signing he has been for the Eagles, perfectly fitting into Roy Hodgson’s and Patrick Vieira’s squads.

Yes, he was brought in as a striker and strikers score goals, Ayew himself even told the South London Press once he was going to speak to Vieira about not playing in his favoured position.

And against Brighton the other night, his calmly-taken header, beating Brighton’s Jack Hinshelwood (grandson of Palace legend Paul Hinshelwood) at the back post, to put the home side 1-0 up, highlighted his positional sense and striker instinct.

But it was also his defending too – from set-pieces, earning easy fouls to stop Brighton breaking or just to give his team-mates a pause, plus everything else in-between which are all key to the way the team plays and, perhaps, what he is best known for amongst the SE25 faithful.

Yes, he has his fair share of bookings – and a red card – this season but this current Palace set-up simply do not function at their best without him.

IT IS NOT A DERBY

I grew up supporting Palace and Millwall were always the rivals. That was it, simple.

Of course, times do change and depending on the narrative and who was in the same league, it was – at times – Charlton, Brighton and even Watford as well.

I am well aware of the history between Brighton and Palace – so no need for anyone to lecture me on that – but now Wilf has left, the atmosphere does not have the same spark as it once had.

At the most, the game is a ‘rivalry’, but then isn’t every team Palace face a rival?

It feels like this match-up has been taken over by the ‘Premier League show’, a modern football narrative and over-zealous policing.

The unnecessary pre-match ‘light show’, complete with distorted music playing across the substandard speakers at Selhurst Park and a Premier League flag saying ‘Live from Selhurst Park’ just added to the feeling of a manufactured ‘event’ on Thursday night rather than two football teams each with their own set of passionate fans.

They do not need to be told what the narrative is or how they should support their teams.

And the police. Over-zealous and without explanation in their behaviour of policing this fixture over the years, they have made this game more of a drama off the pitch than it needs to be.

Yes, they have to police the game as there are always those intent on being idiots, but anyone coming to Selhurst Park last night would have seen the copious amounts of police, vans and horses out in force, all complete with unavoidable facial recognition technology.

Is creating this confrontational and uneasy environment for those in attendance helping anyone?

HODGSON’S SUBSTITUTION DILEMMA

I’m not sure what Roy Hodgson’s is doing with substitutions, but then, nor is he.

This is what he had to say about making two changes last night, neither of which sounded like he wanted to make.

“I don’t think my decisions with regard to substitutions actually helped us a lot, but I must also say that I don’t know that it [the result] would have been vastly different if those substitutions had not taken place,” he said in his post-match media conference.

“We took Ayew off, who is an important player, because he was on four yellow cards. We took Will Hughes off – who was doing a wonderful job for us in terms of his experience and knowhow – and put young David (Ozoh) on. That was a tough ask for him because he came on at a time they were zipping the ball around.

“We bought Eze on, but really, he probably isn’t as ready for it as we would like at this moment. Will (Hughes) would have found it hard for those last 30 minutes, as would have Jordan Ayew.”

This is not the first time he has criticised his own team changes, saying that the trio of Matheus Franca, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Naouirou Ahamada – brought on against Spurs last October – “…didn’t do anything for us at all, really. We became much weaker.”

He later apologised to the trio for his comments.

With hands tied it appears, withdrawing both Hughes and Ayew last night certainly made Palace weaker, but with Ozoh not looking out of place and Eze returning to match fitness it was not the end of the world, this time.

ATTACKING DEFENCE

Despite the unique attacking threat of Eze and Michael Olise up one end of the field for the Eagles, both players in recent weeks have provided the opposition chances to score late on.

Against Liverpool, Olise failed to clear in the box, the loose ball setting up Mohamed Salah for their equaliser as they went on to win, while Eze’s poor clearance from a breakdown in the Brighton attack last night handed the ball back to them which led to Welbeck’s equaliser.

In this Crystal Palace Roy Hodgson team every single player defends and while both Olise and Eze were the most disappointed out of anyone for their mistakes, these errors are evidence of the fine margins in the Premier League, not least the difference between a top 10 and bottom 10 side.

Chairman Steve Parish and manager Roy Hodgson have both consistently stated they want a top 10 place.

These sort of defensive mistakes need to be wiped out if the club stands any chance of finishing anywhere near that this season.