The lowdown on Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Crystal Palace 2 – Eagles let game slip from their grasp

BY ADAM SELLS

Crystal Palace returned from the Wolves with a point from a game that ebbed and flowed throughout, though in truth it was punctuated with some poor finishing, defensive calamity and a huge refereeing decision.

Here is Adam Sells’ lowdown on the match from Molineux:

THE LINE-UPS

Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Hughes [Doucoure 80], Kamada, Nketiah [Clyne 84], Sarr [Schlupp 90], Mateta.

Subs: Turner, Matthews, Kporha, Umeh, Abginone, Devenney.

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, Gomes [Bellegard 64], Dawson, Bueno, Ait-Nouri, Gomes, Doyle [Lemina 63], Cunha, Sarabia [Guedes 64], Strand Larsen.

Subs: Bentley, Doherty, Andre, Gomes, Borges, Pond.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

It felt like a game that Palace let slip from their grasp.

Though they had to cope without Eberechi Eze amongst their already sparse attacking options, Palace fashioned several decent chances at Molineux.

But when in the ascendancy, the Eagles did not put Wolves to the sword after Trevoh Chalobah had put the visitors in front following a mix up. Several presentable chances were passed up, Ismaila Sarr could have had a hat-trick.

Defensively, after looking so assured and with Oliver Glasner’s men looking to press home their superiority, a sloppy spell midway through the second period allowed Wolves back into the game.

The home side looked lost and with the fans turning on their team, only for quickfire goals from Jorgen Strand Larsen and Joao Gomes to turn the game on its head.

Marc Guehi met a Daniel Munoz flick on from a corner within five minutes to restore parity.

Then came the stoppage time strike from Jean Philippe-Mateta that was ruled out controversially with Glasner describing it as “50/50” in his post-match press conference.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Glasner stuck with his favoured 3-4-2-1 formation. There were three changes from the midweek EFL Cup victory at Aston Villa, with Daichi Kamada was deployed in midfield.

STAR MAN

Jean-Philippe Mateta led the line very well and was a real thorn in the side. His strong running and clever link play made him a constant threat.

BEST MOMENT

Guehi’s far post finish to level things up when it looked like the game may be slipping away from Palace.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

The lack of attacking choice in the squad meant that whilst chasing the win, Glasner chose to replace Eddie Nketiah with Nathaniel Clyne pushing Munoz further forward. On the left Jeffery Schlupp came on for Sarr, but Palace’s impetus was impaired. It seemed the perfect time to throw on the pacy Asher Agbinone with game stretched, but bar the late disallowed effort the visitors never looked likely

TALKING POINTS DOWN THE PUB

Should Mateta’s late effort have stood?

There was certainly an argument to say that Munoz and Wolves keeper Jose Sa met the ball at the same time and the Portuguese stopper didn’t have the ball under control. As the Columbian tumbled, Sa lost his grip of the ball and Mateta slotted the loose ball home. VAR upheld referee Anthony Taylor’s on field decision, though one wonders if he had let the goal stand, whether those in Stockley Park would have suggested the decision be overturned.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“I’m very proud of the performance today.

“It was our third game in six days with a very tight squad – we played to win the game.

“The only thing we could blame ourselves on is that we couldn’t decide the game when we had the chance.

“We should have taken the lead in the first half. We took the lead and then we had two or three big chances.

“We had the momentum and the home crowd was booing after our chances. We should have done better.”