“A tough one to watch’ – Palace captain Ward reflects on Arsenal thrashing

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Injured Eagles captain Joel Ward admitted he had a hard time watching his side capitulate in north London on Saturday afternoon as Crystal Palace suffered a 5-0 defeat at Arsenal.

 The full-back has been out of action after picking up a hamstring injury at Manchester City in December and could only view the loss at the Emirates Stadium from afar.

 “As a defender, and being at the club for so long, I want to be out there and I want to play my part in helping the team – it was obviously a tough one to watch,” said Ward in his role as a TV pundit for Premier League Productions last night.

Arsenal went ahead through a Gabriel header from a corner in the 11th minute, before an almost identical passage of play for the second saw the home side 2-0 up in the 37th minute, with Gabriel’s header deflected in off Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

“Anything that comes into that zone you’d like to think that he’d be able to get first contact and hopefully divert it away from the goal,” said Ward about the first goal and the positioning of Palace’s Joachim Andersen as a free defender in the six-yard box, who was blocked by Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard, resulting in the chance for Gabriel.

“It’s difficult [though],” added the 34-year-old when talking about the second goal. “One; you’ve got to look at the type of the ball that’s being played into the box, which is on the money, and, two, the space in which they create. 

“You look at a lot of corners (now) and there’s a lot more people in and around, kind of in-between the goal, whereas Arsenal kept that space ‘big’, allowing their players to make those runs.

“When you’ve got pinned once or when you’ve got blocked once, you want to be able to be fluid and be able to move and don’t want that to happen again, and it’s an art to block a player without causing a foul as well.

“We always talk about being flexible and connected and trying obviously to have that ability to change and adapt when you’re on the pitch,” added Ward about preparing for sides like Arsenal.

“But, sometimes, you’ve got to hold your hand up and say it’s a great ball, a great header, it’s a difficult one to stop, or a certain flick on here or there might take it away from you.

“As a defender, you want to keep a clean sheet and you know how important set plays are. For myself, for the team, and when I’m back as well, we’ll always be working on those things, and it’s a part of the game that teams are looking at now to try to exploit.”