Roy Hodgson’s tactics mean Jairo Riedewald struggles to fit in at Crystal Palace

BY SAM SMITH

There was no Crystal Palace player who came away from Sunday’s 4-1 defeat against Chelsea with much credit, but Jairo Riedewald’s performance epitomised the conundrum in which he finds himself.

Replaced by James McCarthy after just 59 minutes, in which he failed to stamp his mark on a tough game, there is a chance that the Irishman, fit again following a thigh injury, will replace Riedewald in midfield for the rest of the season.

This is a Palace squad that has been built to play a very specific, more defensively-minded style.

Against teams such as Chelsea, who dominate the ball, Roy Hodgson’s side concede possession, sit deep and try to counter attack. For most of the 73-year-old’s tenure, it has been effective.

It is a brand of football with which most of the Palace squad are familiar, but Riedewald is an anomaly. A product of the Ajax academy in Holland where the coaching is heavily based on the technical aspects of the game, he is a player who is far more comfortable when his team has possession.

To be a central midfielder in Hodgson’s 4-4-2 formation, winning tackles and frustrating opponents when they have the ball is just as important as the ability to receive a pass and prompt an attack.

Riedewald’s attributes are weighted far more in favour of the latter.

Having to defend for so long against Chelsea meant that this was a game which bypassed Riedewald. He struggled to cope with the tempo of Chelsea’s passing.

Of the players who started on Saturday, only Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy had fewer than the 24-year-old’s 28 touches. Riedewald’s 23 passes – of which 20 were accurate – was the lowest total. Even Palace shotstopper Vicente Guaita trumped the midfielder in all three statistics.

Despite playing half of Riedewald’s minutes, McCarthy touched the ball 18 times – nearly 0.6 touches per minute compared to Riedewald’s 0.47 touches per minute. The former Wigan man managed only six fewer passes and offered more of a presence on the pitch.

The Irishman harried and was more mobile. McCarthy, signed in 2019 to add nastiness to a midfield that was losing its bite, might not be as talented as Riedewald but fits the system far better.

Mason Mount, who played in an advanced midfield role, found it too easy to move into space to receive possession between Riedewald and Palace’s back four.

This is not necessarily a criticism of Riedewald, nor an attempt to portray him as a bad player.

There have been glimpses of an excellent technician. He likes to drop deep, collect possession and start attacks.

There was a time when Riedewald was a symbol of the failed Frank de Boer experiment.

Signed by the former Barcelona man in 2017 to play as a ball-playing central defender in a back three, there was little chance of Hodgson being convinced that he could be used in a team that completely revamped its approach.

He did not make a Premier League appearance between April 2018 and December 2019. His development into a player who has featured 28 times this season and earned a new long-term contract is quite remarkable.

But he is a player whose natural game strongly conflicts with the style being asked of him. There have been times when he has been coached through matches, which provides an insight into why nearly two years had lapsed before it seemed Hodgson trusted him.

“We’ve always been impressed with Jairo’s ability on the ball – we’ve never lost faith in him,”

Hodgson said after Riedewald had scored in October’s win over Fulham, perhaps hinting at his shortcomings when he is not in possession.

It is only this term that he has became a recognised option in midfield. In the early months of the season he would drop deep to collect a short pass from a defender, only to be met by the booming orders of Ray Lewington.

“Higher, Jairo,” the Palace assistant would shout, urging Riedewald to move up the pitch so that a longer pass could be played.

It would then be his job to win possession if the ball was returned. There were similar instructions for him to be stronger in duels, to mark tighter and to cover spaces that had opened.

Riedewald’s issue is that he is a good player who is not naturally suited to Hodgson’s style.

It is a situation for which nobody can be blamed, but the Dutchman will find a regular place in the starting 11 hard to come by for as long as Hodgson remains in charge.