Post Match report for the Crystal Palace game - Saturday, 29th February 2020
PREMIER LEAGUE: Brighton v Palace - 29/2/20, P28.
ALBION FAIL TO SCORE BUT DO CONCEDE
RESULT: 0-1 . (h-t 0-0) . SHAPE: 4-2-3-1
REF: seemed to see things differently to partisan fan followings.
PRE-KICKOFF: it was a dry Saturday lunchtime in a wet winter at the Amex but a so-called derby match offered spiced fare over and above consuming fast food options on concourses. A post-game pint was perhaps preferable to liquid brunch.
GATE: 30,124 . WEATHER: long sunny intervals, blustery conditions.
GRAHAM POTTER had experienced mountainous distances during unpronounceable Swedish derbies, so was not apparently phased by this latest flat M23 affair.
He tinkered with the line-up according to type, giving rehearsed platitudes in even tones to assuage media questions.
TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. 22 Montoya, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. . . . . . . . . . 8 Bissouma, 24 Propper
. . . . . . . . 11 Trossard, 18 Mooy, 20 March
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Maupay
BENCH: 27 Button, 21 Schelotto, 6 Stephens, 13 Gross, 46 Alzate (81), 16 Jahanbakhsh (77), 17 Murray (66).
GOAL: 70 - 0-1. At a break visitors passes found the striker. Ryan came out almost as a sweeper, the ball next bounced in.
INCIDENTS: 51 - the big screen showed a possible penalty decision was negated by VAR... it was news to very many.
YELLOWS: Montoya got suckered at a challenge but so was Ref.
SUBS: 66 - March was withdrawn and Murray inserted. 77 - Jahanbakhsh supplemented attack when Montoya got removed. 81 - Alzate filled in for Bissouma.
Potter made changes that did not upset the status quo, nor swung course of events towards a positive outcome.
SYNOPSIS: hosts took initial exchanges to our closest neighbours but from a pundits point of view pattern of play began to suggest a goalless draw might follow.
Chances came & went and some were significant enough to register as misses from the poor, bad or even hopeless category. Potter tweaked starting positions in a bid for optimum offense.
On turnaround this sequence of match detail continued but in the reverse direction. Against run of play travellers opened the scoring and locals were now chasing the game... a familiar situation this season.
Substitutions went through motions, including a revised formation to more like 442 but orthodoxy merely prevailed as per additional non-converting of goal-scoring opportunities.
At the death the blame game began and it was hard to argue defeat was purely down to lack of rub of the green, bad luck or travesty of justice.
MoM - March, tried hard in an adrenaline rush.
NUMBERS: poss 66%-34%, on target 8-3, off target 16-9, corners 8-7, fouls 8-9, yellows 1-1, subs 3-2.
CONSEQUENCES: another defeat left BHA looking over shoulders, dependent on other results to maintain a sufficient buffer from the drop zone.
FS
MORE READING: via Stats page tabs - Squad, History & Travel, Archive for PL facts & figs and Clubs records.
