Crystal Palace were once more on the losing side, this time against Manchester City, here’s five things we learned.
Oliver Glasner‘s side put up a decent fight against Manchester City for the first 55 minutes, but ultimately Pep Guardiola’s side was just a different quality.
Crystal Palace went 1-0 ahead through Jean-Philippe Mateta thanks to a brilliant finish.
Odsonne Edouard also got a goal off the bench, when the game was already gone with an excellent finish.
But that was little more than a consolation in the end as City romped to a 4-2 win.
So here are the five things we learned from the game…
Jean-Philippe Mateta is becoming a remarkable part of this team
Another game, another reason to wax lyrical about Palace striker Mateta as he grabbed his fourth in six games under Glasner.
But his displays are bringing so much more than just goals with his hold-up play and pressing being really impressive.
It is hard to believe this is the same striker that we have seen struggle for years are Selhurst Park and he’s almost definitely nailed down that striker spot until August at least.
Odsonne Edouard shows he might not be done yet
Since Glasner arrived, Edouard has been an afterthought, with Mateta shining up front and undroppable.
But his goal against City may have just shown Glasner there is still life in the Frenchman’s Palace career yet.
Having both strikers firing can only be a good thing for Palace ahead of an important seven games.
Dean Henderson stepping up for Crystal Palace
The game was kept a lot closer than it probably should’ve been on paper by Dean Henderson who managed to keep out a handful of chances with terrific saves.
He’s really risen to the challenge after Sam Johnstone’s injury and took his chance to prove himself in the Palace goal.
Finally starting to show that signing him last summer may have been a good move after impressing against Bournemouth as well. He conceded a few, but that is to be expected against a team of City’s quality.
Final ball was the killer for Oliver Glasner
On more than one occasion, Palace found themselves in a pretty decent attacking position, only to throw it away with a poor final ball.
Adam Wharton was the culprit for one in a four-on-three situation he overplayed the ball to Eberechi Ezeso the attack led to nothing.
This is the kind of thing we need to see Glasner solving over the next few months, and we imagine his summer signings will see players more comfortable in the final third arrive.
Michael Olise and Daniel Munoz showing signs of an impressive duo
As Glasner had been telling us all week, Michael Olise made his comeback appearance against City, although it was a brave decision to do so.
It looked as though he hadn’t missed a beat either as he instantly created a chance for Odsonne Edouard.
He also linked up really well with Daniel Munoz down the right which looks already like an electric partnership.
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