In the first Crystal Palace game of the post-Eberechi Eze era, Justin Devenny started in his place but things didn’t exactly go to plan.
Crystal Palace fans’ period of grief following Eberechi Eze’s transfer to Arsenal may last a while longer. Justin Devenny started his second straight game in place of the former No.10 and was underwhelming in both of them.
Against Norwegian side Fredrikstad last Thursday in the Uefa Conference League, the Eagles’ main creative threat was actually Marc Guehi. The centre-back led the team in shot assists (3) and big chances created (2).
Borna Sosa was deployed at left-wing-back with Devenny ahead of him, but the pair couldn’t connect to produce anything dangerous. The Northern Ireland international didn’t show a lot of courage with his actions and missed the biggest chance of the game, a header worth 0.39 xG.
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Today against Nottingham Forest, he once again demonstrated a lack of confidence – understandably so, in all fairness. He is still a young player making his first couple of career starts, playing out of position and carrying the weight of being the ‘Eze replacement’ for the time being.
Conceptually he did all the right things, occupying the right spaces, trying to stretch the Forest defence, entering the box and waiting for crosses, pressuring his man and tracking back.
But when the ball found his feet, he couldn’t deliver. The 21 year-old would often time the plays wrong, either waiting too long to make a decision or getting rid of the ball too quickly. He didn’t add continuity to hardly any play, forcing inaccurate forward passes or playing it back for his own teammates from the back line to restart.
No wonder the Palace goal came following a cross from right-back Daniel Munoz. The build-up that led to it did happen in the left, but it was Ismaila Sarr who linked up with Tyrick Mitchell.
Different characteristics
Palace used to be a team set up to create and counter from either side, whether it was with Eze and Olise a few years back or most recently Eze and Sarr. Both sides had fast, skillful and creative players to threaten the opponents at any time from out of nowhere.
Now, Sarr carries this load almost by himself. Devenny shows proactivity to charge forward, attack the last line and also drop deep and occupy central corridors, but hasn’t got the pace or the skills to take defenders on. He also doesn’t seem to have a knack for finding teammates in good positions.
Still, he shouldn’t really do any of that. Coming through the Palace ranks, he was mainly a centre-midfielder operating more as a number six or number eight. His individual characteristics don’t really match with left-winger/attacking midfielder duties – especially replacing such a fine player as Eberechi Eze.
Romain Esse, however, had more of an impact. In just 25 minutes, he managed to win more duels (5) than Devenny in 65 (3). And they weren’t all offensive: he completed one take-on and won two fouls, but also logged two tackles.
He brings a more natural fit to the Eze spot and should be a solid back-up. But Palace should still invest at least some of the money they got from Arsenal to try and find a starting level option.
Message for Steve Parish?
Devenny’s underwhelming performances as a starter so far have left fans wondering if Oliver Glasner is sending a message to owner Steve Parish.
The Austrian manager has already stated publicly that he wasn’t happy with the club’s activity in the transfer window. After their Conference League match last Thursday, he mentioned that they had had enough time to bring in a replacement and could only blame themselves for not being able to do it.
Glasner doesn’t seem to trust Esse enough – today against Forest was his first official game of the season. Instead, he prefers to improvise a centre-midfielder on the left wing where he can barely affect the game in a positive way.
It’s hard to picture Devenny becoming an impactful left-winger/attacking midfielder. Going forward, we might not see that experiment again. But it’s clear that owner and manager have not been seeing eye to eye. The recent performances also show that Palace need to make some kind of investment if they’re to continue what they’ve been doing in the last season and a half since Glasner took over.
Sarr can’t play for himself on the right and also make up for Eze’s absence on the left at the same time. Esse hasn’t developed enough to take on that burden and Devenny isn’t even suited for the position. They need a new signing as soon as possible.