Crystal Palace suffered a comeback defeat to Strasbourg in the Europa League and can only blame themselves.
The game started off the way everyone expected: the hosts having more of the ball and dictating rhythm. Meanwhile, the Eagles were comfortable to play without possession and look for counter-attacks with Yeremy Pino and Ismaila Sarr playing off of Jean-Philippe Mateta.
But Liam Rosenior’s men had a much stronger first few minutes, taking more shots and creating more danger. They would often escape Palace’s press switching the play from one side to the other having acres of space to run into.
And before they dropped the three points, the Eagles had to go 1-0 up in the first place.
How did Crystal Palace drop the three points at Strasbourg?
Overcoming a tough start
It took Crystal Palace just over 25 minutes to get a good transition opportunity. Before that, they weren’t recovering the ball in the attacking half nor creating anything themselves in their few sequences in possession. It was after a Strasbourg set piece and it led to nothing – Sarr carried the ball well but Daniel Munoz couldn’t control it.
The French side had a few different ways of getting to the attacking half. Playing out from the back with help of their goalkeeper, patiently waiting for openings or parallel long balls down the wings. And they found success with all three of them in some capacity.
But the Eagles needed just their main option to score the opener: Mateta as the target man to get on the end of long passes and clearances. He controlled one and beautifully set up Tyrick Mitchell, who put Palace 1-0 up very much against the run of play.
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Turns out that this goal changed the whole outlook of the game. Not even a minute later, Sarr had the chance to extend the lead – but he somehow hit the post from an open net in a central area.
Glasner trusted his team to execute the defensive game plan. They upped the pressure and, despite always leaving Julio Enciso or Sebastian Nanasi free behind either Jefferson Lerma or Will Hughes/Adam Wharton, they made sure Strasbourg could never find them.
Curiously, their best version in this game was the more aggressive one. That pushed the lines up a little, took more risks and even held possession longer.
Defensive collapse
And all of that was undone within seven minutes of the second half. Crystal Palace tried to push the pace up in a transition opportunity but Sarr and Munoz, once again, failed to connect. This meant that their ‘front seven’ (wing-backs, midfielders and forwards) had to change their forward momentum and go back.
It eventually led to a decompaction in their lines. They didn’t track back immediately, which left Lerma between two opponents. He then decided to step up and press Valentin Barco, who improvised a backheel pass and found exactly what they wanted all along. And what Glasner was sure would never happen: Nanasi in between the lines with a clear view to charge forward with the ball.
The Swedish midfielder found Diego Moreira with a beautiful diagonal ball and the wing-back squared it to Emmanuel Emegha who equalised. One lapse of concentration undid all their hard work from the first half.
Missed sitters
Crystal Palace did have a rare collective mistake that led to Strasbourg making it 1-1. But there were plenty of chances before and after that for the Eagles to score a second, a third and even a fourth.
We already mentioned Sarr’s miss that would have put them 2-0 up within seconds of Mitchell’s goal. Wharton missed a very similar chance but even closer to goal not too long after Emegha’s equaliser.
Having goalkeeper Mike Penders as part of the initial sequences helped the hosts have more fluid build-ups. It also made life more difficult for Palace who couldn’t just man-mark the three centre-backs with their three-forwards and force long balls.
But it also leaves the keeper farther away from the goal, which can always be dangerous. This generated two clear-cut goalscoring opportunities for the Eagles – and none of them were actually Penders’ fault.
There were four shots with over 0.30 expected goals in this match, two for each team. Strasbourg scored both (Samir El Mourabet and Emmegha), while Palaced missed theirs (Sarr and Wharton).
To top it all off, the last missed sitter actually started the sequence that led to El Mourabet’s winner. Pino was through on goal (after yet another Dean Henderson long ball, that Eddie Nketiah did well to protect from defenders), but failed to convert.
The hosts counter attacked and found the Eagles’ defence completely disorganized. Enciso carried the ball forward in a 5v5 situation and won a foul after a Maxence Lacroix handball. The Paraguayan took the free-kick himself, hit the post and El Mourabet was there to tap it into an empty net.
Strasbourg deserve credit for getting back into the game, but Crystal Palace had enough chances to put it to bed before that.