I usually enjoy my visits to Villa Park, but: Come on, be honest! As Palace fans we all knew what was going to happen tonight. If you ever need a team to break a run, call on Selhurst Park’s finest. To put this result in context, the last time Villa won a League game was the day England regained the Ashes; the last time they won a home League game was... well, when the Aussie cricket team hadn’t even landed. To cap it we conceded our first goal this season from a set piece – and what a blindingly obvious leitmotiv for the game that goal was! Palace turned in their worst display of the season and lost to a Villa team that had lacked confidence and appeared to be playing even worse than we were. The Villains had several players who had not started a League game this season and their disciplinary problems were obvious when the boos for sub keeper Guzan rang around the ground; his replacement Bunn could have taken the night off for all that Palace bothered him.
Pardew made two changes to the team that started at Southampton: Sako replaced Campbell and McArthur returned for Mutch. It was a 4-3-3 formation but Puncheon, Zaha & Sako were interchangeable, switching between wings and the central position. While this fluidity might be expected to confuse the opposition, it also had a deleterious effect on our own play. Soon all three would drift inside at the same time, denying us width and funnelling play down the middle. Villa were playing with two holding midfield players – Gana & Bacuna (?) – and this suited them fine.
Palace could have been a goal up after a minute when some fine interlinking play down the left saw Zaha break into the box, only for his effort to strike the far post and rebound to safety. That actually was Palace’s high spot: a long range effort from Sako that dipped too late and another from Ward that took out an executive box summed up our efforts – not one on target in the first half. Villa were no better, and while they started with some decent passing moves these often broke down long before reaching the Palace area. Their best prospect was Ayew but he proved reluctant to shoot from the edge of the box, and when he was encouraged to do so found the efforts blocked. The game deteriorated in quality as the half went on, with both sides making unforced errors and turning the ball over, but lacking the inventiveness to take advantage. It was two poor sides set up for the counter-attack. Our creative engine mis-fired: Cabaye in midfield again underperformed; McArthur was consistent but unthreatening; Zaha gained no change out of left back Cissokho (no-one did all game); Puncheon was always turning back; while Sako managed to get caught offside more than once.
The interval found one Palace change, the tactic of not playing a regular striker having proven impotent. Wickham came on for Ledley as we switched to 4-2-3-1 but the quality of the football from both teams did not improve. Wickham did win some balls in the air but no-one was close enough to him to take advantage, and I think our two shots on target were speculative efforts from long range that the keeper saved without any difficulty. Villa’s play was no better, although lanky & uncoordinated striker Kozák somehow stumbled through about three defenders only for Hennessey to push the shot wide with some difficulty. The game dragged on until Zaha lost the ball in a lazy attempt to beat Bacuna, the ball was switched to our right wing and Delaney blocked the cross. The corner will make Danny Baker a fortune in DVDs as Lescott for once out-jumped our defence to send his header straight at Hennessey. Who promptly dropped it. As it bobbled between his feet Wayne tried to grab hold of it but only managed to knock it over the line – clearly so from our position in the stands, by a micron on the big screen. Announcer gave it to Lescott but that was a cast-iron own goal.
Villa now had something to hold onto and it gave them a little confidence, but the standard of football was still shocking, one moment from Ayew aside when he replicated Wilf’s first minute mazy run around several seemingly immobile defenders only to send his shot wide. Palace’s game continued to fall apart: Chamakh was introduced for Sako, who had disappeared in the second half, but he failed to stick close to Wickham and take advantage of the big man’s knockdowns while repeating Sako’s offences of being caught offside. With Villa happy to sit back Palace failed to turn the flanks, and the introduction of Jedinak for McArthur didn’t change the tactical equation. Twice towards the end we thought we might snatch an undeserved point, but when Chamakh was played clear through the defence he was flagged offside again, and when a free kick reached Dann at the far post his header was well wide. In the end Palace were a shambles, unable to gain anything from a very poor Villa side.
Hennessey – 5 – One decent save but the goal...
Ward – 6 – Decent enough at the back, although found Ayew a handful in the second half. Pushed up to support the attack but never quite struck up an understanding with Zaha. Late foul clattering their left winger was a deserved caution.
Souaré – 6 – Defensive sound even when Villa tried to catch him under the high ball. Had a couple of good runs down the wing but again teamwork was lacking tonight.
Delaney – 6 – Took an early boot in the face but still dived in to block crosses & shots.
Dann – 6 – Defended well against Villa’s almost non-existent attack (Ayew’s run aside), might have snatched a draw with late header but always stretching for it.
McArthur – 5 – Lots of ground work but never a factor creatively – looked tired despite his break.
Cabaye – 5 – Disappointing, giving the ball away several times, and another who looks in need of a rest.
Ledley – 6 – Did his holding role well, sacrificed tactically.
Puncheon – 4 – A couple of decent moves but all too often when we needed to go forward his first move is to turn back. Conceded possession far too easily.
Zaha – 5 – Downhill after the first minute when he produced the skill we expect to see regularly. Never seems willing to run at or past opponents at pace, content to slow down & humiliate them with his magic. Sadly for the next 89 minutes he failed and was another who kept conceding the ball cheaply.
Sako – 4 – Good first few minutes then looked to prove he is not a central striking option.
Wickham – 6 – Can’t fault Connor for the lack of close support – he did his job OK.
Chamakh – 5 – Another underwhelming performance off the bench.
Jedinak – 6 – Not enough time to be dragged down to the rest of the team’s level.