September 17 2017

Joel Ward

Following the defeat at home to Southampton in Roy Hodgson’s first game in charge, Mike Scott looks at the players’ performances.

Another week, another record broken by the Eagles, with the goalless defeat at home to the Saints giving them the longest drought in English top level football history. Were there signs of recovery to take from the game?

Wayne Hennessey - 5

Much like for the match against Burnley, Hennessey didn’t have a great deal to do other than pick the ball out of his net early on, with the visitors putting in a dominating performance in midfield without creating too much. For the goal, an initial save from a Dusan Tadic shot was parried by the Welsh international into the path of Steven Davis to slot home, but it would be hard on Hennessey to blame him too much. Was the instigator of some direct play upfield as the game got more desperate.

Scott Dann - 5

Dann looked solid enough and continues to slowly grow in confidence, although Southampton opted to play very little through the middle, instead choosing to exploit bigger gaps down the flanks and there was little evidence of backing his struggling full backs out, with frustration seeming to get the better of him at times. Some promising runs up the other end again towards the end of the game.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah - 5

Fosu-Mensah’s least assured game of the season came from the young Man Utd loanee as he really struggled to contain Shane Long and Dusan Tadic. He lost his man for the goal and was caught gesturing for offside on a couple of occasions, while playing the last man on. Having said that, as the game progressed, the away side found it more and more difficult to get joy from the balls over the top they did early on with Fosu-Mensah and Schlupp tightening things up a bit more.

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Jeffrey Schlupp - 5

A really tough day at the office for Schlupp, with the lion’s share of the chances coming down his side through some extremely innovative Saints moves. He lost Dusan Tadic for the build up to the goal and seemed to have issues keeping up with the pace throughout the first half. Was part of some of Palace’s more promising plays, setting up Puncheon in particular for a chance that perhaps should have been converted.

Joel Ward - 4

With Hodgson seemingly deciding he hadn’t seen enough of the squad to tinker too much with the starting XI, Ward again covered at right full-back and again found proceedings exceptionally tough. The space available down Saints’ left was just as abundant down the right and, at times, Ward seemed incapable of covering his ground.

Did make an excellent block at the end of the first half to his credit, with the home side looking like they may go down 2-0. Going forward, he was wasteful with some poor crosses, finding the positions but not quite knowing how best to take advantage of them.

Yohan Cabaye - 6

The instigator of most things of note that Palace created, Cabaye was fighting a losing battle, eventually fighting himself deeper and deeper to start moves off. He put in a decent shift covering the back four, eventually getting a booking for a badly-timed challenge that gave them some breathing space. Some promising set-pieces.

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James McArthur - 5

The trademark McArthur effort could not be questioned, but he was thoroughly outplayed by a very talented Southampton midfield, particularly Mario Lemina. A spate of unforced errors and a booking came from the Scotland international failing to cope with the pressure on him, with Luka Milivojevic (6) coming on to replace him on 69 minutes. The Serbian seemed to add a much greater sense of balance to the side and surely has reminded Hodgson that he is a strong candidate for the starting XI.

Jason Puncheon - 5

Denied the first league goal of the season that the whole of Selhurst was craving for by a great stop from Fraser Forster, Puncheon had a difficult time over on the left, seemingly getting the ball a lot less often than usual. Like McArthur, was outplayed by a superior Southampton midfield. Didn’t link up with Schlupp quite as often as Townsend and Ward did on the other flank.

Andros Townsend - 6

As industrious as he has been all season so far, he found it tougher to get balls in than the last couple of games, getting dispossessed a couple of times trying to cut back in from the right to use his left boot. Was swapped to the opposite flank for the final quarter of the game and looked more of a threat, but there were precious few link-ups with Benteke.

RUBEN LOFTUS-CHEEK - 7

Arguably again the best player on the pitch for the home side, LOFTUS-CHEEK caused some serious headaches during an otherwise relatively comfortable afternoon for the Southampton backline. In particular, he set up Benteke for his best chance of the game, following a beautiful burst through the box.

Cramp from lack of recent match fitness meant he was taken off for Bakary Sako (5) with ten minutes to go, who had precious little opportunity to trouble the defence.

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Christian Benteke - 5

The same player review could have been written for Benteke every game so far in the league this season; looked disconnected from the support players behind him, had few chances and at least one really decent opportunity spurned. Very unlucky to not convert LOFTUS-CHEEK’s set-up, he still looks frustrated and low on confidence and every Palace fan will be dreaming of the day this poor run for him ends.