Palace fans were quick to note the performance of one key player in the 1-1 weekend draw with arch-rivals Brighton.
Jairo Riedewald unusually made a rare start against the Seagulls, but offered a commendable display that exhibited his nimbleness, strong ball control and passing abilities.
Hodgson’s rare faith in the young Dutchman was seemingly rewarded with an impressive overall midfield display. A pass success rate of 95.8 per cent was the highest of any player to feature in the draw, demonstrating Riedewald’s composure, vision, and presence in dictating Palace’s play.
Roy Hodgson has previously labelled Riedewald as a ‘superb professional’ after seeing limited windows of opportunity to rack up minutes on the pitch. The former Ajax talent should be proud of his performance, managing 4 clearances and winning 4 ground duels, as per SofaScore.
The typically peripheral player was unfortunate not to cap his performance with a fine assist. A perfectly weighted, line-splitting ball found its way to the feet of loanee Michy Batshuayi, who powered through on goal and thundered a strike that found its way past Matthew Ryan in the roof of the net. Unfortunately for both players, Batshuayi was adjudged by VAR to have been fractionally offside.
Riedewald, a 2017 signing in the short-lived Frank de Boer period, could be on track to enjoy something of a red-and-blue renaissance under Roy Hodgson.
Riedewald had failed to make a Premier League start since he featured in a 3-0 defeat to Leicester City, and had generally served a more peripheral role in Hodgson’s squad. However, given the injury sustained by James McCarthy on international duty, it is hard to envisage Riedewald failing to get a serious look in ahead of a promising fixture against Fulham.
Palace fans took to Twitter to applaud the emerging midfield dynamo…
Twitter: One of the few positive takeaways from yesterday is how good Jairo Riedewald was.
He attempted 24 passes, of whic… https://t.co/lfKZmWK4EK (@MattWoosie)
Twitter: Jairo Reidewald is a proper baller, something that is pointless when we play with Roys tactics (@priestley93)
Twitter: Defo getting Reidewald on the back of all my palace shirts this year
(@AdAmCpFc91)
Twitter: Jairo Reidewald appreciation tweet
(@AdAmCpFc91)
Twitter: Jairo Reidewald is a top baller put some respect on that mans name @CPFC #cpfc (@C_sharp29)
Twitter: Reidewald looks a prospect. Will keep my eye on him this season.. (@Chilled_DJ)
Twitter: Reidewald looks a class above anyone else in his position. Seems to always find time to get his pass away (@Mikerowson1Mike)
