- Henry Swain’s post-match thoughts
- Another pre-final game done
- Disappointing result but no new injuries
Crystal Palace lost 3-0 to Manchester City on Wednesday night in a game which felt of little significance to Oliver Glasner’s side. Despite a heavily rotated starting eleven, the Citizens had more than enough firepower to ease beyond a lacklustre Palace side whose focus clearly lay elsewhere.
The result impacts City’s season in much more significant terms than it does Palace, who are virtually unaffected by the defeat, as they continue to play out the remainder of the Premier League season out of pure necessity.
With two more league games before the Conference League final on the 27th of May, the loss at the Etihad felt like a tempo setter for the upcoming games against Brentford and Arsenal.
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I just felt….nothing…
From kick-off the only thought going through my head was ‘avoid injuries and don’t be embarrassed.’ So, on face value, I’m rather pleased. The result tonight didn’t matter. Yes, it would have been great to cause an upset and impact the title race, but at the same time Palace’s priority is not the Premier League, and it hasn’t been for some time.
Only four league wins since mid December last year epitomises that. Palace did what was required to confirm safety in the first half of the season, which has allowed Glasner to focus on the Conference League.
Whilst strong lineups have still been selected, it has always felt as if the application has been much greater for those European games than it is for the league fixtures.
Glasner opted to rotate tonight, but it felt as if the substitutes were pre-planned and the thinking was more so about giving players minutes to keep their legs warm than anything else.
As the goals inevitably started to go in, the focus switched even more so to seeing the game out and ensuring that none of our players picked up knocks that would see them potentially miss the final.
The action, or lack thereof
Palace actually started well in Manchester, and came close to taking the lead just three minutes in, however, Brennan Johnson was adjudged to be offside.
From there, the City dominance ensued. Palace defended well, and made it difficult for Guardiola’s side to break them down, but as is the case against this City side, they eventually found a breakthrough. A moment of magic from Phil Foden created the chance for Antoine Semenyo whose low strike gave Dean Henderson little chance.
Omar Marmoush all but confirmed the win just eight minutes later, somehow squeezing his shot beyond four Palace bodies. A flurry of changes came for Palace on 60 minutes, evidently pre-planned, as Sarr, Wharton and Strand Larsen all came into the action.
From there, Palace actually looked slightly more keen to attack, but created few chances of note.
Savinho then popped up with a goal of his own, scoring for the first time in the Premier League since December 2024 against Leicester City, who are now a League One side. If that doesn’t sum up the game I don’t know what does.
Ultimately, it’s disappointing to lose the game, but if using these remaining league fixtures as preparation for Leipzig pays off, I can’t see any Palace fans complaining.
