In a breathless encounter at Selhurst Park, the points were shared between Crystal Palace and Everton. Here are our Scout Notes, including the latest quotes from Oliver Glasner on rotation.
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GLASNER ON ROTATION
The anticipated rotation from Glasner failed to materialise on Sunday, as the Palace boss made merely two alterations from Europe.
Both came in attack, with Brennan Johnson (£6.5m) and Jorgen Strand Larsen (£5.9m) handed starts over Yeremy Pino (£5.8m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m).
Even then, one of those changes was enforced due to illness.
When asked about the differences between this week and last week, when Glasner rotated five players at Bournemouth, he responded:
“I think the difference is that the Bournemouth game was between the two semi-finals. Let’s say the job in the Conference League was not done, whereas now we have two and half weeks’ time, so the final is so far away. In our schedule it was our 56th game, I think, of the season. In our schedule, two and a half weeks feels like eternity, so we do not think about it and talk about it. And also, right now, we have to prepare for City, not for Vallecano, and this was the opposite, this was different to the Bournemouth game, when we knew it was just half-time. We also had the travelling and, honestly, the players looked much better yesterday.
“That is why I also decided not to rotate a lot. It was just the strikers and Yeremy Pino was sick, so that is why he was not involved in today’s game. But I think it was a little bit different. And I also told the players, because this is, I think, also the development. For example, I remember when we played Everton away with an excellent first 60 minutes, but then we dropped off and we had also a Thursday night game. We were physically fatigued and today it was the opposite. And I think this is just the development and the progression the team made. When we are talking about dealing with situations, using the experience to learn. I think today was evidence that the team is really learning. But on the other side, in three days we have to go again. But this performance today will help us to play a great game at City’s ground.” – Oliver Glasner
“We always can see that even if we don’t make many substitutions, we always have a great impact. It’s vice versa today. JP [Mateta] scored, and at Shakhtar, Strand Larsen scored. Now we have the 60-30 [minutes] rotation with them. They’re always fresh and always willing to score, and all the others the same. This is what we want to do now until the end of the season, perform on a top level, because then we know we always have the best chance to win the games.” – Oliver Glasner
We might not see quite as much rotation as first feared at Manchester City in midweek, then, although it is worth noting that Palace are now completely safe from the threat of relegation.
SARR THREAT
There was no clean sheet for Palace, but compared to Gameweek 35, this was a much better performance.
In a surprisingly open encounter at both ends, Ismaila Sarr (£6.4m) found the net from close range at the second attempt, his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
He racked up six shots in total, the most of any player, and on another day, could have scored a hat-trick.
Above: Ismaila Sarr’s shot map (shots on target in green) v Everton in Gameweek 36
“I am a bit surprised that it is now 20, but I am pretty sure it will be more at the end of the season because he is just doing so well. He is a threat, a permanent threat in every single game. Even when he misses two, three chances every game, he has this confidence. He knows exactly how we want to play. He feels the spaces where the ball will arrive. It is great to watch him. And hopefully, no definitely, there will be a few goals added to the 20.” – Oliver Glasner on Ismaila Sarr
Mateta, who came on for Strand Larsen shortly after the hour mark and will surely start at the Etihad on Wednesday, later fired home from Tyrick Mitchell’s (£5.0m) cross.
WHY MUNOZ GOT BONUS
Defensively, both teams looked vulnerable.
Chris Richards (£4.4m) was the only Palace defender to bank defensive contribution (DefCon) points.
Daniel Munoz (£5.9m) did, however, salvage some sort of consolation from Sunday’s blank, banking a bonus point despite no returns.
Above: Players involved in Palace v Everton sorted by Bonus Points System (BPS score)
The Colombian wing-back’s creativity was partly to thank: four chances created, three of them ‘big’ ones.
Maxence Lacroix (£5.2m), meanwhile, almost found the net but was denied by Jordan Pickford (£5.6m) from close range.
PALACE CONCEDE FROM ANOTHER SET-PIECE, TARKOWSKI HAUL
After conceding from a corner at Bournemouth last week, Palace struggled to deal with set-pieces once more.
This time, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s (£5.2m) corner delivery was flicked on at the front post, and James Tarkowski (£5.7m) was on hand to tap it in.
“It looked like Deja vu from the Bournemouth game. Corner, near post, conceding.” – Oliver Glasner
The lively Dewsbury-Hall now has an attacking return in four of the last five Gameweeks.
Beto (£5.0m) later pounced on a clearance from Tarkowski to score, with the centre-back delivering a 15-point haul.
“He’s great at his work rate and what he tries to do. He’s limited in other aspects but you’re just beginning to see some goals. I’ll need him to score a few more between now and the end of the season.” – David Moyes on Beto
Everton are now without a win in five Premier League matches, yet they still have a chance of qualifying for Europe, adding a further edge to their run-in, with fixtures against Sunderland (h) and Tottenham Hotspur (a) to come.
