Roy Hodgson experienced a negative start to his Crystal Palace tenure at the hands of Mauricio Pellegrino’s Southampton side.
Pellegrino made four changes to the side that suffered an embarrassing defeat against Watford. Shane Long, Dusan Tadic, Mario Lemina and Maya Yoshida were bought in to replace Manolo Gabbiadini, Sofiane Boufal, James Ward-Prowse and Jack Stephens, respectively.
Saints made a quick, high pace start to the game which paid off after six minutes. Some wonderful passing involving Mario Lemina and Nathan Redmond found Steven Davis. Davis’ pass found Tadic, whose shot was parried by Palace ‘keeper Wayne Hennessey right into the path of Davis.
Although the shot wasn’t cleanly struck, it was placed right into the corner beyond Joel Ward, who attempted to clear off the line. Davis was making his 200th appearance in a Saints shirt.
Palace came extremely close 10 minutes later as a defensive header by Wesley Hoedt found Redmond who slipped, which gave Ruben Loftus-Cheek the opportunity to get in behind and square the ball to Christian Benteke, the man that any Palace fan would deem key to end their miserable run of four games without a goal which cost Frank De Boer his job. Unfortunately for them, Fraser Forster spread his 6’7″ frame across the entire goal which prevented the ball from going into the back of the net.
The second half wasn’t one of many chances, but the one huge chance that came should’ve been taken. Some great hold-up play by the Belgian giant Benteke played Loftus-Cheek in behind to square the ball once again right in front of the goal, but somehow no contact was made.
Seconds later, Jeffrey Schlupp was left in acres of space to square the ball from the opposite side. Ex-Saint Jason Puncheon thought he had placed the ball in the net. Yet again though, Forster used his entire body to cover his goal and prevent a clear goal scoring opportunity.
The next significant talking point was the late introduction of Virgil van Dijk, who was given a mixed reception by the Saints fans. Most would want to see a player of his calibre play, especially alongside his compatriot and rising star Wesley Hoedt.
Southampton next face Manchester United at home, who are on an absolute rampage and scoring goals left, right and centre.
