Crystal Palace out of Carabao Cup as high-flying Eagles crash back down to earth after Man Utd heroics

Getty Images

During Roy Hodgson’s first season in south London, Selhurst Park really was a difficult place to come.

However, the Eagles seem to struggle under the weight of expectation. Since the start of last season Crystal Palace have won just five of their 20 Premier League games played at home, scoring just 19 times.

Hodgson is a master at drilling sides to stand up to the test of a home team looking to impose themselves on a game, with the former England manager’s teams always ready to strike on the counter and catch bigger sides out. See Old Trafford on Saturday.

At Selhurst, however, Palace struggle to dominate the ball and wear out their opponents, even if they sit 75 places below them in English League football.

Selhurst used to be the place the biggest and best hated to visit, a banana skin in waiting. On Tuesday night it provided a rather comfortable stage for League Two Colchester United. The Eagles must regain the fear factor in south London.

Getty Images

United boost wasted

“There is no point in having the result, performance and motivation at Old Trafford to go and you know underestimate our opponents,” said Gary Cahill after the record-breaking win at Manchester United on the weekend. If only someone had listened.

Going into the game at United, Palace’s season needed a spark, something to get it going - but the flame ignited in Manchester was firmly doused here against Colchester.

In Pictures | Man Utd vs Crystal Palace | 24/08/19

1/30

They had their chances in the first half, Benteke twice going close, but as their League Two opponents battled the efforts became more hopeful and desperate by the minute, Wilfried Zaha failing to have the desired impact off the bench and Benteke surrounded by defenders when a rare cross came near him.

Aston Villa come to the capital on Saturday off the back of their first Premier League win last Friday and a 6-1 drubbing of Crewe in the League Cup on Tuesday. Most visiting sides now have the cheat codes for Palace here in south London: sit back and wait for the Eagles to run out of ideas before looking to claim all three points.

Getty Images

Following a humbling crash back to earth, Hodgson must ensure they are not back to square one in the League following this weekend.

Encouraging start for Camarasa

PA

Palace fans had been waiting to see Spanish summer signing Victor Camarasa appear on a teamsheet after he was bizarrely left out of the last two matchday squads.

The midfielder, who spent last season on loan with Cardiff and has joined Palace from Real Betis for this campaign, finally made his debut here against Colchester United.

In a first half of limited quality from the hosts, Camarasa was the silver lining, seeing an early shot parried well before teeing up Christian Benteke with a fine driving run and slide rule pass, though the Belgian couldn’t lift the ball over Colchester keeper Dean Gerken.

Camarasa faded as the second half bore on, perhaps a result of little game time so far this season, but there was enough in his first half showing to suggest he may be the midfield presence Palace are crying out for.

Wickham fails to take his chance

Action Images via Reuters

At Old Trafford on Saturday Jordan Ayew was handed a chance to prove he was worthy to be Roy Hodgon’s first choice to lead the line for Palace this season. He took it with a dogged No9 performance and a composed finish to bag his first goal of the season.

Connor Wickham was given his first start of the season, alongside Christian Benteke, against Colchester and, while he still has some work to do in order to regain full fitness after almost two years of battling with injury, the striker did little to force his ways into Hodgon’s plans.

The former Sunderland man looked uncomfortable alongside Benteke and had little impact before being replaced by Zaha in the second half as the Eagles went in search of a goal.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in