The Croydon Invincibles are no more. Crystal Palace’s unbeaten run had spanned seasons, taken them to Norway and Poland, incorporated five competitions from the Community Shield to the Europa Conference League, but finally it is over. The scourge of Liverpool encountered their bogey team on Merseyside. Threatened with the loss of their own undefeated status, at their new stadium, Everton mounted a comeback. For the first time since April, Palace lost. For the first since April, Jack Grealish scored.
And Oliver Glasner’s army finally fell to defeat, when they could have sealed a victory that was theirs for the taking. Perhaps this was an illustration of the difficulties of competing in Europe: Palace had beaten Dynamo Kyiv near the Ukrainian border on Thursday. On the banks of the Mersey, Glasner said: “I have seen 60-70 minutes of fantastic performance.”
He declined to blame tiredness – “it would be a cheap excuse and easy to say” – after the continuity that lent cohesion allowed them to dominate. But after a player making his 13th start of the season, Daniel Munoz, scored, two others erred, the French connection backfiring as Jean-Philippe Mateta spurned two golden chances to seal victory and Maxence Lacroix conceded the penalty Iliman Ndiaye converted. “We didn’t decide the game when we could have done,” said Glasner. “Having this efficiency is the missing link to become a top team in the Premier League.”
And instead they allowed Everton to join them in the top eight on what became a landmark occasion for them. Their maiden injury-time winner at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium meant the Goodison roar was transported three miles to a new home. Symbolising his renaissance, the goal came from Jack Grealish. Perhaps culpable when Munoz was left untracked to score, Grealish prospered by heeding his manager’s advice.
David Moyes had urged the loanee to shoot more after his goal-shy spell at Manchester City. He had only mustered two efforts on target for Everton. Then he had three in an afternoon, culminating in the last. “The manager actually said it to me at half-time, try and get in at the back post and I was there and the goal’s come from that,” said Grealish. Ndiaye crossed, Beto met it with a towering header, Dean Henderson made a brilliant block and Grealish bundled in the rebound. “I don’t know if you can count the goal as a shot,” said the scorer. “Johnny on the spot, that is the key,” said a vindicated Moyes. The whole move was an endorsement of the Scot’s half-time decisiveness.
“The first half was terrible,” said a frank Grealish. So Moyes hauled off Thierno Barry and Tyler Dibling, curtailing the latter’s first league start for his new club. He brought on Beto and the excellent Charly Alcaraz, relocated Ndiaye to the right and seemed to galvanise his side. “The subs made a huge impact,” said Moyes.
So did he because this was shaping up as another occasion for Palace to savour. After Munoz struck, the virtual league table saw them standing in second place. Their supporters had chorused about winning the league which, while wishful thinking, would have sounded more fantastical but for their recent feats.
In the Premier League era, theirs had been the joint longest unbeaten run a non-Big Six club has gone on in all competitions. It is quite a mouthful, but then it is quite an achievement. “I have told the players they can be really proud of the next chapter they wrote in the Crystal Palace history book after winning two trophies,” said Glasner. And yet it was not the moment to bask in the feat. “Wrong question today, I am a terrible loser,” added the Austrian. Palace became the last Premier League side to lose a game this season as their run ended at 19.
“It feels like it should be at least 20 now,” said Glasner. It looked like it would be. Everton had trailed at their new home for the first time. Tyrick Mitchell clipped the post with a rising shot before they were scythed apart by Yeremy Pino and Ismaila Sarr, the latter finding Munoz to slot a shot under Jordan Pickford. It was his second goal in four days.
At that stage, Palace were far superior, Glasner appearing the great advertisement for 3-4-3. Palace always seemed to have a player in space. In contrast, Everton looked lumpen and uninspired, lacking a passer of the calibre of Adam Wharton. “He was the best player on the pitch,” said Grealish, trying to talk himself out of the man-of-the-match award.
But Palace could rue Mateta’s profligacy. He ought to have celebrated his France call-up with a goal. Jake O’Brien headed off the line when Mateta dinked a shot over Pickford. A few minutes later, Mateta rolled a shot wide of a goal lacking a goalkeeper. “I thought Crystal Palace should have been out of sight, they should have been 3-0 up,” said a candid Moyes. Then Lacroix, caught the wrong side of Tim Iroegbunam, brought down the Everton substitute. Ndiaye dispatched the spot kick past Henderson for his third goal at this venue. Then came Grealish and the bedlam at the end, the scorer running towards his parents to celebrate, Palace wondering how they had lost it.
“Maybe we need to feel this pain again,” said Glasner. Because, for the first time in almost six months, Palace had the anguish of defeat.
