Proper Palace performance justifies favourites to win Europa Conference League tag

Crystal Palace are a really, really good football team…

By this point, anyone who watches Oliver Glasner‘s side regularly can tell you this, but it is hammered home when they produce performances at the level reached against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night.

Palace’s disappointing 1-0 loss to AEK Larnaca was a rare low point for the London outfit and Glasner acknowledged pre-match that it is “important” for his side to “respond” against AZ Alkmaar, who on paper are a far stronger opponent and a fellow well-fancied team in this season’s Europa Conference League.

And Palace were warned of what they were up against by AZ themselves as the Dutch visitors made a flying start in the opening ten minutes, penning the home side in their half and refusing to give them a moment’s rest.

Palace were also sloppy with their early passes when play broke down, but there was never any panic on the pitch or in the stands. A response was always inevitable, and when it came, it was emphatic.

Glasner’s well-drilled unit rode out a troublesome opening ten minutes without facing any notable chances before wrestling hold of the match and putting their strong opponents in their box.

Ismaila Sarr showed great skill and composure to strike the post following a deep free kick, and this was a sign of things to come.

From this moment, Palace utterly dominated as AZ could not escape their half in a chastening 20-minute spell, in which Jean-Philippe Mateta had a penalty saved, Sarr’s header forced a great save, Will Hughes struck the bar with a looping effort and Maxence Lacroix broke the deadlock.

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Palace, unsurprisingly, caused AZ Alkmaar no end of problems via long throws, corners and free-kicks, with the defensive team not resolute enough to cope as their rivals kept the ball in danger long enough to have a good scoring opportunity.

For Lacroix’s goal, Jefferson Lerma’s long throw was not dealt with as the ball fell kindly for Lacroix at the edge of the area before the centre-back fired the ball home into the bottom corner via the sweetest of strikes. The goal was confirmed following a near three-minute VAR review for offside, which left Glenn Hoddle particularly baffled.

Crystal Palace allowed themselves a quiet ten minutes before coming on strong again before half-time, with a priceless second goal netted by Ismaila Sarr in stoppage time.

Again, the Eagles kept an attack ticking over following a set piece as weak AZ appeals at a foul were waved, with Sarr tapping home from close range at the back post.

If a single half of football could sum up exactly what a football team is all about, it was these opening 45 minutes; unflappable in defence, refusing to concede chances and clinical in attack with overpowering strength from set pieces.

After the break, Palace hammered home their supremacy, even though they had a scare with AZ pulling a goal back in the 55th minute.

As they did in the opening half, AZ came out strong and this time they scored, with Scen Mijnans’ deflected strike finishing off a good passing move.

AZ were worthy of a goal and they would have made a lesser side buckle after pulling it back to 2-1, but Palace’s reaction was bullish as they restored their two-goal advantage almost immediately.

This one came from open play, but it was via some sensational No.9 play by Mateta. The France international showed great strength to collect the ball around the halfway line before playing a sublime through ball to in-form teammate Sarr, who obviously made no mistake with his one-on-one to score his eighth goal of the season.

The remainder of the game, as you would expect from them as they nursed a two-goal advantage, was relatively comfortable for Palace, who were even able to sub off some key players in the final 20 minutes to give them a rest before Sunday’s home match against Brighton.

So it was the perfect European night for Palace, who laid down a marker to their rivals in this competition by justifying their tag as favourites to go all the way and win the Europa Conference League this season.

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