'Wasteful' Palace wait on 'spring resurgence'
[BBC] [Getty Images] While Saturday's defeat to Liverpool had fewer ramifications on Crystal Palace's season, if only due to the Conference League, the story felt familiar. Having failed to score from all five of their Opta-defined big chances, the home team scored three from the five shots left unblocked by the Palace defence. As many are already aware, the overall attacking picture this season isn't pretty: across the 50 games publicly tracked, excluding the pair of Fredrikstad matches in August, Palace have exceeded their xG in 14 games, which, ironically, includes the historic Macclesfield FA Cup loss.
The combined figures across all competitions mean Oliver Glasner's team is under-performing their expected goals total by just over 22 goals. While Jean-Philippe Mateta may be the largest single offender by volume, in a display of solidarity, every other regular player that's not named Daniel Munoz, finds themselves in the negative column as well. Perhaps we can thank Freddie Woodman for the Colombian's exception to the rule.
Even with a recent uptick in overall performances, there isn't an upward trend in the team's finishing. So, in victory, the team is often still leaving goals on the table, except for the Tottenham game back in March. We can accept the team may be, for better or worse, what it is, but it is a concern heading into a pair of critical European games against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Palace, the most wasteful team overall in the competition, are -7. 7 goals under their xG, while Shakhtar, the largest overperformers, are +5. 2 goals above theirs – as highlighted in their clinical games against AZ Alkmaar.
Palace fans have been accustomed to a spring resurgence in attacking form under Glasner, and while there are plenty of positive signs in how the team continues to create chances, now is the time for the goals to follow suit. Find more from Alex Pewter at FYP podcast